Volunteer Park, Armadale
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Volunteer Park is a
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 ...
ground in
Armadale, West Lothian Armadale ( sco, Airmadale, gd, Armadal) is a town within the county of West Lothian in the Central Belt of Scotland. It lies to the west of Bathgate and to the east of Blackridge. Armadale, formerly known as Barbauchlaw, is an ex-mining town wh ...
, Scotland. It is the home ground of Armadale Thistle, and was used by several of the town's previous clubs, including
Armadale F.C. Armadale Football Club were a football club based in Armadale, West Lothian in Scotland. The club was a member of the Scottish Football League from 1921 to 1932 and played at Volunteer Park. History The club was formed in 1910 and played ...
, who played
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 south ...
matches there between 1921 and 1933. The ground also hosted
greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...
during the 1930s.


History

Around 1880, C Company of the Royal Scots Volunteer Battalion moved to Armadale from
Torphichen Torphichen ( ) is a historic small village located north of Bathgate in West Lothian, Scotland. The village is approximately 18 miles (20 km) west of Edinburgh, 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Falkirk and 4 miles (6 km) south-west of Linlithgow. T ...
, and began training at Volunteer field on North Street. In 1881 Armadale Stars requested to use the site as a football pitch, and were allowed to do so on the condition that they joined the Volunteers. As a result, the club was renamed Armadale Volunteers.Volunteer Park
Armadale Thistle
Volunteer field subsequently became Volunteer Park. In 1889 Armadale F.C. took over the ground, playing there until their disbandment in 1894. In 1910 a new
Armadale F.C. Armadale Football Club were a football club based in Armadale, West Lothian in Scotland. The club was a member of the Scottish Football League from 1921 to 1932 and played at Volunteer Park. History The club was formed in 1910 and played ...
were formed, and took over Volunteer Park. Over the next five years a pavilion with a small stand was built on the eastern side of the pitch and a 200-seat grandstand erected on the western side. Embankments were also built around the pitch.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p226 On 19 February 1921 the ground's probable record attendance of 12,600 was set for a
Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...
. The west stand was demolished and replaced with a new 700-capacity stand in the same year. This later burnt down in the mid-1930s. Later in 1921 the club were admitted to Division Two 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 south ...
. The first SFL match was played at Volunteer Park on 20 August, a 3–0 win against St Bernard's. The crowd of 4,000 remained Armadale's highest recorded league attendance. In the 1930s the ground was used for whippet racing. By then the Volunteer Park pitch had become known as one of the worst in the SFL. Financial problems led to the club being expelled from the SFL during the 1933–34 season, their last home match in the league being a 5–1 defeat to Raith Rovers on 19 November 1933. The crowd of just 300 (the same as that for the 2–0 defeat to
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 ...
on 5 November) was their lowest recorded league attendance. The club folded in 1935, and a new club, Armadale Thistle, was formed in 1936, taking over Volunteer Park. A covered seated stand was built in 1950, and the club installed floodlights at the ground in 1954; the first Scottish Junior Football Association match was played under floodlights at Volunteer Park in 1956 when Thistle played Rosewell Rosedale. The ground has also been used to host several schoolboy internationals.


Greyhound racing

Racing first took place around the Volunteer Park football pitch on 3 October 1936 but only lasted until 16 February 1939. The racing was independent (unlicensed) and the track distances consisted of 225 yards and 380 yards. The greyhound operation moved to
Armadale Stadium Armadale Stadium is a motorcycle speedway and former greyhound racing stadium situated in the town of Armadale, West Lothian in Scotland. Stock car racing has also been held at the venue. Speedway It has been home to the Edinburgh Monarchs ...
just four days later on 20 February 1939. TD Heffernan was involved in both tracks.


References

{{Scottish greyhound tracks Football venues in Scotland Armadale F.C. Armadale Thistle F.C. Scottish Football League venues Sports venues in West Lothian Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing in Scotland