Bellshill Athletic 2-2 Shettleston
West Region League One
Saturday 22nd December 2018
Bellshill is a town in North Lanarkshire, 10 miles south east
of Glasgow city centre. (population over 20,000)
Bellshill Hospital opened in
1870, becoming the first maternity facility in the Lanarkshire area in 1917,
with new dedicated maternity buildings added in the late 1950s and early 60s.
The hospital was the birthplace of many famous faces including politician Robin
Cook, singer Sheena Easton and Sharleen Spiteri from the band Texas. There was
also an array of famous footballers born there, with the likes of Matt Busby,
Ally McCoist, Hughie Gallacher Brian McClair, Malky MacKay and Billy McNeil
amongst many would be soccer stars. The hospital closed down in 2001,
before being demolished in 2003 to make way for new housing developments.
I’ve been aware of Bellshill
since the late 1980s through its music scene known as the Bellshill Sound or the Bellshill Beat. Bands
from the town include the Soup Dragons, BMX Bandits and of course Teenage
Fanclub - The best fucking band in the world!
It was love at first sight when I
saw Teenage Fanclub on the indie music show SNUBTV on BBC2, playing their debut
single Everything
Flows. From that moment I was a fan of
the Fannies, and over the last 30 years I’ve purchased every single and album
released. They’ll always be one of my all time favourite bands, with their
albums Bandwagonesque and Thirteen amongst my “desert island
discs”
Bellshill
Athletic formed as a Juvenile club in
1897 before switching to Junior level after two fairly successful seasons.
Bellshill have played at Junior level since 1899, apart from a short spell in
the Intermediate League between 1927 and 1931. The Hill made football history
in October 1975, when the SJFA allowed them to use sponsored team jerseys,
becoming the first club in Scotland to do so. The club currently play at
level 3 of the West Region SJFA in League One.
Lanarkshire League winners
1904-05
Scottish Junior League winners
1907-08
Central Region Division B winners
1951-52, 1973-74
Central 2nd Division winners
1986-87, 2000-01
Super League Division One winners
2003-04
Rockburn Park
Carnoustie Place
Bellshill,
North Lanarkshire,
ML4 3EX
Capacity 500
Scottish Junior grounds visited
42
Total Scottish football grounds
101
Athletic played at a few grounds
in their early years at Orbiston Park, Douglas Park and Brigade Park, before
settling at Brandon Park, which opened in 1903. In their centenary year, they
moved to New Brandon Park, in the Hattonrigg area of the town. However, due to
legal matters with the owner, the club were forced into another nomadic period,
sharing at Blantyre, then back in Bellshill at the Sir Matt Busby Sports
Complex. After this agreement expired, the club shared with Vale of Clyde in
Tollcross before returning to the town in 2015 at the vacant Rockburn Park.
There were plans to move to a new community facility at Bellshill Academy, but
this has now been shelved with the club guaranteed to play at Rockburn for at
least the next five years.
The main building behind the goal
houses the home team changing room with the snack bar at the side. There are
portable cabins at the entrance for away team and match officials with a
hospitality bar. The pitch is roped off with no cover or dugouts.
Bellshill
Athletic(6th) v Shettleston(10th)
West Region - League One Matchday
16 v15
1.45pm ko
Att.57hc
Weather: rain, sunny then heavy
rainfall.
Bellshill dominated the first
half and finally took the lead through Jordan Jeffrey in injury time. A sweet
25 yard free kick from Craig Johnston levelled things up early in the second
period, before a fantastic diving header from Jamie Stewart restored the home
team’s lead. The visitors quickly responded with Johnston sliding home his
second to make it all square, in what was a very entertaining match played in testing conditions.
BAFC 2(Jeffrey 45 Stewart 64)
Red card: Callum Nolan 48 minutes
(2nd yellow)
SJFC 2(Johnston 53,66)
Spondoolicks
Admission £5
Programme £1
Coffee £1
Mince pie £1.50
Tea £1
#HeedHopper
142 miles door-to-door via
A69/A74(M)
Travelled with Katie & Lee in
Blossom, picked up at 9.20.
We arrived in Bellshill at 1pm,
later than planned due to heavy traffic on the M74 on the outskirts
Glasgow.(late Christmas shoppers) We headed straight to the ground and received
a warm welcome from everyone at the club.
The early kick off coupled with
quieter traffic heading south meant I was back home at 100FgCHQ before 7pm,
after an enjoyable day trip.
Whitkirk is a suburb 4 miles east
of Leeds city centre. The Domesday Book recorded a church belonging to
the manor of Gipton and Colton, which refers to the one in Whitkirk, as its the
only known medieval church in the Leeds area. The place was first mentioned in
the mid-12th century in the Early Yorkshire Charters as ‘Witechirche’, meaning
‘white church'.
