Lochore Welfare Junior Football and Athletic Club are a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club from the village of

Crosshill Cross Hill or Crosshill may refer to: Places * Cross Hill, Cornwall, England *Cross Hill, Derbyshire, England * Cross Hill, Gloucestershire, England * Cross Hill, South Carolina, USA * Crosshill, East Ayrshire, Scotland *Crosshill, Fife, Scotland * ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. The club currently compete in the . Originally formed in 1934, the club are based at Central Park and their present home colours are black and white.

History

Lochore Welfare are a club formed from mergers between various other Junior clubs over the years, firstly with local amateur side, Lochore Miners to become Lochore Miners Welfare. Then, in the late 1990s, it merged with Benarty JFC and reverted to its original name of Lochore Welfare. Crosshill was once a prosperous mining village but the decline of this industry has had a substantial impact on the community and hence the club, although the community is making strong efforts to fight against this.Things are looking up for Lochore Welfare
Dunfermline Press, 30 August 2018 The club can boast of giving some football's talented players their first footing on the ladder to success and stardom. Among these are

Willie Johnston William McClure Johnston (born 19 December 1946) is a Scottish former professional footballer, best remembered for his time at Rangers and West Bromwich Albion. He made 22 international appearances for Scotland and was selected for their 1978 ...

, who could often be seen playing for Lochore before going on to play for Rangers and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Ian Porterfield John Ian Porterfield (11 February 1946 – 11 September 2007) was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coa ...

, whose greatest moment of glory was scoring the winning goal for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in the 1973 FA Cup Final.

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently a full-time advisor to the board of directors at Highland Football League club Brechin City. During his playing career ...

was another Lochore old boy who went on to play for Scotland and Hearts and most recently Colin Cameron. Other Lochore players who have stepped up include

Tommy Callaghan Tommy Callaghan (born 6 December 1945) is a Scottish former Association football, footballer who played for Celtic F.C., Celtic, Dunfermline Athletic and Clydebank F.C. (1965), Clydebank. He was a left-sided midfielder famous for his long atta ...

with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

; Cammy Fraser, Willie Gibson,

Arthur Mann Arthur Fraser Mann (23 January 1948 – 4 February 1999) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as a defender. He later moved into management and coaching. Biography Mann was born in Burntisland, Scotland and began his playing ...

, Peter Oliver and Willie Benvie at Hearts; Alec Edwards with

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

and Hibernian; Ian Campbell with

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

, Dunfermline and

Brechin Brechin (; gd, Breichin) is a city and former Royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Traditionally Brechin was described as a city because of its cathedral and its status as the seat of a pre-Reformation Roman Catholic diocese (which continues today ...

;

Jimmy Logie James Tullis Logie (23 November 1919 – 30 April 1984) was a Scottish footballer. Career Born in Edinburgh and raised in the city's Grassmarket, Logie first played for Scottish junior side Lochore Welfare, before being signed by London giant ...

with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

; Chris Anderson at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

; Garry Patterson with

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. Former player and captain James Adam took over as manager in October 2018. He is assisted by another two former players; Gary Patterson and James Davies, as well as goalkeeper coach Scott Donaldson. Lochore moved from the Junior leagues to the East of Scotland League ahead of the 2020–21 season. They won their first trophy in 20 years by securing the King Cup in 2022–23.

Ground

Central Park has a capacity of 1,300. There is a small covered enclosure and a refreshment kiosk. The pitch itself was relaid at considerable cost to the club in 1998. Home attendances can reach around 200 for more significant games.

Honours

Senior * King Cup: 2022–23 Junior * Fife Junior League winners (7): 1938–39, 1947–48, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64 *Fife Junior (PSM) Cup (5): 1937–38, 1950–51, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1979–80 *Cowdenbeath (Interbrew) Cup: 1952–53, 1955–56, 1961–62, 1963–64, 1967–68, 1974–75 *Kingdom Kegs Cup: 2002–03 *Express Cup: 1960–61, 1963–64 *Mitchell Cup: 1937–38, 1955–56, 1961–62, 1962–63 *West Fife Cup: 1937–38, 1938–39, 1948–49, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1962–63

References

Sources

Non-League Scotland

Scottish Football Historical Archive

Player Database
{{Football in Fife Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Association football clubs established in 1934 Football clubs in Fife 1934 establishments in Scotland Mining association football teams in Scotland East of Scotland Football League teams