In the first few decades of the 1900’s Juvenile football was a strong and prolific contributor to the Junior and Senior ranks.

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By 1908 Glespin Thistle had re-formed and were now in the South Lanarkshire Juvenile League playing Carluke Hearts in a 1-1 draw on Oct 10th. Soon after they changed their name to Glespin Utd

 

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Junior team Douglas FC seem to have folded at the turn of the century, however a new team Douglas United were formed in 1909, and along with Glespin United were listed in the S.L. Juvenile League. Once again, the fate of both clubs was short lived, lasting only a few seasons.

 

                                       

                                           1909

 

 

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The following are reports on matches between Douglas and Glespin against the front runners of the day, Corehouse Thistle who played at Kirkfieldbank. The premier Juvenile Competition of this era was the Menzies Cup, named after the local MP.

 

 

 

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Both Douglas Utd and Glespin Utd were defunct by 1910. However another team Douglas Wanderers were formed in 1913, they themselves lasting a couple of years before football took a back seat during the First World War.

 

                                  1913/14 

 

 

The Wanderers played in the South Lanarkshire Juvenile League. A league game against Carluke Hearts on the 16th Feb 1914 ended in a 4-2 defeat. The Wanderers team was listed as Newbigging, Shanks and Connell; Muir, Cameron and Sloan; Kerr, Newbigging, Smith, Gardiner and Watson

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Soon after the cessation of war the game came roaring back with the formation of the Auchenheath and District Juvenile League. Such was the popularity and dominance of the beautiful game at this time, that small villages such as Coalburn in the 1919/1920 season managed to field five separate teams competing in the one league

 

                                    1919/20
 

 

 

In our own parish we had Douglas West Thistle, Douglas Hearts - a name that probably derived from the influx of coal miners from Midlothian to the pits of the Upperward, - and Glespin Thistle - revived once again.

 

 

                                DOUGLAS WEST circa 1920

 

 

The team photo above is of Douglas West around 1920. Little information is known of the team or where they played at the West. 

Recent indications point to the pitch being adjacent to where the old miners welfare stood. The only identified players to date are Bob Batton, the father of well known Douglas players Jim and Andrew Batton, 2nd from the right in the middle row, and ' Ecky' Bernard, left side front row lying down, father of Betty McFarlane who lives in Douglas village.  

 

                                                    

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At the end of January 1920 the football scores of the day record the following result - Douglas Hearts 7 Douglas Water Primrose 0.

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In June 1920 the following report of a game between two of the top teams in the league, Douglas Hearts and Braidwood Rovers

appeared in the Upperward Gazette

 

 
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In the season 1920/21 540 teams were in the draw for the Scottish Juvenile Cup, among them Douglas Hearts, Douglas West Thistle and a new team from Glespin - Glespin Athletic

 

 

 

Douglas Water Primrose gained revenge for a previous 7-0 defeat against the Douglas Hearts

 

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The 1921/22 season saw Douglas West Thistle still competing but no sign of Douglas Hearts and by 1922/23 Douglas West Thistle had also withdrawn from the league.

 

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During the 1920’s many friendly games were played by teams who were not part of an organised league. For example during 1925 a game was played between Douglas Merchants and Muirkirk Merchants, and on May 6th 1926, a game took place between Douglas Merchants and Muirkirk Counterloupers!

 

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Small communities such as Glentaggart even arranged a team to take on the Douglas shopkeepers. The following report explains

 

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A good skelping for Coalburn !!

 

 

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A match also took place in 1924 between a team called Glespin Juveniles and Muirkirk Hibs, Glespin going down by 2 goals to nil

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Such was the attraction and love of the game during this era that a report on a game between Glenbuck and Coalburn stated that the Glenbuck team walked across the moor to Coalburn, played the local team, had a very amenable social evening, and then walked back the next day!

 

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On May 30th 1929 Muirkirk Rovers beat Glespin Primrose by 3 goals to nil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page Last Updated - 25/01/2008