|
|
| CLUB
HISTORY |
In was in 1889 that a
band of local football fans decided to run an
official organized team in the town. This was not the first junior
football
team from the town as records show that Linlithgow Athletic were
founder
members of the East of Scotland junior FA in 1886.
Donations were collected and with further fund raising the sum of
24
shillings was raised. With this money a visit was made to Lumley`s
in
Edinburgh and the clubs first strip was purchased in the colours
black and
white. It`s well known that the clubs colours are the famous maroon
and
white but until a few years ago the clubs away strip was still black
and
white. The clubs first ground was known as Captains Park as situated
at the
east end of the town near the boghall area. Many keen and exciting
games were
staged here and it was while playing here that the club won their
first
trophy. The year was 1902 and the club travelled to Tyncastle Park
Edinburgh
to defeat Inverkeithing Thistle and win the Forth League. The players
returned to a tumultuous reception it appeared that the whole town
had turned
out to greet the team and the local band played them around the
town.
The next trophy to be won was in 1905 when by defeating Vale of
Grange they
won the County Cup. It was around this time that a dispute among
the
committee nearly led to the club folding.
The story goes that the Rose had been drawn at home to Duns Athletic
in the
Junior Cup. On the day of the tie there had been a heavy snowfall,
but with
the help of supporters the pitch was cleared allowing the game to
go on.
The Duns team had arranged to travel by train to Linlithgow but
because of
the snow the train only reached Philpstoun which meant they had
to finish
the journey to Captain`s Park on foot.
In a hard fought match the scores finished level which meant the
Rose were
left with a daunting journey to Duns for the replay the following
week.
Disgusted with the teams performance a number of the committee suggested
that
they would not travel and the club should withdraw from the cup.
This led to
heated arguments and threatened resignations but in the end the
match was
played with the Rose winning 5-0
PAGE
2 |
|
