Hill of Beath Hawthorn (Scotland)

Hill of Beath Hawthorn FC is a Scottish non-league football club formed in 1975 who come from the village of Hill of Beath; in the Kingdom of Fife between the towns of Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath.

A club of the same name played in Junior/non-league football in the 1950’s at Keir’s Park with future Scotland B international, Tommy McDonald starting out life with the club. The new incarnation began life playing in the third division of the Kirkcaldy and District Amateur League.

Under the management of  Jock Finlayson, it took just seven years for the club to progress to the top division of the competition while picking up a plethora of local cups before they applied to become a Junior club; becoming SJFA Fife Junior League champions in 1986-87.

A second Fife League title followed in 1988-89 before ‘Haws’ went on a run all the way to the Scottish Junior Cup final in 1989-90. Lesmahagow were defeated 1-0 with a Brian Ritchie goal at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock.

The 1990’s would see further success for Haws as the Fife Junior League title was collected in 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1997-98. The 95-96 campaign also saw the Fife & Lothians Cup, the Fife & Tayside Cup and the Fife Cup being added to the honours sheet.

Fife Junior league titles seven and eight arrived in 1999-00 and 2001-02 before Junior football was re-organised with the Fife League coming under the auspice of the East Juniors FA.

Haws were placed in the SJFA East Super League where they finished as runners-up in 2002-03 before they reached the semi-final of the Junior Cup in 2003-04; leading 3-1 at half time against Carnoustie before eventually losing.

Throughout the period a big local rivalry was built with Kelty Hearts who had also been formed in 1975. Haws dropped down from the Super League for one season before recovering their position to again finish as runners-up in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Finlayson resigned in June 2015 after an incredible forty years as manager with Bobby Wilson coming in as his replacement. He remained at the helm until May 2017 before being replaced by Kevin Fotheringham.

Keir Park was continually improved throughout the period before the club joined many others in the East region when defecting from the Juniors to join the SFA and become members of the East of Scotland Football League for the 2018-19 season.

A second place in Conference A saw a position in the Premier Division for 2019-20. Manager Fotheringham was replaced by John Mitchell after an away defeat to Gretna 2008 in the Scottish Cup in September 2019.

Hill of Beath Hawthorn FC will play in the East of Scotland Premier Division in the 2019-20 season.

My visit

Saturday 25th January 2020

I was on my second day of an adventure around the football grounds of Fife as well as fitting in three matches. A cold and windy morning had greeted me as I’d been up into the hills to Kelty Hearts and then back to nearby Crossgates Primrose.

My doziness led to me jumping off one of the buses heading to Edinburgh with my woollen Scarborough Athletic hat onboard, meaning a cold bonce being exposed to the elements. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining.

My research informed me that Scottish legendary international Jim Baxter was from Hill of Beath, and that the village had a statue in his honour. Further reading over apt Friday night bevvies had given away its location.

My bus from Crossgates dropped me at the Swinton’s Place stop just beyond the Ex-Servicemens Club on Main Street. I’d already got a glimpse across the park to Keir’s Park and seen a couple of gents working on a stand.

Firstly, I took time to look at the excellent statue outside the club. It was a fine tribute to who older folk tell me was a great footballer. A sign advertised new houses at Baxterfield; another lovely reminder of the great man.

The younger fella of the two was up on the near stand roof doing some maintenance, while the elder had gone into the ground by the top gate. I followed him for a chat and permission to go inside to take photos.

I couldn’t have been made more welcome. I’m not sure who the gent was but he obviously did an awful lot for the club. He told me that he made some of the stands himself. I was impressed. He had done a tremendous job.

Every little bit of grass inside the ground was neatly trimmed. All paintwork was pristine, with a smart snack bar. Lots of rubbish bins were around the spectator areas, which had a couple of basic but tidy gent’s toilets which was a rare but welcome feature.

Smart little proud touches such as iron signs added to the features along with two entrance blocks off the Swinton’s Place end. It was a ground fit for the highest level of Scottish non-league football, and only a seated enclosure away from league standard.

We had an interesting chat as my queries about the clubs defecting across from the Juniors. It was confirmed that the swap made financial sense as aid was offered by the Scottish FA and the Juniors was a bit of a West mafia with the association chairman from that part of the world.

I mentioned that I’d been impressed by many of the venues that I’d visited; particularly Kelty. This raised a wry smile. I was told that it was the council that owned New Central Park which had helped Hearts in their quest towards the Scottish League.

Plenty of money had been spent on the Kelty team. I left my chat wondering whether its source would always be there? I was in no doubt of the rivalry between the clubs as I was told that Hearts would never be able to claim they’d won the Junior Cup!

Jim Baxter, I was told, played for Crossgates as the original Haws were in a bit of a mess and disappeared as he started his career, but he’d been inside Keir’s Park on a couple of occasions in his later life.

Jim wasn’t the only famous Scottish international footballer with connections to Hill of Beath. I was told that the parents of Celtic’s Scott Brown lived in the cottages across the way with him being born in Dunfermline.

I took my time having a wander right round the venue, which was good as I had some time to kill before my bus onwards towards Dundonald. The kind gent opened the toilets in the dressing room. Unsurprisingly, everything was spotless.

The job on the enclosure roof was nearly done as I said thank you and went on my way. I’d been extremely impressed both with Keir’s Park and the people connected with the club; in the same way I was taken by Johnstone Burgh several years earlier.

There was still ten minutes until my next bus, so I took a short walk to the Allan Park stop on Woodside Place, doing my best to shelter from a biting wind. I wasn’t upset when our double decker arrived!