| Nickname(s) | the Vale | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1896 | |
| Dissolved | 1906 | |
| Ground | Kintail Park | |
| Trainers | R. Steel and J. T. Cox (1903) | |
| Match secretary | James Jardine | |
Vale of Dryfe F.C. was an association football club from Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, active at the turn of the 20th century.
The club was formed at a meeting on 16 November 1896, to provide a Junior club for the town, after the demise of the original Mid-Annandale club; William Gardner was elected first captain. [1] Its first competitive football came in the Southern Counties Cup, which it entered in 1896–97, and it lost 5–1 to Dumfries Thistle in a replay of its first tie. The Vale protested that Thistle's Gordon was Cup-tied for having played for the 5th K.R.V. in the Scottish Cup, in vain. [2]
The Vale was one of the ten clubs to sign up for the new Southern Counties League in June 1897, [3] but it withdrew before the competition started. [4]
The Vale had a run of success between 1901 and 1904 at local level. It won the Southern Counties Consolation Cup for the first time in 1901–02, with a 2–1 win over Douglas Wanderers at Palmerston Park. [5] It successfully retained the trophy in 1902–03, by beating the 6th G.R.V. 2–0, and surviving a protest about player eligibility. [6]
Off the back of that success, the club recruited two coaches, [7] and joined the Scottish Football Association in May 1903. [8] This entitled the club to play in the Scottish Qualifying Cup, and the club lost to Dumfries in a first round tie, replayed after the Vale had successfully protested that Dumfries' McClure had not been transferred from Maxwelltown Volunteers. [9] The Vale gained a revenge by beating Dumfries in the Southern Counties Cup, and reached the final of the tournament for the only time, but lost 4–1 to Nithsdale Wanderers, the club hindered by centre-half Bill Alston being carried off when the score was 1–1. [10]
The extra expense of senior membership proved deleterious to the club. It never won another tie in either the Counties Cup or the Consolation Cup, and lost in the first round of the 1904–05 Qualifying Cup. The club came close to disbanding in 1905, with only a small balance at hand and finding "in these days of professionalism some trouble to make both ends meet", but it did retain most of its players for one last tilt in 1905–06. [11] The efforts were rewarded with a 2–0 win over Dumfries in the first round of the Qualifying Cup, considered "one of the greatest surprises of the round" [12] (the inevitable protest - about one of the goals coming from a wrongly-awarded penalty - was dismissed unanimously). [13] The Vale was hammered 8–0 by Nithsdale Wanderers in the second, key player Alston having been lured away by Liverpool for a trial. [14]
The effort was too much for the club - it withdrew from the Potts Cup in December 1905 before playing a tie [15] and its final recorded match was a 3–1 defeat on New Year's Day 1906 at Penrith. [16] It was thrown out of the Scottish FA roll in August 1906 [17] and the club was dissolved the same month, a new junior club (Mid-Annandale Amateurs) being founded to replace the senior club, playing at the same ground and wearing the same colours. [18]
The club's first ground was a park owned by a Mr Baird of Broomhouses. [21] It later played at Kintail Park, although it is not certain whether this was the same ground. [22]
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county.
The South of Scotland Football League (SoSFL) is a senior football league based in south-west Scotland. The league sits at level 6 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League.
Before the South of Scotland Football League was formed in 1946, there had been previous attempts to introduce league competitions in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland since the 1890s. These early attempts invariably foundered because of the very small townships in the area and a tendency for the clubs to concentrate on the myriad of cup competitions that were in operation.
The 2022–23 South of Scotland Football League was the 77th season of the South of Scotland Football League, and the 9th season as part of the sixth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. The season started on 30 July 2022 and ended on 8 May 2023. St Cuthbert Wanderers were the reigning champions.
The 6th Galloway Rifle Volunteers Football Club was a football team based in Dalbeattie, Scotland.
Nithsdale Football Club was an association football club from Dumfries, Scotland.
Moffat F.C. was an association football club from Moffat in Dumfriesshire.
The Maxwelltown Volunteers Football Club was a football team based in Dumfries, Scotland.
Douglas Wanderers F.C. was an association football club from Castle Douglas in Dumfriesshire.
Mid-Annandale F.C. was an association football club from Lockerbie in Dumfriesshire. The club was one of the more successful in the county in the 1880s and early 1890s, once reaching the final 16 of the Scottish Cup, but was wound up in December 1894.
The 2023–24 South of Scotland Football League was the 78th season of the South of Scotland Football League, and the 10th season as part of the sixth tier of the Scottish football pyramid system. Abbey Vale were the reigning champions, but could only finish fourth in the table.
Vale o' Nith Football Club was an association football club from Dumfries, Scotland.
The Churchill Cup was an association football cup competition for clubs in the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Wigtownshire, and Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. The competition was founded in 1881 and was last competed for in the 1894–95 season. Before the emergence of the Southern Counties Cup, it was the most prestigious local tournament for clubs in the south of Scotland.
Rising Thistle Football Club was a 19th-century association football club based in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
Douglas Rovers F.C. was an association football club from Castle Douglas in Dumfriesshire.
The Southern Counties Cup is an association football cup competition for clubs in the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Wigtownshire, and Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. The competition was founded in 1891.
Garliestown Football Club was an association football club from the village of Garlieston, Wigtownshire.
The Southern Counties League was a league association football tournament for teams in southern Scotland.
Nithsdale Football Club was an association football club from Dumfries in Scotland, active in the 1890s.
