Dukla Pumpherston is a charity football team based in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, and is captained by Scottish football pundit Chick Young

Chick Young

Charles "Chick" Young is a professional association football pundit, who regularly appears for BBC Scotland on Sportscene and Sportsound...

.

The name was based on the fictional team "Dukla Pumpherston Sawmill and Tannery" created by Tony Roper

Tony Roper (actor)

Tony Roper is a Scottish actor, comedian, playwright and writer.His first major starring role was in Scotch and Wry. He wrote the classic comedy-drama The Steamie in 1988. He achieved even greater fame in Naked Video and in the spin off series Rab C Nesbitt, in which he played Rab's...

 in 1980s comedy programme Naked Radio

Naked Video

Naked Video was a BBC Scotland comedy series, broadcast between 1986 and 1991 on BBC2, the series was created by Colin Gilbert who also created A Kick Up the Eighties and Naked Radio.-Naked Radio:...

; the name is a comic juxtaposition of the sophisticated European-sounding name of Czech team Dukla Prague with that of tiny Scottish village Pumpherston

Pumpherston

Pumpherston is a small dormitory village in West Lothian, Scotland. Originally a small industrial village to the nearby shale mine and works, it now adjoins the new town of Livingston, which was constructed alongside Pumpherston in the late 1960s and quickly grew much larger than its...

. Roper himself has also played for the team.

The players have been described as a motley crew of former professional players and television personalities who tour the country - indeed the world - enjoying themselves while raising cash for worthy causes. They have been described as "a drinking team with a football problem". The ad-hoc roster (or that of similarly informal opposing charity teams) has, at various times, included football broadcaster Chic Charnley

Chic Charnley

James Callaghan Charnley, more commonly known as Chic Charnley, is a former Scottish football player. He was sent off 17 times in a senior career which lasted for nearly 20 years.-Club career:...

, politician Tommy Sheridan

Tommy Sheridan

Tommy Sheridan is a Scottish socialist politician. He has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-convenors of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity....

, boxer Willie Limond

Willie Limond

Willie Limond is a Glasgow-born professional boxer. He is the current WBU lightweight champion, former IBO Inter-Continental champion, and the former Commonwealth lightweight Champion.-Early career:...

, airport worker John Smeaton

John Smeaton (baggage handler)

John Smeaton QGM is a Scottish former baggage handler at Glasgow International Airport. He became involved in thwarting the 2007 Glasgow International Airport Attack. Smeaton lives in Erskine, Renfrewshire, a town outside the city and near the airport. Brought up in Erskine, he was educated at...

, and footballers Ally McCoist

Ally McCoist

Alistair Murdoch "Ally" McCoist, MBE ; 24 September 1962) is a Scottish football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Rangers in Scotland....

, Neil Lennon

Neil Lennon

Neil Francis Lennon is a former footballer from Northern Ireland. He is the current manager and former captain of Celtic....

, Jose Quitongo

Jose Quitongo

José Manuel Quitongo is an Angolan former professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his career in Scotland.-Career:...

, Frank McAvennie

Frank McAvennie

Francis "Frank" McAvennie is a former Scottish football striker best known as a player with West Ham United and Celtic, having had two spells with both of these clubs.-Early life:...

, Gordon Smith, Gerry McCabe

Gerry McCabe (footballer)

Gerry McCabe is a Scottish former football player and manager, and is currently the assistant manager of Dunfermline Athletic.- Playing career :...

, Jim Duffy, Billy Dodds

Billy Dodds

William "Billy" Dodds is a Scottish former professional footballer, he was assistant manager at Dundee, but was made redundant when the club went into administration in October 2010, one of his former clubs...

, and Gerry Britton

Gerry Britton

Gerard Joseph "Gerry" Britton is a Scottish former footballer who played as a striker. His most recent role in football was as assistant manager to Ian McCall at Partick Thistle.-Career:...

.

Dukla is not a regular member of the Scottish amateur league system; the team only plays occasional exhibition matches, generally in support of charity. Due to the informal nature of the games and the widely varying ages and footballing histories of the players (and those of their opponents) Dukla matches are generally friendly, light-hearted affairs. One exception was an October 2008 match against a team of MSPs

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...

 and other politicians; the match was abandoned after multiple players were sent off amid near-hostilities between the two teams.

External links

• Amateur footage of Dukla Pumpherston in November 2006; the DP team includes Tommy Sheridan, Ally McCoist, and former footballer Andy Walker.