Bon Accord F.C.

Bon Accord were a football team from Aberdeen, Scotland who suffered the worst defeat in any British senior football match, losing 36-0 to Arbroath on September 12 1885 in a first round match of the Scottish Cup. Thirteen goals were scored by centre-forward John Petrie, a Scottish Cup record.

Game v Arbroath in the Scottish Cup

Arbroath were an established team that had beaten Rangers in the Scottish Cup the previous year at home (only to be forced to replay the game when the latter protested), whereas Bon Accord were in reality a cricket team, Orion Cricket Club, who mistakenly received the invitation to enter the Scottish Cup instead of Orion FC, an Aberdeen football club.

This was an easy enough mistake to be made: in those days it was commonplace for football clubs to be part of a general sports club (eg. Heart of Midlothian began as a cricket club, Vale of Leven were a Rugby Football & Shinty Club, etc).

The name "Bon Accord" was used to commemorate the watchword that initiated the storming of Aberdeen Castle during the Wars of Scottish Independence. It was also the name of one of the town's newspapers during the 19th & early 20th Century. Either way, the Aberdeen connection was the reason for the Orion Cricket side adopting the name. The club arrived allegedly for the match without any form of standard football kit, a portend of what was to follow.

The referee, Dave Stormont, is believed to have disallowed several more goals, either for offside, or because it was not clear whether the ball had gone into the goal (there being no goal nets at the time), or simply to keep the score at a "respectable" level. Although no reliable statistics of the match exist, sources claim that either five cite web | author = Will Springer | year = 2005 | url = http://heritage.scotsman.com/traditions.cfm?id=2372812005 | title = A day when Scottish football scorched the record books | format = HTML | publisher = Scotsman | accessdate = 9 December | accessyear = 2005 ] or seven cite web | author = Fraser Clyne | year = 2003 | url = http://www.arbroathfc.co.uk/history/36-0-team.htm | title = The 36-0 team | format = HTML ] other goals were scored. Bon Accord did not seem to have had a single shot at goal. James Milne, the Arbroath goalkeeper, spent most of the match sheltering from the rain under an umbrella he borrowed from a spectator. Some accounts say he never touched the ball during the entire match. At the other end, Andrew Lornie, was beaten at least 36 times.

Unlikely Coincidences

Amazingly, in the same competition on the same day, Dundee Harp (who later became Dundee United) beat Aberdeen Rovers 35-0. The referee had counted the score as 37-0 but the club secretary of Dundee Harp recorded only 35 goals. The lower figure was agreed upon. In another remarkable coincidence, their captain had recently transferred from Arbroath and sent his old club a telegram to boast of their success, only to receive one in reply letting him know they'd pipped them to the record that same day by a single goal. cite web | author = Fraser Clyne | year = 2005 | url = http://www.arbroathfc.co.uk/s_2005/36-0_Revisited.htm | title = The 36-0 Revisited | format = HTML ] .

On September 3 1887, Arbroath were again drawn in the same competition against the real Orion F.C - this time the football club rather than the cricket club were correctly invited. The result on this occasion was 18-0 in favour of Arbroath (see http://scottishfootballarchive.co.uk/scottishcups/1887-88)

Bon Accord F.C. (1890)

The name Bon Accord was used for another team from Aberdeen founded in 1890, who entered the Scottish Cup competition in 1891-92 and 1903-1904 seasons. Whether they were related to the same Orion Cricket Club is unclear, however it is extremely unlikely in those days that anyone else would willingly have taken on such an ignonimous name.

In 1891, in the 1st Round (5th September 1891), they thrashed Stonehaven away 8-0, but then lost 5-2 at home to Aberdeen (this Aberdeen in time merging with Orion FC & Victoria United to form Aberdeen in the 2nd round (26th September 1891) (see http://scottishfootballarchive.co.uk/scottishcups/1891-92).

Bon Accord Juniors

In the 1980s, Bon Accord reemerged in the North East Junior leagues, courtesy of the largesse of Bryan Keith - the former head joiner of Fyvie Castle and founder of the Bon Accord Glass company - as part of his own Bon Accord Sports Club.

Moving the side from their Findon Park ground in the fishing village of Findon (which ironically was taken over by their derby rivals Parkvale - giving up on trying to win a following in Aberdeen dominated by the other Junior sides of Banks O'Dee, Aberdeen East End and Aberdeen Sunnybank), Bon Accord played at the custom built Keith Park in the Hillhead, Bridge of Don area of Aberdeen, and played in blue and white halved tops, blue shorts and socks.

However, when Bryan Keith left the club to become chairman of Montrose, Keith Park and the Bon Accord Sports Club was bought by the University of Aberdeen, who renamed Keith Park as the Hillhead Sports Centre, whilst Bon Accord FC were taken over by amateur side Wilson's XI, who first renamed it Wilson's XI Juniors, and then Hillhead Juniors.

A Bon Accord City FC, made up of Bon Accord Juniors and Wilson's XI members who opposed the takeover and renaming, currently play in the Aberdeenshire Amateur leagues, playing (ironically) at Aberdeen University's Balgownie Playing Fields, the former playing fields of Wilson's XI.

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