Bridge of Don Thistle Football Club is 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 ...

club from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

. 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 ...

, they currently play in the SJFA North Superleague.

History

The club was founded in 1983 as Wilson's XI F.C., named after Norman Wilson, the club's first president and main sponsor. Originally competing in the

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area inclu ...

Amateur Football Leagues, the club joined the SJFA, North Region in 2000. On joining the Juniors, the club moved from local playing fields into the

Hillhead Centre The Hillhead Centre (formally known as ''Keith Park'') is a multi-use stadium, sports stadium in the Old Aberdeen area of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is owned and managed by the University of Aberdeen. It consists of a floodlights, floodlit, grass ...

. This ground, originally known as Keith Park, was the purpose built home of another Junior club, Aberdeen Bon Accord. After Bon Accord folded in 1997, the facility was taken over by the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

who renamed it the Hillhead Centre. In 2006, Wilson's XI took the name Hillhead F.C. For the 2011–12 season, however, the club renamed themselves Bridge of Don Thistle to broaden their appeal among the local community. With

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

joining the Junior grade in 2014, Thistle continued to groundshare between the Hillhead Centre and Aberdeen Sports Village during the 2014–15 season. The club eventually relocated to Gallowshill Park in the village of

Newburgh, Aberdeenshire Newburgh is a coastal village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The village dates to 1261 AD, when Lord Sinclair wanted to establish a chapel in the area. Originally built as a school, somewhat later the chapel of Holy Rood was established. Geograp ...

. At the end of the 2015–16 season, the club renamed themselves Newburgh Thistle. In 2018 they reverted to the Bridge of Don Thistle name and returned to Aberdeen, with

Aberdeen Sports Village Aberdeen Sports Village is a sports facility in Aberdeen, Scotland. History The present athletics track is situated on the site of the Aberdeen Regent Park Greyhound Stadium which later became the Linksfield Stadium and subsequently the Chri ...

as their new home ground. The club won promotion in their first season in Junior football but have yet to win any honours outright.

Name history

References

External links

* Football clubs in Scotland Football clubs in Aberdeen Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Association football clubs established in 1983 1983 establishments in Scotland Football in Aberdeenshire {{Scotland-footyclub-stub