Blantyre Victoria F.C.
Blantyre Victoria Football Club, also known as Blantyre Vics, are a Scottish association football club based in the town of Blantyre, South Lanarkshire. Nicknamed "the Vics", they were formed in 1890 and play at KG Stadium (traditionally Castle Park) where their record attendance is 6,000. They currently compete in the West of Scotland Football League. They shared a healthy rivalry with Blantyre Celtic who played nearby at Craighead Park, until Celtic were dissolved in 1992. The team are managed since June 2016 by former Alloa and Stirling Albion midfielder John Gibson. History. Blantyre Victoria were founded in  1889 by a Mr S. Dawson, who remained working with the club until his death in the 20th century. When they were founded, they initially had no permanent ground so played on Glasgow Road in Blantyre. They won the Larkhall Junior league in 1892 and in 1893. The club then went senior however then temporarily dissolved due to a lack of success on the pitch. The club was refounded in 1900 by a group of teenagers who paid for it with their own money. They won the Lanarkshire Junior Cup in their first year. In 1907, they won both the  Lanarkshire Junior League and the Scottish Central League. Historically the club took younger players to give them a challenge and become tougher. The future Celtic player Billy McNeill started his career at Blantyre Victoria. They became members of the Scottish Junior Football Association. In 2020, they announced they had applied for membership of the West of Scotland Football League. They did this to gain more competition but retain their junior status which allowed them to continue to enter the Scottish Junior Cup. Later in the year, a Blantyre Victoria player contracted coronavirus and the club stated that they would have  to stop paying the players' wages as a result of the suspension of Scottish Junior football. Honours. Scottish Junior Cup West of Scotland Junior Cup Central District League Division One Central District League Division Two