| Full name | 5th King's Own Scottish Borderers Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | the Borderers,[1] the Terriers[2] | |
| Founded | 1908 | |
| Dissolved | 1919 | |
| Ground | Palmerston Park, Dumfries | |
The5th King's Own Scottish Borderers Football Club was a football team based inDumfries, Scotland.
The club's origin is from volunteer regiments (i.e. part-time soldiers) being raised in response to increasing unrest within Continental Europe and the British Empire in the Victorian era. 5th K.O.S.B. came out of the disbandedMaxwelltown Volunteers F.C. side, after a reorganization of volunteer regiments saw a new regiment, the 5th Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers, formed out of battalions fromDumfriesshire andGalloway.[3]
The club entered theScottish Cup from 1908 to 1915. The club won its way through the qualifying rounds to the competition proper on one occasion, in1910–11, losing atForfar Athletic in the first round proper before a crowd of 3,000.[4]
The club inherited the Maxwelltown Volunteers position in local tournaments. It took part in the Scottish Combination from 1908 to 1910 to little effect.[5] The club's only major success was winning the Southern Counties Cup, for teams in the south-west of Scotland, in 1915, beatingSt Cuthbert's Wanderers F.C. 2–1 in a replay atDumfries F.C.'s Eastfield Park, the winner being scored by Potter with ten minutes to go.[6]
At the outbreak of theFirst World War, the rival Dumfries F.C. club was in financial difficulties. One of the Dumfries directors suggested amalgamating with the 5th K.O.S.B. in order to raise crowd levels.[7]
During the war, the 5th K.O.S.B. was given permission to change its name toPalmerston F.C.,[8] suggesting the club was looking to widen its catchment, but it does not seem to have played under this name. The merger suggestion came back to life after the war concluded. On 21 March 1919, a public meeting was held in Dumfries Town Hall, with a view to forming a single club to represent the town, perhaps with a view to applying to join the Scottish League. At the meeting, representatives of three clubs in the town - the 5th KOSB, Dumfries, and the works side of theArrol-Johnston car factory - agreed to merge into a new club, eventually namedQueen of the South F.C., and the new club's first meeting took place a week later.[9]
The club played in blue shirts and white shorts.[10]
The club played at Palmerston Park.[10]
Southern Counties Cup[11]
