Lochore Welfare (Scotland)

Lochore Welfare Junior Football and Athletic Club, more commonly known as Lochore Welfare, is a Scottish non-league football club formed in 1934, based in the village of Crosshill in Fife. Lochore was the name of one of several local collieries, with coal mining the main local industry of the day.

The club joined the Scottish Junior FA after their formation came about following several mergers, initially with amateur club Lochore Miners to become Lochore Miners Welfare. The side won a plethora of cup competitions over the years as well as league honours.

Lochore were crowned as Fife Junior League winners for the first time in 1938-39 at their Central Park home. A young Jimmy Logie was at the club at the time before moving south to enjoy a successful career with Arsenal, as well as earning an international cap.

A second league title followed World War Two in 1947-48 before the following decade saw Welfare become Fife champions in 1953-54 and 1955-56. Tommy Callaghan cut his teeth with Lochore before joining Dunfermline Athletic in 1962, from where he’d move to Celtic.

This was just after a fourth league title arrived in 1961-62. It was a golden period for the club as they made it three Fife Junior League triumphs in a row as they retained the title in 1962-63 and 1963-64, with Willie Johnston featuring on the wing while on loan from Rangers.

Ian Porterfield was also on the verge of the side before he departed for Raith Rovers after a trial at Cowdenbeath. Trophies became very thin on the ground in the ensuing years. Future Scotland manager Craig Levein started his career at Central Park before joining Cowdenbeath in 1981.

Welfare continued competing in the Fife Junior League with former Heart of Midlothian and Dundee midfielder Cammy Fraser becoming player-manager in 1993. Another local club, Benarty, which played at Dallas Doyle Park in Ballingry, merged with Lochore at the end of the 1998-99 season. 

Jimmy Hardie was surprisingly relieved of his managerial duties at the back end of the 2001-02 season, with Welfare top of the table and appearing in three semi-finals. Drew Muir arrived at Central Park in his place. The Junior set up was reorganised with the competition being absorbed into the East Region from 2006-07. 

Jock Steel resigned as team manager in the summer of 2014 after a year at the helm to be replaced by Pete Hutton. Lochore found themselves playing in the lower divisions of the updated set-up. Andy Healey took over as manager of the Central Parkers in July 2016, as he took over from Lee Dair, as James Adam continued to score goals for the side in the third-tier North Division.

Further restructuring followed for 2018-19 as Lochore finished fifth in Premier League South, led by former player Adam, leading to a place in East Region Super League for the 2019-20 season: the highest level of East Juniors football.

The club signalled their intention to leave the Junior set up and join the East of Scotland FA for the 2020-21 season and compete in the East of Scotland League before hopefully gaining full membership of the Scottish FA. Their performance in Conference B in 2021-22 saw Welfare placed in the First Division for the following season.

The side continued to battle and maintain their status under manager Adam for the following three seasons, staying above the drop zone each time.

Lochore Welfare FC will play in the East of Scotland League First Division in the 2021-22 season.

My visit

Saturday 25th January 2020

It looked as though my opportunity to visit Central Park had passed on my two-day trek around the football grounds of Fife. I’d considered it the previous teatime, but fatigue and fading light denied me.

It didn’t look possible to head up to Crosshill before my half match venture to Lochgelly Albert with its 1.45pm kick off, and then the main event of the afternoon, when I was going to Cowdenbeath against Brechin City.

However, my stubbornness and diligence paid off, and I’d worked out a way of a quick glimpse before Lochgelly. It involved a complicated change of bus in the countryside until a light flickered in my mind as I saw an advancing service as I waited in Cardenden.

A quick look at Google Maps confirmed the location of Lochore. I also remembered seeing a regular service running from Lochgelly to Ballingry, the larger town just north of my intended target. I had won! I was soon on board the service, dropping me off at North Street, Lochgelly.

Crossing over the road, it was just a couple of minutes before a 19A bus turned up, which deposited me at Catherine Terrace in Lochore, but not before I noticed a football ground with stands on the left-hand side as we drove up Main Road. That would have to be investigated on the way back.

Before that, I wanted a look at Central Park. Though the gates were locked, I managed to take all the photos I needed by peering over the wall down the side and by the entrance to the Welfare Club.

My impressions were that it needed a bit of a tidy up, but I could imagine big crowds in the glory days on the now overgrown banking and under the enclosure on the far side. The changing rooms and facilities were all at the entrance end.

Once completed, I set off walking to the other ground after a phone internet search revealed that it was the Ore Park home of defunct junior club Ballingry Rovers. You can read all about them here.