West Benhar Football Club (also known simply as Benhar) was a senior football club from the small mining settlement of West Benhar, a mile to the south west of
Harthill, Scotland
Harthill is a rural village split between North Lanarkshire and West Lothian in Scotland, with most of the village in North Lanarkshire. It is located about halfway between Glasgow, to the west, and Edinburgh, to the east. It lies on the Riv ...
. There is now little left of this settlement.
History
They were formed in August 1880 by Thomas "Baker" Brown and for a short spell were a renowned cup team, playing in local competitions as well as the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1881–82 to 1885–86. Benhar's Cup record was strong; in the club's first entry, it reached the fourth round, and held Hibernian to a draw before losing the replay. The same season, the club also entered the
Lanarkshire Cup
The Lanarkshire Cup was an annual competition open to football teams in the Lanarkshire area. The competition is now defunct.
List of winners
1879–80 - Stonelaw
1880–81 - Thistle
1881–82 - Hamilton Academical
1882–83 - West Benhar
1883â ...
for the first time, but lost in the first round.
However, in 1882–83, the club won the Lanarkshire. The final, at Airdrie Cricket Ground, saw Benhar beat Royal Albert 4–1.
The 1883–84 Scottish Cup saw the club's biggest competitive win. In the first round, the club was surprisingly held to a 2–2 draw at the fading
Drumpellier
Drumpellier Country Park is a country park situated to the west of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The park was formerly a private estate. The land was given over to the Burgh of Coatbridge for use as a public park in 1919, and was design ...
club, in an "exceedingly rough" match, at which the "conduct of the spectators was beyond all excuse". In the replay Benhar made no mistake with a 12–0 win.
Benhar's best Scottish Cup run came in 1884–85, reaching the fifth round (final 11 clubs). It had to play the second round tie with
Shettleston
Shettleston ( sco, Shuttlestoun, gd, Baile Nighean Sheadna) is a district in the east end of Glasgow in Scotland.
Toponymy
The origin of the name 'Shettleston' is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multi ...
twice, 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 ...
ordering a replay after Shettleston protested against Benhar's "rough play" in Benhar's 9–1 victory. This was to no avail for Shettleston as it lost again, albeit only 4–1, at neutral ground in Airdrie in front of over a thousand spectators; the Shettleston fans "hooted and hissed tremendously" at the Benhar side.
In the third round, the club gained revenge over St Bernards for a heavy defeat in the Cup the previous year with a 5–1 win; in the fourth Benhar beat
Our Boys
''Our Boys'' is a comedy in three acts written by Henry James Byron, first performed in London on 16 January 1875 at the Vaudeville Theatre. Until it was surpassed by the run of ''Charley's Aunt'' in the 1890s, it was the world's longest-runn ...
of
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 ...
8–3 in a home replay. Our Boys protested the defeat on the basis that the match ended in darkness, due to Benhar not sending a coach to collect the Our Boys team from
Shotts
Shotts is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located almost halfway between Glasgow () and Edinburgh (). The village has a population of about 8,840. A local story has Shotts being named after the legendary giant highwayman Bertram de ...
, which required Our Boys to walk 4 miles to Harthill. Benhar provided evidence that it sent a telegram offering to send a conveyance either to Shotts or West Craigs, but the answer did not come until after the match, as it had been sent to the wrong address, so the protest was dismissed.
The run ended at
Annbank
Annbank is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is around five miles east of Ayr. Originally a mining settlement, it once had a rail link to Ayr via the Auchincruive Waggonway.
The village has a village hall, bakery, shop, bowling green, j ...
in some controversy. Annbank won the toss and chose to kick with a heavy wind behind it; by half-time Annbank was 5 goals to the good. With the wind now in its favour, Benhar scored within 3 minutes of the kick-off, but Annbank resorted to the tactic of clearing the ball out of the ground at every opportunity, taking advantage of the nearby Ayr Water, and, with no time being added on for such time-wasting, the club lost at least 15 minutes in fishing the ball out of the river.
The club also nearly repeated its 1882 success in the Lanarkshire Cup in the same season, reaching the final, after an acrimonious semi-final against
Airdrieonians
Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...
, West Benhar originally winning 2–1 but being made to replay after a protest; a second Airdrieonians protest against the crowd control was dismissed. In the final Benhar lost 5–3 to
Cambuslang
Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...
in a replay, in front of 2,500 at Hamilton; and over the season scored 140 goals in 30 matches. It finished the season by reaching the final of the first Airdrie Charity Cup, beating Clarkston 5–0 in the semi-final tie, but went down 6–2 to Airdrieonians before 3,000 spectators at the Airdrie Cricket Ground.
However the club's success was also its downfall. Professionalism was made legal in England by the
Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...
in 1885 and the club lost a number of its players to other clubs; in particular a number of players, such as the Reid brothers, Glen, and Sneddon, crossed over to play for the ambitious Airdrieonians. The season after being one of the top dozen clubs in Scotland, Benhar was struck from the Second XI roll, and could not field enough players against
Hamilton Academical
Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...
in a Scottish Cup tie. The last reported match for the club was a 5–2 defeat at
East Stirlingshire
East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...
in a friendly in August 1885 and the club was touted as being defunct the following month, although the club remained technically entered in the Lanarkshire Cup, and after two walkovers was drawn to Cambuslang in the third round in January 1886; it scratched from the tournament on the day of the match. The club's formal end was its removal from the register of clubs before the 1886–87 season.
Reform
What was left of the club reformed as West Benhar Violet as members 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 ...
and was a finalist in 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 ...
in 1889 and 1892, before folding around the turn of the century.
Colours
The club played in red and blue hooped jerseys and socks, plus white knickers with red and blue stripes.
Ground
Their home ground was situated in nearby Harthill, and the pitch still exists in the village today. It was reputed that Benhar had never lost a home game at Harthill Mains; certainly the club was unbeaten at home until at least November 1883 and never lost a competitive match there.
Famous players
*
Matt McQueen
Matthew McQueen (18 May 1863 – 28 September 1944) was a Scottish football player, who later became a director and manager of Liverpool.
Life and playing career
Born in Harthill, Lanarkshire, Scotland, McQueen played for Leith Athletic (t ...
, who resided in Harthill and worked at the Benhar Colliery. He joined Leith Athletic where he won two International caps for Scotland. He was eventually signed by
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
where after retiring as a player he became Manager and a Director of the club.
*
Hugh McQueen
Hugh McQueen (1 October 1867 – 8 April 1944) was a Scottish footballer, who played for several clubs in the 1890s and 1900s, mainly as an outside left.
Born in Harthill, Lanarkshire, McQueen played for Leith Athletic before being signed by ...
, Matt's brother
Honours
Lanarkshire Cup
*Winners: 1882–83
*Runners-up: 1884–85
Airdrie Charity Cup
*Runners-up: 1884–85