| Full name | West Calder Swifts Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname | the Swifts | |
| Founded | 1903 | |
| Dissolved | 1915 | |
| Ground | Burngrange Park | |
| Trainer | David Bowman | |
West Calder Swifts Football Club was a Scottish senior football club from the town ofWest Calder,Midlothian.
The club was founded in May 1903,[1] as a merger betweenWest Calder andMossend Swifts; although the name was a merger of the two teams' names, the combined club played at West Calder's ground, wearing West Calder's kit. The club's trainer however was the Mossend Swifts trainer David Bowman, who finished with 23 years' service at both sides.[2]
The club's natural home would have been in the Central Combination, but that had collapsed at the end of the 1902–03 season, and a new league - theMidland League was set up. The Swifts were invited to become founder members, and the club's Andrew Russell was elected as the league's first president.[3] However the competition did not complete its first season, with the Swifts heading for a mid-table finish.
The club was a consistent entrant to theScottish Cup, although by 1903 theScottish Football Association had introduced theQualifying Cup as a series of preliminary rounds. The club's first entry in1903–04 saw it reach the fifth round of the Qualifying Cup, entitling it to an entry into the Cup proper.[4] In that first round, the club was drawn away toScottish League sideSt Bernards ofEdinburgh; the club rewarded the supporters who came to the match on a special train by recording a 1–1 draw,[5] West Calder losing in a second replay at the neutral Mill Park inBathgate.[6]
The only other time the club won through to the proper rounds was in1908–09, again having reached the fifth round of the Qualifying Cup.[7] The club drew 0–0 in the first round at home toPartick Thistle. At the time, the Maryhill club was "between grounds", and therefore applied to the Scottish FA to have the replay at a neutral ground, on the basis that Burngrange Park's facilities were not up to scratch. On a vote of 13 to 10, the Scottish FA ordered the tie to take place atShawfield.[8] The Swifts appealed to the Scottish FA that Partick, without having a registered ground, was not entitled to ask for the match to be held on a neutral venue, and refused to play at Shawfield.[9] As a result of this "foolish course",[10] the tie was awarded to Partick.[11] Thistle claimed expenses of £46 7s against West Calder, but that was dismissed, on the basis that Partick had caused the problems by having no ground.[12]
The main local competition for the club was the King Cup, for members of the East of Scotland FA. The club first entered in 1903–04; its second round tie withBathgate ended in farce, when a mist descended, so the clubs agreed to play the match out as a friendly, which was then abandoned after a fight broke out.[13] Bathgate eventually won through and beat the Swifts in the final atUphall in 1904–05.[14]
The club was also runner-up in 1907–08, losing toPeebles Rovers in the final atTynecastle Park in front of 1,300 spectators; the Swifts' "rough play" had "alienated any sympathy an impartial spectator might have had for them".[15] The club finally won the trophy in its last final, in 1909–10, and did so "in handsome fashion", hammeringGala Fairydean 6–0.[16] Fairydean protested about the eligibility of one of the Swifts' players, but the East of Scotland FA dismissed it unanimously.[17]
The club did not play in another league until 1910–11, when it joined theScottish Football Union. The club struggled in a league of sufficient strength that the other 9 members were allScottish League clubs past or future;[18] it won only 3 matches and was only out-performingBroxburn when the season ran out of steam.[19] The club joined an attempted revival of theEastern League in 1912–13 but only played 5 matches.[20]
The club was defunct by the 1913–14 season, losing players to newJunior sides,[21] and having to scratch from the first round of the Scottish Qualifying Cup as the club's financial state (despite its amateur status) made it unable to raise a team;[22] an attempt to revive the club in 1914–15[23] was only briefly successful, it proving impossible to raise a team to play fixtures duringWorld War 1, although it did play one last Cup tie - a 3–1 defeat at Burngrange toArmadale.[24] The club did not re-start after the war.
The club played in red and black stripes.[25]
The Swifts' ground was Burngrange Park.[26] The facilities were spartan, lacking large dressing rooms, so clubs had to change in the pavilion or in a nearby hotel.[27] Violence againstBroxburn Athletic F.C. officials in 1908 resulted in the ground being closed for a month.[28]
