Whitletts Victoria F.C. - History

History

Today the area of Whitletts is recognised as a district of the town of Ayr. But this was not always the case.

It may be difficult to imagine for today’s generation, but as late as the 1940s Whitletts was a mining village in its own right on the outskirts of the town, built to accommodate the miners who worked in the local pits. Like most mining communities, the locals enjoyed many forms of relaxation following a hard shift underground and the inhabitants of Whitletts were no different. Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, there had been two junior football clubs at various times in the village that were members of the local junior football scene, Whitletts Thistle and Whitletts Celtic. Not a lot is known about these two clubs and their existence was short lived.

As the Second World War entered its’ final throes, and civilian life began to look forward beyond the war, the decision was taken to form a new junior football club and in 1944 Whitletts Victoria was formed.

The new club was granted use of an area of ground which the local inhabitants worked on in their spare time to build into a home for the new club, hence the name given to the ground of Voluntary Park. The new club joined the Western League (South) for the start of the 1945/6 season.

Following the end of the War, the newly elected Labour Government embarked on a massive house building programme with old properties being demolished and new council houses built. It was as a result of this massive rebuilding programme that Whitletts lost its’ status as a mining village and became part of the town of Ayr, with thousands moving into the new homes from all over the local area.

The football club’s greatest era came in the mid-1950s. In 1955/6 season the club reached the semi finals of the Scottish Junior Cup, losing 3-2 to eventual winners Petershill. In 1957/8 Whitletts Victoria were crowned the Western League (South)Champions, being denied the title of Western League Champions in a play off defeat by North section winners Irvine Meadow. However despite this success on the park, interest in the club was virtually non-existent. Indeed it is recorded that for a 1957 Vernon Cup tie against Darvel - no-one paid to watch the match!! Little wonder therefore that the Club fell into decline, to the point that its’ very existence has been cast in severe doubt on several occasions.

Football was a hugely popular sport in the immediate post war years and such was the popularity of the local senior side, Ayr United FC, that junior football struggled to make an impact. The hotbead of junior football in Ayrshire had been the mining communities but Whitletts was no longer a mining community. It could be viewed that a combination of the popularity of the senior game and Ayr United in particular at this time, along with the loss of identity of Whitletts as a community following the influx of new inhabitants to the area, were probably key factors in Whitletts Victoria FC struggling to achieve any level of support. This proved a problem not just for Whitletts Victoria but for the other local junior football club, Ayr Newton Rovers, who folded in 1957.

With only one committee man, John Boyce, battling against the odds to keep the team alive and with a background of continual vandalism to Voluntary Park, the Club withdrew from active participation during season 1972/3 but retained SJFA membership. Whitletts Victoria was back playing in 1973-74, and although the situation was no better, it struggled on. The following season, 1974–75, the Club closed down mid-way through the season. Voluntary Park had been vandalised and interest in the Club was virtually non-existent.

The Club was resurrected by the hard work of the Scarlett family. Brothers Jackie and George Scarlett secured the use of Dam Park as a venue for home matches for a couple of seasons whilst on the park the Club had its’ most successful period of sustained success, winning the Ayrshire Second Division Championship on three occasions and the Kyle & Carrick District Cup twice throughout the 1980s but by the early 1990s the dark clouds had formed over the Club again and in 1991 the Committee of the day made the decision that it was not worthwhile carrying on. Manager at this time was Bobby Lawrie, a hero of the Partick Thistle side that had won the League Cup in 1971. He refused to let the Club die and believed that he could turn around the Clubs’ fortunes. The Club struggled on with a shoe-string budget but after a decade of hard unrewarding work, Lawrie announced that the Club was likely to fold unless assistance was given. Richard Brookes came forward and helped bring some stability to the Club but it continued to struggle in the lower echelons of the Ayrshire Second Division.

Following league re-organisation, off the park, the Club continued to struggle but against all the odds Whitletts Victoria FC gained promotion to the West Superleague First Division in 2008/9.

In February 2011, the clubs’ future was again cast into doubt following the closure of Voluntary Park on safety grounds following the actions of the leaseholder of the Ayr Greyhound Stadium as the ground was more commonly known as by this time. South Ayrshire Council stepped in to secure the short term future of the club by agreeing for the Club to play its’ home matches temporarily at Dam Park, outwith the traditional boundaries of Whitletts.

The choice was stark. Either the Club embraced the opportunities arising from this enforced move or it died. The latter was not an option and with assistance from the Ayr United fans’ organisation, The Honest Men Trust, Whitletts Victoria was reconstituted as a Company Limited by Guarantee in February 2012, launching a new membership scheme which gave ownership of the Club to the supporters and the local community at a public meeting in The Thistle Inn on 5 July.

A new Board of Directors was elected and immediately plans have been put in place to take the club forward, with the ambition to take advantage of the fact that the Club are the only junior club in the town and capitalise on this in an attempt to turn the Club into one of the top junior sides in the country.

As a result, the 2012/13 football season may well be the last where the club is known as Whitletts Victoria. The new Board of Directors have decided to change the name of the club, whilst retaining its’ club colours and its’ history, to reflect the fact that it is the only junior club in Ayr and promote, in a positive manner, both the town and local community it serves.