Pumpherston Football 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 based in

Pumpherston Pumpherston is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. Originally a small industrial village housing works for the nearby shale mine and works, it now forms the eastern part of the new town of Livingston, which was constructed to the west of Pumphe ...

, near

Livingston, West Lothian Livingston ( sco, Leivinstoun, gd, Baile Dhunlèibhe) is the largest town in West Lothian, Scotland. Designated in 1962, it is the fourth post-war new town to be built in Scotland. Taking its name from a village of the same name incorporated ...

. Their home ground is Recreation Park, with one of the largest pitches in Scottish football. The club colours are gold and black.

History

The original Pumpherston club was formed in 1896. A club by the name of Pumpherston Rob Roy were probably the first Junior club in the village, existing for a few years in the early 1900s before Pumpherston Rangers joined the Linlithgowshire Junior League for the 1911–12 season. Success followed for the next three seasons with two East of Scotland Junior League titles, two Renton cup wins, two Leith Burgh Cup wins and a Dalmeny Cup.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

intervened but they won the Renton Cup again in 1919 when football resumed. However, at the end of 1927–28 season with league re-organisation and the number of West Lothian clubs dwindling, they decided to turn amateur and leave the Juniors. It was 26 years later than Pumpherston Juniors joined the Edinburgh & District League for season 1954–55. Their first success came in 1957 when they defeated

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at Albyn Park to win the Thornton Shield and the following season they shocked Junior football by going all the way to 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 compete ...

final under the leadership of captain Vince Halpin. On the way to the Final they defeated West Calder United, Dalkeith Thistle,

Tranent Tranent is a town in East Lothian (formerly Haddingtonshire), in the south-east of Scotland. The town lies 6 miles from the boundary of Edinburgh, and 9.1 miles from the city centre. It lies beside the A1 road, the A1 runs through the parish ...

, Thornton Hibs, and

Parkhead Parkhead ( sco, Pairkheid) is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necropo ...

. The Semi-Final against

Baillieston Baillieston ( sco, Bailiestoun) is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It is about east of the city centre. It also gives its name to Ward 20 of Glasgow City Council and forms part of the Glasgow East constituency of the UK Parliament. Geograph ...

in front of 10,000 at

Brockville Park Brockville Park was a football stadium located on Hope Street in Falkirk, Scotland, north-west of the town centre. It was the home of Falkirk F.C. from 1885 until the end of 2002–03 Scottish football season.

was drawn, but they won the replay at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

the following week to send them to

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

, where they lost 2–0 to Shotts Bon Accord in front of 33,000. They were a solid mid-table club but in 1962–63 they narrowly lost the West Section title to

Sauchie Sauchie is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies north of the River Forth and south of the Ochil Hills, within the council area of Clackmannanshire. Sauchie has a population of around 6000 and is located northeast of Alloa and e ...

who went on to win the play-off against Newtongrange Star, the same season they lost Brown Cup Final to Dunbar United. The following year also saw a third-place finish. They came from nowhere in 1969–70 to win the West Section, edging out

Linlithgow Rose Linlithgow Rose Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Linlithgow, West Lothian. The team plays in the East of Scotland Football League Premier Division, the sixth tier of Scottish football, having moved from the junior leagues i ...

and Bo'ness United, but lost the Championship play-off to Mid/East Section winners Arniston Rangers. The early 1970s saw erratic form, 1971–72 saw them finish third, the following season they were 15th and bottom, and the season after that, with the leagues re-organised into A and B Divisions they missed out on promotion by a single goal. They also had a run to the 5th round of the Scottish Junior Cup before being eliminated by

Glasgow Perthshire Glasgow Perthshire Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Possilpark, in the north of Glasgow. History The Glasgow Perthshire Athletic Club, within which the football club operated, was formed on 7 November 1890 at the Waterloo R ...

. However that was their last sniff of success as the financial situation at the club was deteriorating and midway through season 1976–77 they folded. The club was re-formed and joined the East Region in 1990–91, once again bringing Junior football back to Recreation Park. Pumphy won the

Scottish Junior Football East Region Premier League South The Scottish Junior Football East Region Premier League South also known for sponsorship reasons as the McBookie.com East Premier League South, was the second-tier division of the East Region of the Scottish Junior Football Association and sat ...

title in 2018–2019.

Club staff

Board of directors

Coaching staff

Source

Current squad

As of 31 October 2022

Managerial history

Honours

Pumpherston Rangers *East of Scotland Junior League Champions: 1913–14, 1914–15 *Renton Cup: 1912–13, 1913–14, 1918–19 *Leith Burghs Cup: 1912–13, 1913–14 *Lumley Cup: 1912–13 *Dalmeny Cup: 1913–14 *St.Michaels Cup Runners-up: 1924–25 *Linlithgowshire County Cup Eunners-up: 1926–27 Pumpherston Juniors *

Finalists: 1957–58 * East Junior League West Division Champions: 1969–70 *Thornton Shield Winners: 1956–57 * Lothians Second Division Runners-up: 2003–04 * East Region South Division Runners-up: 2012–13 *RL Rae Cup Runners-up: 1960–61 *St.Michaels Cup Runners-up: 1960–61 *Brown Cup Runners-up: 1962–63

References

External links

Official club site

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{{SJFA East Region Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Football in West Lothian Association football clubs established in 1990 East of Scotland Football League teams Livingston, West Lothian