5th Kirkcudbrightshire Rifle Volunteers F.C.
The 5th Kirkcudbrightshire Rifle Volunteers Football Club was a football team based in Dumfries, Scotland. The club was founded in 1879 and played their home games on their drill field, Palmerston Park in Dumfries.
| Full name | 5th Kirkcudbrightshire Rifle Volunteers Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1879 | |
| Dissolved | 1896 | |
| Ground | Palmerston Park, Dumfries 1879–1896 | |
| League | South of Scotland Football League 1892–93 | |
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The 5th Kirkcudbrightshire Rifle Volunteers were formed in 1860 in response to increasing unrest within Continental Europe and the British Empire. Ultimately eleven Companies were raised throughout Galloway and their services accepted by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The 5th KRV were based in Maxwelltown, Dumfries until the re-organisation of private militias in 1908 when all volunteer forces in Galloway were absorbed into the 5th King’s Own Scottish Borderers Regiment.[1]
The football club was founded in 1879 and their earliest strip was a suitably patriotic red and blue hooped shirts with white shorts and red socks, although this changed to a royal blue and white strip later in life.[2]
The 5th joined the inaugural but ill-fated South of Scotland Football League for the 1892–93 season. Seven teams registered but the fixtures were never completed and the league folded in disarray.
However, the 5th were a very successful cup side winning all the local cup competitions on a number of occasions. They also played in every Scottish Cup from 1880–81 to 1894–95, with the exception of season 1891–92, and although they proved to be redoubtable battlers they were often knocked out by local rivals Queen of the South Wanderers, a team unconnected to the present Dumfries club. Their First Round tie against the Wanderers in 1883–84 ended in a 7–7 draw at Palmerston Park, a score line which still remains as the highest scoring draw in the history of the Scottish Cup.[3]
After a re-organisation of the volunteer forces in 1896, a new football club, the Maxwelltown Volunteers FC was founded and they continued to play at Palmerston Park until 1908 when they re-formed as the 5th King’s Own Scottish Borderers Regiment FC. After the troops returned from the First World War, the 5th KOSB joined forces with other local teams in the Dumfries area to form the current Scottish Football League side Queen of the South in 1919.[2]
Honours
Southern Counties Cup Winners
1891–92, 1893–94
Churchill Cup Winners
1881–82 Shared, 1883–84, 1888–89, 1890–91, 1893–94, 1894–95
Southern Counties Charity Cup
1883–84, 1889–90, 1890–91, 1893–94