Pre-Formation (1876-1893)

Association Football Introduced to the City

“The Game at Football. [sic]

The committee, having considered the letter from the ‘Early Rising Club’, craving to be allowed to play at Football in the Barrack Park from six to eight in the morning, were of the opinion that such games might be dangerous to parties frequenting the park, and recommended the Council not to allow the game of football in the Park. Agreed to.” Courier & Daily Argus, April 1861

In April 1861, while America’s latest president, Abraham Lincoln, was settling into office, some young men applied for permission to play ‘Football’ in Barrack Park (later Dudhope Park) early in the morning before they got on with their daily pursuits – the self-titled ‘Early Rising Club’. Being a significantly rougher endeavour than today’s sport, the property committee successfully persuaded the council to reject the application.

Ten years later another seminal article appeared:

“FOOTBALL- A match is to be played in the Baxter Park to-day, at three o’clock, between fifteen of the Dalhousie Club, Broughty Ferry, and fifteen of the Dundee Club. As this game is new to Dundee, and this is the first match to be played, considerable interest is being taken by the young gentlemen of the town…” Courier & Daily Argus, Nov 1871

The game had clearly become organised and Baxter Park ushered in a whole new world to the Dundee public, who were finding themselves with more free time and a little more disposable income at the peak of Dundee’s Industrial Revolution.

Baxter Park, once again, played a pivotal role in Dundee’s sporting heritage when a gathering of footballers, more used to the rugby code, came together on New Year’s Day 1876 to host Glasgow’s Alexandra Athletic – “We understand that [Alexandra Athletic] are to introduce the ‘Association game’” remarked the Courier & Daily Argus.

It’s unclear whether those men had yet named their new club by the time of the game against Alexandra Athletic, but they would soon be known as St Clements – Dundee’s first Association Football Club.

East End

St Clements, unsurprisingly, created a lot of firsts in the city where association football is concerned. The club struck up a friendship with Queen’s Park and the Dundee club invited the Glasgow side’s, still considerably strong, second XI to Baxter Park, and in turn were invited to Glasgow for a rematch. The club was the first Dundee side to compete in the Scottish Cup and were rightly seen as pioneers. Despite this they weren’t all that long lived and frequently forfeited their Cup matches. It was those who were formed in the wake of St Clements who built reputations, that live on long after their clubs folded or merged.

One such team was East End. The first match appears to be a 1-1 draw against Dunmore on the Magdalen Green on 31st March 1877. The team has its roots in the Albert Cricket Club when some of the cricketers decided to try their hand at this new code of football. In the early 1930s, one of those cricketers, John Proctor, reminisced about the formation of the club. A dozen or so of the Albert CC each contributed half a crown to purchase nightcaps and a ball, and so East End was born.

The club played its early games on ‘the Lochs’ at Stobsmuir before moving to Havecroft Park on Old Glamis Road – a testament to their roots as this was the ground where Bowbridge CC played their games. There was a short-lived stay at Madeira Park behind Morgan Academy before the short hop to the northern part of Baxter Park Terrace and Pitkerro Park. In 1891 the club moved to the fabulously well-equipped Carolina Port south of East Dock Street.

The ‘Wise Men’ were slow burners, winning their first trophy – the Dundee Charity Cup- in 1889-90. Two more Charity Cups followed in 1891-92 & 1892-93 along with a Northern League title – shared with Our Boys- in 1891-92. The club managed an impressive quarter final appearance in the Scottish Cup in 1889-90 and, heartbreakingly, lost four Forfarshire Cup finals in a row between 1889-1892. By 1893 East End were at the peak of their powers and but for the presence of another city club – Our Boys – the Wise Men’s grip on the local honours would have been significantly tighter.

Our Boys

Settled local historical opinion is that Our Boys were formed in 1877. Our Boys was a popular name for sides in the Victorian era with, for example, there being a prominent Blairgowrie version playing at the same time as the Dundee side. It is entirely possible that the basis of the year of formation of the Dundee version rests on a cup match of another town’s ‘Our Boys’ in Sep 1877. It seems likely that the Dundee Our Boys were actually formed in 1878. Like East End slightly before them, Our Boys have their roots in another sport – this time rugby and, more specifically, the rugby team known as Tayside.

Quite appropriately, given the intense rivalry that would ensue, Tayside took part in a couple of matches under the association code against East End in February and March of 1878 at Magdalen Green. This, no doubt, whetted the appetite of enough of the Tayside team that they soon formed the Our Boys FC. Their first match appears to be a Scottish Cup tie against Arbroath in Sep 1878.

Unlike East End, Our Boys made a more immediate impact, quickly forming rivalries with the existing city heavyweights. One such rival was Harp- whose exploits in the mid 1880s merited them the nickname ‘The Invincibles’. Another was Strathmore – the first city club to supply a player to the national team. In the mid 1880s a schism developed within the team and came to a head after an ill-tempered cup tie when some of the players broke away to form the aptly named ‘Wanderers’. As this new club’s stature within local circles grew, so did the rivalry between the former team mates.

Much like East End, Our Boys supporters had to wait a number of years before silverware was won – Forfarshire Cup (1889-90, 1890-91), Charity Cup (1890-91) and Northern League 1891-92. In 1887-88 Our Boys managed a quarter final spot in the Scottish Cup. Their second XI side, Our Boys Rangers, were no slouches, winning the Second Eleven Forfarshire Cup in 1886-87, 1887-88, 1889-90, 1891-92 and the Dundee City League in 1892-93. On the national stage Rangers were beaten semi-finalists of the Second Eleven Scottish Cup in 1892-93.

The club spent most of their time at West Craigie Park, located on the south side of Baxter Park Terrace, just a short hop from their fierce rivals, East End, across the road at Park Avenue. Two city rivals on the same street? Surely not?

While Our Boys and East End were sweeping all before them, there was still the harsh reality that all the best Scottish players, the Scotch Professors, were being lured down south and the game was not what it was during the more Corinthian 1880s. The national response was to create a Scottish League which in 1893 legalised professionalism. Our Boys and East End feared being left behind, but the authorities had already told them that they wouldn’t be granted league entry in their current state. The officials of the two most powerful sides in Dundee came to the same conclusion – that in order to join the national set-up, radical change was needed.