Sunday, August 1, 2010

Pollok FC (Scotland)

Pollok are a Scottish Junior side from the Glasgow suburb of Newlands. But they're not a youth side - in Scotland the Junior game is roughly equivilent to the English non-league set up bellow the Conference level. And as such it is a fiercely contested and well-attended corner of the game. And as far as the Junior league go, Pollok are among the biggest teams.

They regularly draw crowds in excess of 550, which may not sound a lot to you, but is still much higher than many teams in the Scottish Second Division, even though they play in the SJFA Stagecoach Superleague Premier League, effectively the fifth tier of the Scottish game. They formed in 1908, but did little of any great note until 1967, when their nearby neighbours Third Lanark disbanded and they took on many of their fans. This extra input eventually urged them on to their first Central League title in 1979 - and went on to win it eight times in total. They've also won the prestigious Junior Cup on three occasions. After a league restructuring they went on to win the new West Premier League a further four times.

They play their home games at the nicely terraced 4000 capacity Newlandsfield Park ground on the south side of Glasgow, where they've been based since 1928. Their many former ground have included Haggs Park on the Pollok estate, Roseberry Park and the rather delightfully named Queen Mary Tea Gardens at Spiersbridge. You'd definitely have wanted to have put that down on your list of grounds that you'd attended!

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