Exclusive:Historic Scots football club 'could close' due to 'being let down' by SFA and FA
Berwick Rangers has been unable to qualify for funding due to playing in Scotland but being based in England.
A historic Scots football club has warned that it “could close” due to being “let down” by both the SFA and English FA.
Berwick Rangers, which caused one of the biggest-ever Scottish Cup upsets by knocking out Rangers in 1967 - is the only club in England to have played in the Scottish Professional Football League.
But due to being in the “no man’s land” of playing in the Scottish leagues but being based south of the border, it has been unable to qualify for funding.
Chairman Kevin Dixon has warned the Lowland League club is being “penalised for where we are” and could go under if it does not receive help.
The men’s team has to train in Edinburgh because its Shielfield Park home, in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Northumberland, has a grass surface and the local leisure centre - which has an artificial pitch - is booked up in the evenings.
The club would like a new artificial pitch which could also be a separate income stream - but has so far struggled to qualify for public money due to its unique status.
Local Labour MP David Smith said the club is “falling between two stools”.
Mr Dixon said: “When we went to the Football Foundation in England, we could get a little bit of funding for the kids’ teams because they play on the pitch next door.
“We can't get anything for the women's team, because the women play on the same pitch as Berwick Rangers men's team.
“With Berwick Rangers men's team being in the Scottish leagues, the Football Foundation deemed that that it was not suitable.
“We went in for Scottish FA funding on energy efficiency grounds, but when I asked about applying and said we were from Berwick-upon-Tweed, I was told it is a solely Scottish-funded project.
“We've just filled a grant in for the Scottish FA’s Pitching In Fund (which will distribute over £8 million to football facilities in Scotland), which will be interesting to find out where we'll go with that.
“When we filled it in and submitted it last week, there was a drop down box where you select your local council, but Northumberland isn't listed.
“When I emailed them, they said to just leave that part blank. But I do fear that it's going to come back, the same as... ‘your ground is in England, you play in Scotland.’
“We're pretty much in no man's land.”
He added: “We’re being penalised for where we are.”
Berwick Rangers was founded in the 1880s and joined the Scottish senior leagues in the 1950s.
The side most recently played in the second tier in 1981, and was relegated out of the senior leagues to the Lowland league in 2019.
The ‘Wee Gers’ greatest success was beating the mighty Glasgow Rangers in 1967 under player-manager Jock Wallace - who went on to become one of Scottish football’s best ever coaches at the Ibrox club.
But Mr Dixon warned that without financial help “we’ll be closing the doors”.
He continued: “If you take the last three, four months, I’ve probably had to put in over £50,000 over my own money. I’ve done it for the last three years, put £60,000 or £70,000 in. But I haven’t got those sort of funds to put it in every year.
“Over the last three years we’ve made a £213,000 loss. Last year we made a £76,000 loss.”
He added: “If we don’t get some sort of help that other clubs are getting, we could be forced to close our doors.”
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North Northumberland MP David Smith, who was born and raised in Renfrewshire, said: “ Berwick Rangers is obviously a historic Scottish football club, known for its historic result against Rangers in Scottish Cup back in the 1960s.
“It's still something that the club itself and the fans really hold on to, and that's how its known in Scotland and England.
“But the club, because it's in the Scottish league system in the Lowland League, orientates itself towards Scotland. But Berwick-upon-Tweed is an English town, a mile or two south of the border.
“The problem is that when it comes to accessing the support from the football and authorities and the sporting authorities.
“What we find is that the SFA in the past has said, ‘No, you're an English club, so we can't give you support. You're south of the border.’
“But equally, the Football Foundation said: ‘No, you’re a club that plays in the Scottish leagues, so we can’t support you either.
“It should be a double benefit for the club but actually they’re falling between two stools.”
He continued: “They are being let down. They really are an institution. They're a very historic club. It should not be beyond the wit of man and the authorities to be able to say: ‘Yes, we understand you're a slight anomaly, but we can nevertheless support you.’
“Whether that's a grant for maintenance of the pitch or even replacement of the pitch - which is something that the club are interested in.
“Whether it's to do with the grants for floodlights - which has been a problem - whether it's to do with funding for grassroots sports coaching and getting girls and women involved in the game or young lads, all of these should be open to Berwick Rangers, but routinely, they seem not to be.”
He added: “If the club could get an all weather pitch, or better facilities, then it could be an all-year round training facility for them, but they could also monetize it and use that to get a new flow of income into the club.”
“Look at what's happening at the moment at Wrexham. Obviously they've got, you know, multi millionaire owners, and it's a sort of Hollywood fairy tale. But Wrexham, Swansea Cardiff, all Welsh clubs that play in the English system, but never seem to have been held back by that cross jurisdictional issue.
“There are very few clubs in world football that have this set up. It's a draw because it's such a very rare thing. It should be a benefit, but at the moment, it seems to be a hindrance.”
The SFA and FA were approached for comment.
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