First 30 years
By John Boyd
March 31 2002
First Thirty Years
STRANRAER FC had a somewhat chequered career for the first thirty years of its history. Various teams had been in operation in the middle sixties, among them were Waverley, Academy Coursers, Lodge TC and Sheuchan Swifts. For the most part they played intermittently on Wednesday afternoons and during the summer evenings on farm fields.
First mention of the club was in 1865 when a match was played against Cree Rovers. The following was the first official eleven: Cluckie, Warren and Simpson; Bell and T. Alexander; McQuiston (captain), R. Porteous, Craig, G. Porteous, Nish and P. Alexander.
In 1870 all the town clubs amalgamated to form Stranraer FC. A senior and a junior team were run. The junior eleven operated in probably the same way as the Summer League of the following century. Travel was a problem and was the reason for the scarcity of fixtures. Stranraer's earliest game of importance was at Palmerston when they lost 4-3 to 5th KRV in a Southern Counties Cup tie. The team was: Cluckie, Warren and Simpson; J. Mackie and J. B. Bell; McQuiston (captain), Porteous, W. Mackie, Fraser, McKinstrae and Nish.
An umpire assisted the referee.
By 1873 the game had become more organised, at least more fixtures were being played, but it was not until six years later that some method was created out of the free and easy system. In 1875 the team was: Sam Carruth; G. Warren and R. Marshall; J. Douglas and G. Wade; T. McGaw, H. McLauchlan, D. McDowall, W. McComish, J. Torrance and J. Bell. Stranraer played Cree Rovers in the first round of a cup under the auspices of the new Scottish Football Association in a field some miles outside the town. No admission charge was made.
Girvan FC were defeated for the first time by a Wigtownshire Club in 1880 when they visited Stranraer. The report of the game is succinct and a gem: It read: The Girvan team started the ball. Stranraer won 3-0. At half-time ends were changed. Scobie had some nice runs but was prevented from scoring. Scobie was Girvan's best player.
Stranraer had obtained ground at Rephad and a red-letter day was the visit of Queen of the South Wanderers. The Reformatory Flute Band met them at the station and played them out to the park like conquering heroes. But the Wanderers were not conquerors. The report stated: despite playing against the wind, Stranraer team managed to take the ball down the field and within a short time put it through the opponents' goal amidst cheers of spectators. They managed it twice more, winning 3-0.
All was not well, however, for Stranraer FC were challenged by another side which claimed it was the senior team in the area. A match was arranged and Stranraer won 10-0. Nothing more was heard of the challengers.
There was a tighter association by this time and a match was arranged between a Wigtownshire Select and the Stewartry. None of Stranraer players was included, in fact the Stranraer secretary, Mr J. D. Mackie, claimed he did not know the game was on.
There were no league matches in the first thirty years. The Churchill Cup was competed for in 1883 and Stranraer beat Wigtown by 7-0. The account reads: The game was distinguished by the absence of all quarreling and ill-feeling, unfortunately too common at cup ties. The referee was Mr McGuigan, Newton Stewart, and never once was his decision questioned.
It was not always thus. Newton Stewart in a match against Stranraer, it was reported "after the loss of the fourth goal walked off to the chagrin of the supporters."
Stranraer had now become a force in football. After losing an appeal by Vale of Fleet on the condition of the ground (the referee was unable to see when the ball went out of play), they beat them in the replay and went on to the final of the Southern Counties Cup, drawing 3-3 at Palmerston and losing by 1-0 at home to 5th KRV. Quite a feat in these days.
At Rephad a charge, sixpence for men, threepence for ladies, was made, but when the club had to move to Ladies' Walk there were no paying spectators, they watched from the road.
In 1886 the game was given a big impetus by the arrival of a Glasgow Select side, composed mainly of Queens Parkers. Stranraer with what was then considered their best side to date - Wade; R. Marshall and G. Warren; J. B. Bell, T. McCaw and R. Carlyle; J. Torrance, P. Hughes, R. Porteous, H. McKeand and D. McDowall - beat them 2-1. It is the first record of three half-backs. The final of the Churchill Cup was reached but there was a dispute with the players and five regulars absented themselves. Of the game the reporter wrote, "The ball having been kicked off, it was brought pretty near the Vale goal; but being well put out, it was taken down the field by Bryden and, passing the backs, he did not put it from him until he succeeded in eluding the goalkeeper also, and scored the first point for Nith about five minutes from the start."
Stranraer became the first winners of the Law Cup in 1890 when they beat Wigtown at Castle-Douglas. The team was: Sam Carruth; Robert Carlyle and George Warren; John Robertson, George M. Wade and Tom McCaw; James McLaughlin, James Torrance, Wm. McComish, Tom Dyer and James Bell. The score was 6-2.
Stranraer's team from 1890. At this time Stranraer played in blue and white pin-stripes.
The Reformatory Flute Band met the cup winners at the railway station and played them in triumph through the streets of the town. It was not to be the only time a Stranraer cup winning side was to march behind a town band. The keeper, Sam Carruth, carried the trophy aloft in front of the brake.
Moffat, drawn at Stranraer in the Scottish FA Cup, offered the club money to scratch. It was scornfully refused. A team calling itself Glasgow Rangers Swifts visited Stranraer in 1891 and, according to the report, "Gave the finest display that has-been seen. Their superior skill was manifest from the commencement."
When unsuccessfully defending the Law Cup against Newton Stewart Athletic at Castle-Douglas, Stranraer was involved in a regrettable incident "some contending parties relieving their feelings by indulging in a scrimmage until pacified by the spectators."
Once more, in 1892, Stranraer was ignored by the Wigtownshire and District Association when challenged by the Southern Counties. Stranraer, even though regarded by then as the premier team in Galloway, did not furnish even one player nor was there a representative in the reserve side.
Stranraer moved to a field opposite the bowling green in 1896, thence to Sandmill where they had been earlier, but Sandmill was so small it limited the number of spectators. Eventually a more suitable ground was obtained at the Trotting Track for a small fee, and with a regular home more fixtures were arranged.
After beating Creetown 8-1 in the Qualifying Cup in 1899, Stranraer had to entertain Douglas Wanderers in a replay. The Wanderers did not tell Stranraer they were coming and no referee was fixed. A friendly was held which Stranraer won but the Wanderers claimed the tie and expenses and a replay was ordered which the Rovers won. The SFA threw out the claim. Stranraer's team was: John Harrison; Harry Robb and John McCamon; McDowall, McWhirter and Robertson; J. McCamon, Arnott, Alex McCamon, McCaw and D. Caldwell.
Glasgow Rangers visited the town in June, 1899, in a match in aid of the Garrick Hospital and Stranraer fielded seven of the select side. The game was now going great guns, Stranraer chartered a saloon for away matches and later a special train no less. Spectators to their home games were invited "to walk in at the gate with their heads held high."
Disorderly scenes at a Dumfries and Galloway Cup tie at Newton Stewart, where they lost 3-0, led to trouble with the Association. The Stranraer supporters broke in after one of the players, T. Caldwell, had his leg broken.
On a happier note, the era ended with the winning of the Wigtownshire Cup, which was presented ten years earlier, in the first time, Tarff Rovers being beaten in the 1899 final at Whithorn. Secretary Fred Porteous and chairman, Councillor R. Mackie, received a wonderful welcome when they returned with the trophy.