Blantyre Celtic Football Club were a Scottish football club that played under the auspices of the

Scottish Junior Football Association The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the level of football ...

. Formed in 1914 as Blantyre United, they changed their name to Blantyre Celtic two years later. Their home ground was near Springwell in

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

and they had as local rivals Blantyre Victoria, known locally as the Vics. In many ways they were the poorer cousin, as they existed in a poorer area of the village and lacked the financial support that the Vics gained from having a large social club attached to their home ground. The club reached the semi-finals of the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compet ...

three times: (1923–24, 1937–38 and 1945–46) but lost on each occasion. Between 1982 and 1986, their Craighead Park ground was also used by the Glasgow Tigers speedway team as their home track. Blantyre Celtic played in green and white hoops, identical to those of their namesake Celtic. Their most famous player was

Jimmy Johnstone James Connolly Johnstone (30 September 1944 – 13 March 2006) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside right. Known as "Jinky" for his elusive dribbling style, Johnstone played for Celtic for 13 years, and was part of the 'Lisbon ...

. In 2010, the club reformed as an amateur team in the Blantyre area.

Honours

Lanarkshire Junior Football League The Lanarkshire Junior Football League was a football league competition operated in Lanarkshire under the Scottish Junior Football Association which operated from 1891, being the oldest-running regional competition of its kind until a merger in 196 ...

winners: 1916–17 * Central Junior League winners: 1948–49 * William Blaney " Good Conduct Trophy" winners 1968

Former players

1. Players that have played/managed in the top two divisions of the Scottish Football League or any foreign equivalent to this level (i.e. fully professional league).
2. Players with full international caps.
3. Players that hold a club record or have captained the club. * Tom Adamson * Joe Murray * Adam Plunkett * Willie Smith * Paul Wilson

References

Sources

Scottish Football Historical Archive

External links

Club Facebook

Video clip of derelict ground from 1997Blantyre Celtic Football Club
(detailed history, 2014) at ''The Blantyre Project'' Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1914 Association football clubs disestablished in 1992 1914 establishments in Scotland 1992 disestablishments in Scotland Blantyre, South Lanarkshire Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Football in South Lanarkshire {{Scotland-footyclub-stub