Nithsdale Wanderers F.C.

Nithsdale Wanderers Football Club

Full name	Nithsdale Wanderers Football Club
Founded	2001
Ground	Lorimer Park, Blackaddie Road, Sanquhar (Capacity: 1000 with no seating)
League	South of Scotland Football League
2010-11	12th
Home colours Away colours

Nithsdale Wanderers Football Club are a senior football club based in Sanquhar, Dumfries and Galloway. Their home ground is Lorimer Park and they currently play in the South of Scotland Football League.

It was also the name of a previous club from the town who were in membership of the Scottish Football League from 1923 to 1927.

The original Wanderers

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 season 1923–24 they were one of the clubs invited to join the Scottish League's new Third Division. Although this competition would exist for only 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 1925, Wanderers won the Division Three 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 debut season in Division Two, the 1926–27 season saw them finish bottom and have 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 South of Scotland League, and occasionally qualifying for the Scottish Cup (suffering a 14–0 defeat against Dundee United in the 1931 competition).

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

Honours

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

Nithsdale Wanderers today

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 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 would only be eligible to compete in the Scottish Cup in the event of them winning the South League.

The team's home colours are blue and white. The team's new away colours are Yellow and Blue.

References

• South of Scotland League, Scottish Non-League Online (2006). Retrieved on 28 August 2006