Rose Tinted Spectacle Paul Claydon sizes up the Scottish League ’ s newest recruits
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic ’ s New Dundas Park in July 2022 Photo : Paul Claydon
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic became the latest club to enter the Scottish League ( SPFL ) when they entertained Forfar Athletic at New Dundas Park on 30 July . A crowd of 1,098 was present for the occasion , another encouraging attendance to follow the 2,400 and 1,500 seen for the home League Cup games that took place in the lead up to the SPFL kick off . With the place spruced up ahead of the big day , New Dundas Park buzzed with excitement as a new name was added to those to grace the upper echelons of Scottish football . The flipside however is that another familiar name has dropped down to make way for the new boys ; Cowdenbeath being the fall guys at the end of the 2021 / 22 season . With the Scottish system now organised as a ‘ pyramid ’ akin to that in England , the prospect of the loss of many more historic clubs and grounds from the SPFL is now very real . It is hard to argue against the merit-based system that now provides the opportunity for lower-level clubs to progress to SPFL level but what may concern some is the steady loss of stalwarts of the Scottish game that may ultimately lead to some of those clubs going under , along with their homely old grounds .
Bonnyrigg trace their formation to 1881 , although other sources state that it may have been 1889 on the merger of two Junior sides , Bonnyrigg Rose and Bonnyrigg Athletic . Either way , once formed the club from a mining community eight miles south east of Edinburgh played at Dundas Park , an unassuming venue backing onto rail lines leading into the nearby Polton Colliery . Between the 1890 and the late 1960s , the club graced several local leagues , including Musselburgh , Midlothian , East of Scotland ( Junior ) and Edinburgh & District before taking the step up to the East Region Junior set up in 1968 . By then the club had relocated to New Dundas Park , a site a little closer to the main crossroads in the town , the land for which had been purchased in 1953 . Always regarded as one of the stronger Junior sides , Bonnyrigg twice achieved
Above : A 1909 map showing the original Dundas Park . The ‘ new ’ ground was later built in the area near Calderwood Arms PH
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