Nithsdale Wanderers 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 ...

club based in

Sanquhar Sanquhar ( sco, Sanchar, gd, Seanchair) is a village on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a former Royal Burgh. It is notable for its tiny post office, established in 1712 and con ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkc ...

. Their home ground is Lorimer Park and they currently play in the

South of Scotland Football League The South of Scotland Football League (SoSFL) is a senior football league based in south-west Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Founded in 1946, it i ...

. It was also the name of a previous club from the town, who were in membership of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

from 1923 to 1927.

History

Original club

Nithsdale Wanderers originally formed in 1897 and enjoyed a measure of local success in their early years. The 1920s would see them achieve their highest level of national prominence. The decade began with them moving to a new ground at Crawick Holm. In the 1923–24 season, they were one of the clubs invited to join the Scottish League's new Third Division. Although this competition would exist only for three seasons and would have terrible economic consequences for many of its clubs, Nithsdale Wanderers were to thrive, albeit briefly, on their newfound status. In 1924–25, Wanderers won the Third Division championship, clinching the title with an 8–0 victory over Montrose in the final match of the season. Although they finished comfortably mid-table in their début season in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, the 1926–27 season saw them finish bottom and they had to seek re-election to the league (by this time Division Three was no more). They were unsuccessful and the brief league career of Nithsdale Wanderers was at an end. They continued to compete in local senior competitions, including the Southern Counties League and the South of Scotland League, and occasionally qualified for the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

in the

1930–31 Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

competition). In 1951, the club dropped down to the junior grades, but continued to struggle, finally going out of existence in 1964.

Modern club

After a gap of 37 years, the name of Nithsdale Wanderers was revived when the new club successfully applied for membership of the South of Scotland Football League in 2001. Their biggest impact on the competition to date was finishing in second place in the 2006–07 season. As they are only associate members of the SFA, they are only eligible to compete in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

**Division Three champions 1924–25 *Scottish Football Combination **Champions 1909–10 *Southern Counties Challenge Cup **Winners 1903–04, 1906–07, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1913–14, 1919–20, 1921–22, 1922–23, 1927–28, 1945–46 *Potts Cup **Winners 1902–03, 1905–06, 1908–09, 1909–10, 1913–14, 1919–20, 1922–23 *Southern Counties Charity Cup **Winners 1910–11, 1912–13 *South of Scotland Cup **Winners 1912–13

Modern club

* South of Scotland League ** ''Runners-up'': 2006–07 *Haig Gordon Memorial Trophy ** Winners: 2008–09 *Wigtownshire & District FA Tweedie Cup **Winners: 2016–17 *Southern Counties FA Alba Cup ** Winners: 2021–21

References

South of Scotland League
''Scottish Non-League Online'' (2006). Retrieved on 28 August 2006 {{coord, 55.369683, -3.930346, region:GB, display=title Football clubs in Scotland Football clubs in Dumfries and Galloway Association football clubs established in 2001 Scottish Football League teams Association football clubs established in 1897 Association football clubs disestablished in 1964 1964 disestablishments in Scotland South of Scotland Football League teams Sanquhar