1938: Rothes welcomed into Highland League

Rothes’ application to join the Highland League in 1938 was given unanimously approval after the Rothes chairman, Mr Willie Milne, outlined his club’s case and gave an assurance that Mackessack Park would be properly enclosed and up to SFA standards by the start of the 1938-39 season. Eleven years later, the club was still being referred to in the press, more often than not, as Rothes Victoria. There appears to have been no specific public announcement about a name change so this frequent press error was completely understandable. In his centenary history of the Highland League, Highland Hundred, author Bill McAllister offers an  explanation of  what happened: The club had previously been known as Rothes Victoria, but the application was purely in the name of the whisky village.

It must be concluded that the use of "Rothes Football Club" title was by design rather than by accident. The  current club badge indicates that 1938 is the founding date, and although there was no break between the Juniors’ Rothes Victoria and the establishment of Rothes FC, the joining of the Highland League was seen to be a new beginning.