Langholm’s main ‘football’ sport was rugby, but it also had three Association Football teams (the term ‘soccer’ coming from ‘association’):
- The main club team was Langholm Thursday.
- The rugby club sometimes put out a Langholm Nomads team.
- Langholm Academy matches also attracted some spectators from the public.
As with rugby, there were no football matches in the town in 1915. Prior to that, opponents included Hoddom Rangers, Canonbie, West Calder, London Road Athletic (Carlisle), Grosvenor College (Carlisle) and Border Wanderers (Longtown). An occasional match was played between Langholm Lodge and a Langholm town team. Home matches were played on the Duke of Buccleuch’s Milntown ground.
England’s Football Association and the Scottish Football Association caused controversy by continuing league matches throughout the 1914-15 season, with the top English and Scottish leagues being won by Everton and Celtic respectively.
English league matches were then discontinued for the rest of the war but the top league in Scotland continued as well as some regional competitions across the UK. British Home Championship internationals were cancelled, with the last pre-war competition being won by Ireland in 1913-1914.
The main pre-war internationals (excluding the British Home Championship) were at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Sweden, with 11 nations participating. Great Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands won gold, silver and bronze. World Cups did not begin until 1930.
Women’s football became popular at munitions factories (see the Imperial War Museums‘ 9 Facts About Football In The First World War).
The Imperial War Museums‘ website also has an article on The Real Story of the Christmas Truce on parts of the Western Front in 1914, during which some games of football were played in no-man’s land.