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Are Tarff Rovers Finished For Good?


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Is there someone still holding Tarff Rovers registration? What about all the club's detailed history and any trophies that they won over the years? Who owns their gound at Ballgreen? Is the ground still available to the village of Kirkcowan? What do the locals that live in area think will happen? Do the club still have a bank account and who holds it? What about the two sets of club strips are they still in someone's house? There must be more than a hundred years of treasures in the village regarding the club.

I suppose it is too long now to ask about Whithorn FC but someone in that town must hold all the recorded details of the minutes held at the club's AGM every year.

Maybe someone has handed all the stuff about the clubs to the Scottish Football Museum. Does anyone know anything about the two clubs, anything at all.

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Unfortunately Tarff are finished as far as SFA goes with registration being lost - could have been taken over by another South side if things had went in other directions though. Ballgreen belongs to the Gladstones but was betrothed to the village as long as it was used for football. At present there is a young Kirkcowan side using it who play in an amateur set-up. The Villagers were rightly proud of their team for many years.

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Unfortunately Tarff are finished as far as SFA goes with registration being lost - could have been taken over by another South side if things had went in other directions though. Ballgreen belongs to the Gladstones but was betrothed to the village as long as it was used for football. At present there is a young Kirkcowan side using it who play in an amateur set-up. The Villagers were rightly proud of their team for many years.

Sounds very likely the other side was Creetown???????????

The registration could be a thing of the past because if the end in the top two in future, they will eventually be allowed to compete again the the Scottish Cup.

Are the amateur set-up also called Tarff Rovers?

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A final farewell to Tarff Rovers Mar 2 2005

TARFF Rovers, one of the south of Scotland’s oldest clubs, has folded after 130 years.

The tiny Wigtownshire club that played at Ballgreen Park, Kirkcowan, has been struggling in recent years and dropped out of the south of Scotland league and cup competitions 18 months ago.

Tarff, who are members of the Southern Counties FA and the Scottish Football Association, held on to their membership over the past two years despite not having players, or manager and only a small committee.

Despite calls for support the remaining officials were unable to recruit anyone to help and chairman Clifford Allan and treasurer Keith Tinker have taken the decision to wind up the club which won the Scottish Qualifying Cup on a number of occasions and also took part in the Scottish Cup.

The club’s most memorable match was back in the 1960s when they were beaten 9-0 by Hearts.

But in the mid and late nineties and early years of this century, Tarff came back supported financially by Kirkcowan haulier, Robert Burns who spent tens of thousands of pounds recruiting players which included Chic Charnley, the former Partick Thistle Star.

But now senior football will be a thing of the past at Kirkcowan unless a rescuer comes forward. Mr Allan says he is deeply disappointed at the way things have gone but added: “We had a three-year plan to save the club and get locals playing in the famous green and black strip. But you need people, players and pound notes to run a team and we have none.â€

Mr Allan added: “I’m deeply disappointed for we made one last attempt last month by putting up posters and notices but not one person outside the present committee came forward.â€

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But in the mid and late nineties and early years of this century, Tarff came back supported financially by Kirkcowan haulier, Robert Burns who spent tens of thousands of pounds recruiting players which included Chic Charnley, the former Partick Thistle Star.

From what I've heard it was that spell that killed them. When the money disappeared there was nowhere for Tarff to go.

I'm glad that I saw them playing in a Scottish Cup tie at Ballgreen before their demise, although they lost 4-1 against Montrose. That was only about 4 or 5 years ago.

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Played for Tarff when Robert Burns was there. The guy spent a lot of money on the club but sadly it lost its local roots and no longer exists. Was surprised nobody came in and saved it - they got a reasonable set up by south standards.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The reason it died to be honest was of two people. CLifford Allan and Keith Tinker, two incomers to the village who got onto the committee and tried to take over. Was involved on the committee myself at the club, helped out with the Secretarial side. Had many a good day and had some fantastic players play for them.

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  • 3 years later...

The reason it died to be honest was of two people. CLifford Allan and Keith Tinker, two incomers to the village who got onto the committee and tried to take over. Was involved on the committee myself at the club, helped out with the Secretarial side. Had many a good day and had some fantastic players play for them.

Any further news on Tarff Rovers, are they coming back?

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The reason it died to be honest was of two people. CLifford Allan and Keith Tinker, two incomers to the village who got onto the committee and tried to take over. Was involved on the committee myself at the club, helped out with the Secretarial side. Had many a good day and had some fantastic players play for them.

Find it a bit credulous that just because of two people that everyone else took the lump and left. Didn't they have AGMs like every other club to vote off any oafs?

Think the Rabbie Burns story's nearer to the truth. The money poured in and suddenly there's interest. The money stops pouring in and suddenly no one wants to know anymore - having tasted success before they can't be bothered with going back to the days of struggle and toil. There's the deaths of a thousand sports clubs with such a tale to tell.

:(

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Find it a bit credulous that just because of two people that everyone else took the lump and left. Didn't they have AGMs like every other club to vote off any oafs?

Think the Rabbie Burns story's nearer to the truth. The money poured in and suddenly there's interest. The money stops pouring in and suddenly no one wants to know anymore - having tasted success before they can't be bothered with going back to the days of struggle and toil. There's the deaths of a thousand sports clubs with such a tale to tell.

:(

The Tarff Rovers story is well worthy of thought by other South and probably all lower league clubs.While it is admirable for clubs to provide good facilities and a winning team please do not lose sight of the main object of the exercise which is to provide 15-16 players with a game every Saturday thro the season and give them a chance to dream of playing at a higher level(however remote).In rural areas like the South ,East & Highlands it is amazing how so many clubs manage to keep going at all.For example the Maachers area of Galloway supports 3 teams in the South and the total population of this area is around 10,000 people and I am not talking of 10,000 young men!So do not be seduced by talk of floodlights G3 pitches and pyramid systems.Until the big miracle happens and someone can come forward with a long term supply of cash support we shall just have to play on and dream on!

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The reason Tarff folded is because when Burns was pumping money in all the money grabbers signed and the locals who played were bombed out. When the money stopped the mercenaries were'nt interested, so the club thought the local boys would forget the way they were treated and would come running back. A lesson there for ALL!!

A few seasons success wasn't worth wasting 130 odd years of history IMO

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The reason Tarff folded is because when Burns was pumping money in all the money grabbers signed and the locals who played were bombed out. When the money stopped the mercenaries were'nt interested, so the club thought the local boys would forget the way they were treated and would come running back. A lesson there for ALL!!

A few seasons success wasn't worth wasting 130 odd years of history IMO

100% correct

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The reason Tarff folded is because when Burns was pumping money in all the money grabbers signed and the locals who played were bombed out. When the money stopped the mercenaries were'nt interested, so the club thought the local boys would forget the way they were treated and would come running back. A lesson there for ALL!!

A few seasons success wasn't worth wasting 130 odd years of history IMO

By the same token, a season of the locals taking the cream puff with them thereafter wasn't worth flushing a 130 year old club down the toilet.

Only in Scotland...

<_<

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If I remember correctly one season Tarff were left to play a ridiculous amount of games in a very short space of time, to win the league,which they incredibly did.

It wassomething like 2-3 games a week for 4 weeks and they won them all .

2001-02:

30/3: Tarff 1 Abbey Vale 0

3/4: Tarff 3 Newton 4

6/4: Dalbeattie 0 Tarff 7

8/4: (cup) Tarff 3 Saints 0

10/4: (cup) Crichton 1 Tarff 4

13/4: (cup) Dumfries 1 Tarff 1

15/4/: (cup) Creetown 2 Tarff 2

17/4: Tarff 3 Stranraer Ath 0

20/4: Creetown 4 Tarff 7

22/4: (cup) Tarff 5 Gretna 0

24/4: Girvan 1 Tarff 2

27/4: Dumfries 2 Tarff 6

29/4: (cup) Tarff 3 Annan 0

1/5: (cup) Saints 1 Tarff 3

3/5: Saints 0 Tarff 3

6/5: newton 1 Tarff 4

8/5: Tarff 4 Threave 0

10/5: Wigtown 1 Tarff 4

11/5: Tarff 11 Crichton 1

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Put in context of days, using Cmontheloknow's stats, it's epic. Three sets of Sat-Mon-Wed, then a further Fri-Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat (i.e. ending with 2 games in 2 days!!).

I assume there was no match on Saturday 2nd May due to the Scottish Cup Final (it was early that year due to the World Cup, IIRC).

What's more amazing is the fact they won so many games so comfortably, especially towards the end. Really phenomenal effort.

Sat 30/3: Tarff 1 Abbey Vale 0

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed 3/4: Tarff 3 Newton 4

Thu

Fri

Sat 6/4: Dalbeattie 0 Tarff 7

Sun

Mon 8/4: (cup) Tarff 3 Saints 0

Tue

Wed 10/4: (cup) Crichton 1 Tarff 4

Thu

Fri

Sat 13/4: (cup) Dumfries 1 Tarff 1

Sun

Mon 15/4/: (cup) Creetown 2 Tarff 2

Tue

Wed 17/4: Tarff 3 Stranraer Ath 0

Thu

Fri

Sat 20/4: Creetown 4 Tarff 7

Sun

Mon 22/4: (cup) Tarff 5 Gretna 0

Tte

Wed 24/4: Girvan 1 Tarff 2

Thu

Fri

Sat 27/4: Dumfries 2 Tarff 6

Sun

Mon 29/4: (cup) Tarff 3 Annan 0

Tue

Wed 1/5: (cup) Saints 1 Tarff 3

Thu

Fri 3/5: Saints 0 Tarff 3

Sat

Sun

Mon 6/5: newton 1 Tarff 4

Tue

Wed 8/5: Tarff 4 Threave 0

Thu

Fri 10/5: Wigtown 1 Tarff 4

Sat 11/5: Tarff 11 Crichton 1

Edited by HibeeJibee
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Put in context of days, using Cmontheloknow's stats, it's epic. Three sets of Sat-Mon-Wed, then a further Fri-Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat (i.e. ending with 2 games in 2 days!!).

I assume there was no match on Saturday 2nd May due to the Scottish Cup Final (it was early that year due to the World Cup, IIRC).

What's more amazing is the fact they won so many games so comfortably, especially towards the end. Really phenomenal effort.

Sat 30/3: Tarff 1 Abbey Vale 0

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed 3/4: Tarff 3 Newton 4

Thu

Fri

Sat 6/4: Dalbeattie 0 Tarff 7

Sun

Mon 8/4: (cup) Tarff 3 Saints 0

Tue

Wed 10/4: (cup) Crichton 1 Tarff 4

Thu

Fri

Sat 13/4: (cup) Dumfries 1 Tarff 1

Sun

Mon 15/4/: (cup) Creetown 2 Tarff 2

Tue

Wed 17/4: Tarff 3 Stranraer Ath 0

Thu

Fri

Sat 20/4: Creetown 4 Tarff 7

Sun

Mon 22/4: (cup) Tarff 5 Gretna 0

Tte

Wed 24/4: Girvan 1 Tarff 2

Thu

Fri

Sat 27/4: Dumfries 2 Tarff 6

Sun

Mon 29/4: (cup) Tarff 3 Annan 0

Tue

Wed 1/5: (cup) Saints 1 Tarff 3

Thu

Fri 3/5: Saints 0 Tarff 3

Sat

Sun

Mon 6/5: newton 1 Tarff 4

Tue

Wed 8/5: Tarff 4 Threave 0

Thu

Fri 10/5: Wigtown 1 Tarff 4

Sat 11/5: Tarff 11 Crichton 1

No doubt about it they were a good side and I can guarantee you they won most on using intimidation as much as skill. I was witness to some of the shocking behavior and intimidation that went on. Most Officials were bricking it and ignoring off the ball stuff. Thugs as well as players, not all but most.

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2001-02:

30/3: Tarff 1 Abbey Vale 0

3/4: Tarff 3 Newton 4

6/4: Dalbeattie 0 Tarff 7

8/4: (cup) Tarff 3 Saints 0

10/4: (cup) Crichton 1 Tarff 4

13/4: (cup) Dumfries 1 Tarff 1

15/4/: (cup) Creetown 2 Tarff 2

17/4: Tarff 3 Stranraer Ath 0

20/4: Creetown 4 Tarff 7

22/4: (cup) Tarff 5 Gretna 0

24/4: Girvan 1 Tarff 2

27/4: Dumfries 2 Tarff 6

29/4: (cup) Tarff 3 Annan 0

1/5: (cup) Saints 1 Tarff 3

3/5: Saints 0 Tarff 3

6/5: newton 1 Tarff 4

8/5: Tarff 4 Threave 0

10/5: Wigtown 1 Tarff 4

11/5: Tarff 11 Crichton 1

Thats remarkable,last 6 games in 10 days !!.

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Thats remarkable,last 6 games in 10 days !!.

It's even more remarkable that the town of Kirkcowan didn't try to save this 130 year old football club. :(

Even if they were to play kids and pensioners, something should have been done to save the town's history. :(

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