Maxwelltown Thistle F.C. can trace their roots back to the 1940's.  As Maxwelltown Juveniles, the club played in the local secondary juvenile U18 league. In the early days the team played their home matches on the old school pitch adjacent to Palmerston Park. During this time the club was one of the best in the league at that age group and won many titles and trophies.

 

It was during the period of the late 1940s and early 1950s that Billy Cross started his long and distinguished football career at Maxwelltown. His brother Ronnie also played in the same team. Billy went on to play professional football with Greenock Morton and St. Mirren before finishing his career at Gretna where he was captain for many years.

 

In 1954 the club changed its name to Maxwelltown Thistle F.C. and became one of the 10 founder members of the new Dumfries and District Amateur Football League. The club played for 3 seasons in the new league before moving to the new Youth League that was set-up by the Amateur League at the beginning of the 1957/58 season. The club have been ever-present in the Youth Leagues in their various guises since then. The club did enter an amateur team in the D&DAFL for the 1963/64 season, but they finished bottom of the league and withdrew the following year.

 

Billy Cross has been the figurehead and driving force behind the club for more than 30 years, being ably assisted by many coaches at the various levels over the years. Jim Grant, Bobby Walls are just two of the many that have contributed to the success at the club.

 

Throughout their history Maxwelltown have been one of the most successful youth clubs in the region. Running teams at all age groups. Over the years the club regularly sent teams to football tournaments around the country with the annual trip to Blackpool being a highlight. Teams at all age groups have won honours in the local leagues, a complete list being a lengthy one. At times the club has also had some success at national level such was the quality of the local talent at the time. Barry Nicholson, now with Dunfermline, and Colin McMenamin, currently with Gretna, are just two of the players who have progressed to the professional ranks in recent years.

 

In recent times the club has lost pace with other clubs in the area and after losing their U13 and U15 teams two years ago, were left with only one team competing last year. To their credit Billy and U17 coach Alistair Cronie battled against adversity to kept the club running during the 2006-07 season, with the team finishing bottom of the league with no points to show for a season’s hard work

 

However, the future looks brighter for the 2007-08 playing season, with the club fielding an experienced amateur team in the D&DAFL for the first time in 43 years under the management of Steven Todd. The new impetus and improved training being provided by all will hopefully result in the club running a youth team at the U15 age group.

 

For the 2007-08 season the club entered an U15 team into the youth league. Unfortunately due to illness the Billy Cross was unable to continue and the team was withdrawn from the league jusr after Christmas. The club continues to field an amateur team.

 

Amateurs

 

Although new to Maxwelltown the majority of the team have been playing together in the D&DAFL for several years as Dumfries FC Colts the reserve team for Dumfries FC of the South League. The move came about because of the desire of the team and management to go it alone. Incidentally, Dumfries FC were taken over at the end of the 2008 season by Heston Rovers.

 

The amateur team manager Steven Todd has significant experience at this level with over 350 games as manager under his belt. He will be ably assisted by  Martin Thomson.

The first season in the league under the Maxwelltown Thistle banner was highly successful with the team reaching four cup finals, winning two, and finishing up as league runners up, taking their challenge to the last day of the season.