The History of Newtongrange Star
1945/46
STORY OF THE SEASON
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    Junior football hadn't shut down entirely during World War Two although Star called it a day during 1939/40. A few Lothians cubs continued and formed a Joint Lanarkshire-Lothians League, which was won by Fauldhouse United in 1944/5. None of Star's Midlothian rivals took part - only the West Lothian clubs were involved.

    The Edinburgh and District League got going again for 1945/6. Star and Arniston were the only Midlothian clubs involved. Apart from that membership was quite widespread, with Alva Albion Rangers from Clackmannanshire, Forth Rangers from Grangemouth and Dunipace (more recently of the West Region) joining in addition to Preston Athletic and Tranent from East Lothian. However, things were far from back to normal. Clubs used a large number of players because regulars were frequently unavailable due to military service. A typical line-up from the early part of the 45/6 season was:
    Eastway; W Pryde; Martin; Whitehead; Lothian; Daly; Bryden; Tail, Boswell; A Pryde; H Pryde.

    Later in the season a typical line-up was long the lines of:
    Eastway; Pryde; Sim; Bryden; Whitehead; Darling; Park; Fisher; Tail; Purves; Walker.

    Star's first committee for the first post-war season was as follows:
    James Darling (President)
    Robert Pearson (Vice President)
    James Neilson (Secretary)
    Charles Martin (Minute Secretary)
    Henry Knight (Treasurer)
    G Denholm (Representative)
    David Reid (Trainer)
    James Brown (Groundsman)
    R Bryson, J Wilson, J Moffat, W Telfer, D Irvine, W Pryde, E Weatherby, A Clark,
    D Kerr, J Pearson, J Hay (other committee members)

    The season started well with a 6-1 win against Arniston Rangers in the League at Victoria Park. Henry Pryde scored a hat trick, with Weatherspoon, Smith and Slater scoring the other goals.

    The Scottish Junior Cup saw Star drawn away to Bathgate Thistle. The home side ran out convincing 3-0 winners. In the East of Scotland Cup Star went down 3-1 to Bo'ness United but only after a marathon tie. There were three drawn games before the deciding tie at neutral Bathgate. At the first game, at Newtongrange, a collection was taken in aid of the local Welcome Home Fund for demobilised servicemen. Five Pounds 12 Shillings and Tenpence Halfpenny was taken, raising the Fund total to over £350. Star's conquerors In the Brown Cup were also from West Lothian - Fauldhouse winning a replay after a 2-2 draw at Victoria Park.

    The season was dominated by Fauldhouse United. In addition to winning the League Championship, Fauldhouse also won the Scottish Junior, East of Scotland and Brown Cups as well as the Thornton Shield. Star were one of the teams beaten by Fauldhouse during their Brown Cup run. The only major trophy they didn't win was the St Michaels Cup which went to Tranent.

    Star were simply happy to get the season under their belt. They finished in the top half of the table, comfortably ahead of local rivals Arniston. Home results were generally pretty good with teams finding Victoria Park a hard place to come. However, Star struggled on their travels and conceded some heavy defeats including 7-2 thrashings at Tranent and Bo'ness. A Supplementary League was organised at the end of the season to provide some more fixtures during which Star defeat Arniston 9-0 at Gorebridge.

    Source: Newtongrange Star FC match programme [22-Jul-2008]
EDINBURGH & DISTRICT LEAGUE
Pld W D L F A Pts
Fauldhouse United 21 19 2 0 86 23 40
Bo'ness United 22 19 4 5 85 55 30
Tranent Juniors 23 13 1 9 84 60 27
Newtongrange Star 24 11 4 9 68 68 26
Musselburgh Athletic 24 11 2 11 56 73 24
Bathgate Thistle 25 10 3 12 73 73 23
Polkemmet Juniors 21 10 2 9 72 51 22
Armadale Thistle 23 10 2 11 73 61 22
Whitburn Juniors 23 10 1 12 65 72 21
Forth Rangers 25 9 2 14 47 68 20
Preston Athletic 22 7 4 11 50 82 18
Alva Albion Rangers 21 8 1 12 69 82 17
Arniston Rangers 24 6 4 14 61 104 16
Dunipace 23 6 2 15 60 83 14
Opponents Venue F A Scorers Team Crowd
Alva Albion Rangers H 5 4 Whitehead 2, Purves 2, Dunn
A
Armadale Thistle H 1 0 Slater
A 1 6 ?
Arniston Rangers H 6 1 H. Pryde 3, Weatherspoon, Smith, Slater 1200
A 2 2 H. Pryde, Slater
Bathgate Thistle H 3 2 Whitehead, Adams, H. Pryde
A 2 4 Whitehead, Dunn
Bo'ness United H 2 2 Fisher, Tait
A 2 7 Park, Dunn
Dunipace H 2 2 Purves, McLean
A 3 5 Purves 2, Halliday
Fauldhouse United H 0 3
A
Forth Rangers H 2 1 A. Pryde, Dunn Eastway, W. Pryde, Martin, Whitehead, Pithie, Darling, A. Pryde, Tait, Dunn, Lothian, H. Pryde.
A 4 1 Smith, McLay, ? Orr, Martin, Watson, Whitehead, Pithie, Darling, Smith, McLay, Pryde, Laing, McKenzie.
Musselburgh Athletic H 2 4 Whitehead, Tait Eastway, W. Pryde, Martin, Whitehead, Lothian, Daly, Bryden, Tait, Boswell, A. Pryde, H. Pryde.
A 0 1
Polkemmet Juniors H 4 1 ?
A
Preston Athletic H 5 1 Park, Stanners, H. Pryde 3 Eastway, Fisher, Sim, Brydon, Newman, A. Pryde, Park, Stanners, H. Pryde, Hope, Martin.
A
Tranent Juniors H 3 3 Purves, Tait, Grieve
A 2 7 W. Pryde, Purves Martin, W. Pryde, Sim, Whitehead, Pithie, A. Pryde, D. Slater, Tait, Fraser, Purves, J. Slater.
Whitburn Juniors H 5 2 H. Pryde 2, Purves, ?, ?
A 0 2
SCOTTISH JUNIOR CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 A Bathgate Thistle 0 3
THORNTON SHIELD
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 A Fauldhouse United L L
EAST OF SCOTLAND CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 H Bo'ness United 0 0
A Bo'ness United 2 2 Johnstone, H. Pryde
H Bo'ness United 3 3 H. Pryde, Tait, Fraser
N Bo'ness United 1 3 A. Pryde
ST MICHAELS CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 A Fauldhouse United 3 3 Purves 3
H Fauldhouse United 1 2 OG Hutchinson, W. Pryde, Martin, Whitehead, Pithie, Darling, Park Tait, Dunn, Lothian, Slater.
BROWN CUP
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
1 H Fauldhouse United 2 2 Purves, Fisher Eastway, W. Pryde, Sim, Bryden, Whitehead, Darling, Park, Fisher, Tait, Purves, Walker.
A Fauldhouse United 2 5 Tait 2 Pottie, W. Pryde, Sim, Brydon, Whitehead, A. Pryde, Park, Fisher, Tait, Purves, Conquer.
SUPPLEMENTARY CUP
Pld W D L F A Pts
Tranent Juniors
Newtongrange Star 7 7 0 0 41 7 14
Musselburgh Athletic
Preston Athletic
Arniston Rangers
Opponents Venue F A Scorers Team Info
Arniston Rangers H 5 1 Whitehead 3, Tait 2 Eastway, W. Pryde, Sim, Bryden, Whitehead, A. Pryde, Park, Fisher, Tait, Conquer, Martin.
A 9 0 H. Pryde 4, Whitehead, Fisher 2, Slater, Park
Musselburgh Athletic H 5 1 Fisher 4, Tait
A 4 3 A. Pryde, H. Pryde, Park, Whitehead
Preston Athletic H 6 1 H. Pryde 3, Whitehead, Tait, Park Pottie, W. Pryde, Martin, Brydon, Whitehead, Sim, Park, Tait, H. Pryde, Fisher, Slater.
A 9 2 ?
Tranent Juniors H 3 2 Slater, Tait, Whitehead
A
Round Venue Opponents F A PenF PenA Scorers Team Info
SF N Tranent Juniors 0 3 Gardiner, W. Pryde, Sim, Bryden, Whitehead, A. Pryde, Martin, Purves, H. Pryde, Fisher, Slater.