Dundee Our Boys F.C.

Dundee Our Boys F.C. were a football club from Dundee, Scotland. The club were Founded in 1877 but merged with Dundee East End in 1893 to form Dundee, with the new side elected to the Scottish Football League. The club played in dark blue colours, colours that Dundee still play in today.

They joined the Northern League in 1891 and shared the first league title with city rivals East End. Other honours include the Forfarshire Cup (1889–90 and 1890–91), the Dundee Charity Cup in 1890–91. The club also managed to reach the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup in 1887–88.

In 1885, an offshoot of Our Boys left to form Dundee Wanderers.

Scottish Cup History

Our Boys' first appearance in the Scottish Cup came in the 1877–78 season, losing 8–0 away to South Western in the first round.^[1] The next three seasons would also see first round exits- 3-0 against Arbroath in 1878-79, 5-1 again, against Arbroath in 1879-80 and 2-1 against Rob Roy in 1880-81.^[2]

In 1881-82 Our Boys reached the 4th round of the cup defeating Arbroath 2-1 in the 1st round, Dundee Harp 5-3 in the second round and Strathmore 4-1 in the third round. Our Boys were eventually defeated 9-2 by Kilmarnock away from home in the 4th round.

1882-83 saw further success when Our Boys defeated Dundee Hibernian 2-1 in the first round, Balgay 5-3 in the second round before being defeated 6-4 by Vale of Teith in the third round.

In 1883–84 they drew a local rival in the first round, this time winning 3–2 at home to Dundee West End. A second round 2–0 home win over Arbroath Strathmore saw them face Dundee Strathmore in the third round. A 2–2 away draw was followed by a 5–1 home win to secure their place in the fourth round for the second time. However, they lost 11–0 away to Pollokshields Athletic in the fourth round.^[3]

Arbroath Strathmore were again their opponents in the first round of the 1884–85 tournament, Our Boys winning 4–1 away from home. They thrashed Dundee West End 8–1 in the second round and Dundee Strathmore 5–1 in the third, leading to a fourth round tie at home to West Benhar. They drew the first game 2–2, but then lost the replay 8–3.^[4]

The 1885–86 tournament began with an 8–2 away win against Coupar Angus in the first round. However, Our Boys lost 4–1 away to Dundee Harp in the second round to end their participation for that year.^[5] The following season was even more disappointing, a 5–2 defeat at home to Forfar Athletic in the first round.^[6]

The first round of the 1887–88 tournament saw them win 9–4 away to a club named Aberdeen. They followed this with a 5–3 win at home to Montrose and a 5–0 win away to Fair City Athletic in the third round. They received a bye in the fourth round and won 4–2 at home to Albion Rovers in the fifth to give them a place in the quarter-finals, where they lost 6–0 to a Cambuslang side that would go on to reach the final.^[7]

The following season saw a 5–4 win at home to local rivals Dundee East End in the first round, a 4–2 home win against Lochee United in the second and a 2–1 win at home to Dundee Harp in the third before an 11–1 defeat away to Abercorn in the fourth round.^[8]

The 1889–90 tournament began for Our Boys with a 6–3 win at home to Strathmore. A 6–5 win away to Dundee Harp followed in the second round, before losing 3–2 at home to another Dundee side, East End, in the third round.^[9]

With the advent of the Scottish Football League in 1890, the 1890–91 Cup included league and non-league sides for the first time. Our Boys beat fellow non-league side Forfar Athletic in the first round and received a bye in the second, before beating Dundee East End 4–0 in the third round. The fourth round saw their first and only encounter with a league side in a competitive game, losing 3–1 at home to Celtic.^[10] The match drew Dundee Our Boy's record crowd of 6,000.

In 1891-92 they went out in the 1st preliminary round to Dundee Harp 2-0 after a 4-4 draw.^[11]

The 1892-93 campaign saw a 1st preliminary round victory over Lochee United, a second preliminary round bye and a 3rd preliminary round defeat to Dunblane after a replay. ^[12]

Grounds

Our Boys played at West Craigie Park from 1882 to the time of the merger with East End in 1893.^[13] The new Dundee side initially played at West Craigie Park, although this lasted for only one season before they moved to East End's former ground, Carolina Port. In 1899 Dundee moved to Dens Park where they remain to the present day.

Notable players

Notable players include James Coupar and Fred Erentz who both left Our Boys in June 1892 to join Newton Heath.

References

1. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1877/78". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1878. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
2. ^ "Dundee Football History Project". Kris Scrimgeour. https://sites.google.com/site/dpc1893/our-boys/matches-played. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
3. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1883/84". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1884. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
4. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1884/85". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1885. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
5. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1885/86". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1886. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
6. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1886/87". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1887. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
7. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1887/88". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1888. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
8. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1888/89". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1889. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
9. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1889/90". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1890. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
10. ^ "Scotland Cup Results – 1890/91". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scotcuphistfull.html#1891. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
11. ^ "Dundee Our Boys 1877-1893". The Dundee Programme Collector. http://dpc1893.blogspot.com/2009/08/our-boys-1877-1893.html. Retrieved 2009-08-28. 
12. ^ "Dundee Football History Project". Kris Scrimgeour. https://sites.google.com/site/dpc1893/our-boys/matches-played. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
13. ^ "Scottish Football History - Dundee Our Boys". Archived from the original on 2009-08-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20090806145254/http://geocities.com/br1anmccoll/dundeeourboys. Retrieved 2008-11-27.