Tarff Rovers Football Club are a defunct

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

Kirkcowan Kirkcowan is an area about 15 miles in length, and from nearly two to nearly seven miles in breadth, comprising 30,580 acres, of which 7000 are arable, 300 woodland and plantations, and the remainder meadow, pasture in Machars, in the historical ...

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

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 ...

. One of Scotland's oldest clubs, they were formed in 1874 and were full members of both the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

and the

Southern Counties Football Association Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

. Having full SFA status entitled Rovers to compete in the Scottish Qualifying Cup South competition and, on occasion, play in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a ...

in the Scottish Cup. This home tie saw Tarff triumph by one goal to nil. Despite belonging to a remote and sparsely populated part of Scotland – indeed Kirkcowan's current population is less than 400 – Tarff enjoyed certain periods of success. During their final few years of the club's existence, a local businessman's financial assistance led to several titles, cup wins, and big name signings, including

Chic Charnley James Callaghan "Chic" Charnley (born 11 June 1963 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former football player and coach. Charnley's playing career lasted nearly 20 years, with spells at Hamilton Academical, St Mirren, Hibernian and Dundee, however he i ...

and

Rowan Alexander Rowan Samuel Alexander (born 28 January 1961) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Alexander was a prolific goal-scoring striker for Queen of the South and Greenock Morton. Alexander also played for St Mirren, Brentford and Gr ...

. The club folded in 2003 when local interest quickly dwindled to the point where a committee could not be formed. The club's home ground of Balgreen Park still exists, and is currently used by local Sunday league side Kirkcowan Wanderers.

References

Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1874 Association football clubs disestablished in 2003 1874 establishments in Scotland 2003 disestablishments in Scotland South of Scotland Football League teams Football clubs in Dumfries and Galloway {{Scotland-sport-team-stub