Aberdeen University F.C.
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Aberdeen University Football Club is an
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
team representing the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
.


History


Early years

The University Club was formed in 1872 and became members of the SFA in 1904. Aberdeen University has qualified to the main section of the
Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...
at
Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...
whilst in 1925 the Club travelled to
Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...
only to go down 5–1 in the first Round. The only home tie played by the Uni after qualifying was in 1913 when the visitors were
Peebles Rovers Peebles Rovers Football Club is a Scottish association football, football club based in Peebles, Scottish Borders. Originally founded in 1888 as Greenside Rovers, the club changed their name to Peebles Rovers in May 1890. This is at odds with ...
. In front of 2000 spectators, Aberdeen University lost 3–0. For 1954–55, 1955–56, and 1956–57, the SFA scrapped the qualifying rounds, and put all entrants into the first round proper. The Uni lost in the first round every time, but in 1954–55 did take
Girvan F.C. Girvan Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Girvan, South Ayrshire. Nicknamed ''the Seasiders'', they were formed in 1947 and play at Hamilton Park. They currently compete in the . History Prior to the 2004–05 season, Girvan ...
to a replay. In season 1963–64, the university clinched the prestigious local amateur knockout competition, the Bowie Cup, for the first time. The following season saw the university enter the
Scottish Amateur Cup The Scottish Amateur Cup is a nationwide knockout tournament supported and organised by the Scottish Amateur Football Association. The Scottish Amateur Cup is contested by hundreds of football clubs every year. The first and second rounds are re ...
for the first time only to suffer defeat in the first Round at the hands of Doune Castle. Their defence of the Bowie Cup came to an end against Cove Rangers. At this time a great rivalry existed between the university and, at that time, fellow amateurs Cove Rangers. The 1960s were a prolific time for the university led by coach Tudar Hale who later left to take up an appointment in England. In 1969 Dr Eric Farr took over as Coach and led the university to further success at SUSF and Amateur level. Key players of the era were captain John McGrory, vice-captain Dave McWilliam, Alex Ingram, Phil Williams, Roy Pilgrim, Norrie Stuart and Robin Mitchell, all of whom were University internationalists. In 1969, the club was also awarded the Allender Memorial Trophy as the most outstanding Club within the Athletic Association. Aberdeen came close to regaining the
Queen's Park Shield The Queen's Park Shield is a football tournament for Scottish universities and colleges. History The shield was donated to the Scottish Amateur Football Association by Queen's Park Football Club of Glasgow in 1921. The Shield was intended to ...
in the early-1980s but the real highlight of these times was the university's victory over Deveronvale in an Aberdeenshire Cup replay which set up a clash with a strong
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
side. This was the year Aberdeen went on to win the
European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...
and almost 1000 turned out at
Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Kings: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations. *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'', an 11th-century epic Persia ...
to see the university suffer a narrow 2–0 defeat. The Aberdeen team included Bryan Gunn in goal, Willie Falconer and Andy Watson. The previous year Aberdeen had again lost out narrowly to
Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...
who had a certain
Joe Harper Joseph Montgomery Harper (born 11 January 1948) is a Scottish former footballer, mainly remembered for his two spells with Aberdeen, during which he won the three main domestic trophies once each and became the club's record goalscorer with 1 ...
leading the line. There was some success at Universities level with the Uni second team claiming the Paterson Trophy for the first time in 1982–83. In 1987–88, an Aberdeen side led by Club Captain Rab Adams and coached by former players, Craig Graham and Mark Stewart, finally reclaimed the Queen's Park Shield as SUSF Champions. Four Aberdeen players – Mark Thomson, Dave Lewis, Ali Bryce and Gavin Dennis went on to represent Scottish Universities with Bryce and Dennis picking up caps for the British Uni's team as well. The following season Steve Laing was picked as a member of the SUSF team.


Mixed successes

The final decade of the 20th century saw mixed fortunes for the club. Although the Club finally regained its rightful place in Amateur League Division 1 with promotion in 1996–97, it failed to win the SUSF Title and was almost relegated to Merit League 2. The best year was certainly season 1996–97 when the 2nd XI won the Paterson Trophy as well as promotion to Division 4, whilst the firsts also gained promotion and saw their hopes of winning the SUSF Title scupper by a dodgy goal-difference rule. These feats were recognised when the club was awarded the Allender Trophy as best Club in the AA for only the second time. January 2000 saw a memorable day for the University F.C. when a strong Aberdeen side were held to a 0–0 draw in a friendly fixture held at Cameron Barracks. The Dons side included notable Premier Division players such as Gary Smith, Jim Hamilton, Ricky Gillies,
Darren Mackie Darren Graham Mackie (born 5 January 1982) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a striker for Aberdeen in the Scottish Premier League between 1998 and 2012, with a loan spell at Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2004. Thoug ...
,
Dennis Wyness Dennis Wyness (born 22 March 1977) is a Scottish retired footballer. He played either as an attacking midfielder or as a striker. He has previously played for Aberdeen, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Hearts, St Mirren, Queen of the South, D ...
and
Kevin Rutkiewicz Kevin Rutkiewicz (born 10 May 1980) is a Scottish football coach and former player. He managed Scottish League Two club Stirling Albion and Lowland League side East Kilbride. Ruthkiewicz played as a defender for Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Dunf ...
. The match was a tight affair and both sides had chances to win, Mark Peat in the Aberdeen goal and Ewan Scott in the Uni goal making crucial saves.


Millennium era

Season 1999–2000 provided the club with the pinnacle of its achievements in living memory. After finishing third in the Scottish Universities Championship, the university side went on a momentous BUSA Shield run, travelling around the UK, which culminated in the defeat of
De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...
2–1 at the
Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...
in the Final of the British Universities' Shield Competition. As first Scottish University ever to do so, it illustrates just what a landmark achievement it was for the club. Coached by Mike Ross and captained by Andrew "Taz" Johnson, the team included Scottish Universities representatives such as Kasper Neilson, Duncan Fisher, Ross Logie, Dougie McConnachie, American Brendan Hanke, and Scotland Amateur Internationalist Ross Preston. American Student Brendan Hanke scored both goals in the final, leading to the hard fought 2–1 win over De Montfort which included hospitalisation for striker Donal Henretty and keeper Ewan Scott. ''As of'' 2012, the university competed concurrently in BUCS 1A University League, The Premier Division of Aberdeen Amateur League and the Aberdeenshire & District League In June 2014, the club were accepted as members of the
Scottish Junior Football Association The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football (soccer), football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the ...
and join the
SJFA North Region The Scottish Junior Football Association, North Region is one of the two regions of the Scottish Junior Football Association. Its area covers Grampian and Moray as well as part of the Highland and Angus council areas – from Montrose in the sou ...
from the 2014–15 season.


Ground

The first team matches are played at the Hillhead Centre in the north of the city of Aberdeen, close to the historic campus at
Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It retains the sta ...
and to the main
halls of residence A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...
. The centre has a full sized grass pitch with seating for 300,
floodlights A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. It can provide functional area lighting for travel-ways, parking, entrances, work areas, and sporting venues to enable visibil ...
, a pavilion and a full-sized
synthetic Synthetic may refer to: Science * Synthetic biology * Synthetic chemical or compound, produced by the process of chemical synthesis * Synthetic elements, chemical elements that are not naturally found on Earth and therefore have to be created in ...
training pitch. Other teams' matches are played at the Balgownie Playing Fields, north of the city in
Bridge of Don Bridge of Don is a suburb in the north of Aberdeen, Scotland. In , the Bridge of Don electoral ward was estimated to have a population of 19,545. Bridge of Don is split into four areas for statistical purposes by Aberdeen City Council and Poli ...
and at King's College.


Teams

The club's first team competes in the North Region of the SJFA. They also run a team in the
Aberdeenshire League The Aberdeenshire and District League, usually known as the Aberdeenshire League, is a football tournament for clubs in membership of the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association. The clubs are drawn from the historic counties of Aberde ...
, three teams in the local amateur leagues as well as four in the
university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
leagues.


Honours


Senior

*
Aberdeenshire Cup The Aberdeenshire Cup is a Scottish football tournament for all senior clubs affiliated to the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association (ADFA), being clubs from the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. The Aberdeenshire ...
**Winners 1920–21


Amateur

* Aberdeenshire AFA Division Two **Champions 1976–77 *Aberdeenshire AFA Division Two (East) **Champions 2003–04 *North of Scotland Amateur Cup **Winners: 1950–51, 1958–59, 1967–68 *
Aberdeen F.C. Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional Association football, football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the and have List of unrelegated association football clubs, never been relegated from the top division of th ...
Trophy **Winners: 1966–67, 2008–09 *Aberdeenshire AFA Premier Trophy **Winners: 2003–04


University

*
BUCS British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS; ) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2008, BUCS is responsible for organising 54 inter-university sports in the United Kingdom, as well as represe ...
Scottish Division 2A **Champions 2011–12, 2018–19 * BUSA Shield **Winners 1999–00 *
Queen's Park Shield The Queen's Park Shield is a football tournament for Scottish universities and colleges. History The shield was donated to the Scottish Amateur Football Association by Queen's Park Football Club of Glasgow in 1921. The Shield was intended to ...
**Winners 1921–22, 1922–23, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1932–33, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1940–41, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1987–88, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1987–88 *Conference Cup **Winners 2018-19


References

{{Football in Aberdeen, state=collapsed Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs University of Aberdeen Football clubs in Aberdeen University and college football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1889 1889 establishments in Scotland