A HISTORIC football club has blamed both the Scottish and English football associations for its potential closure because of its unique geographical quirk.
Berwick Rangers, who famously knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup in 1967, is one of only two English clubs that play in the Scottish league system. The team is based in Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland.
The club has told The Scotsman that this geographical quirk has left them in "no man's land" between the two nation's football associations making it difficult for them to apply for crucial funding.
Chairman Kevin Dixon has warned that the Lowland League club is being “penalised for where we are” and could go under if it does not receive help.
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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 is trying to install its own artificial pitch to allow for all-weather training and games but has so far struggled to qualify for public money.
Dixon added: “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.”
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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.
Despite the club's long history and its claim to fame from the historic victory against Rangers, Dixon warns that without support the club may have to "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.
“If we don’t get some sort of help that other clubs are getting, we could be forced to close our doors.”
Local Labour MP David Smith commented: "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.”
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