Angus Football Club was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club from

Forfar Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a po ...

in Scotland. Although it was entirely unsuccessful as a club, it was instrumental in the formation of

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games at ...

History

The club was founded in 1880. Although the first club senior club in the town, it remained a small outfit for the first half of its existence; with 25 members in 1882, it was still the smallest senior club in

Forfarshire Angus ( sco, Angus; gd, Aonghas) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include a ...

. Angus first entered the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1882–83, losing at home to

Balgay Balgay ( Gaelic: ''Baile (na) Gaoithe'') is a suburb in the west end of Dundee, Scotland. The name, derived from Gaelic, seems to mean '' 'stead of the marsh/wind' ''.Nicolaisen, W.F.H. ''Scottish Place Names'' pp139 During the 17th century, B ...

1–0, a second Balgay goal not being allowed as the goalposts had been knocked down in the struggle around the ball. A one-goal defeat was Angus' best result in the competition. In 1883–84 the club went down 9–0 at the strong

Dundee Harp Dundee Harp Football Club was a football club based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded in 1879, the team went out of business in 1894. History Dundee Harp was founded to provide a focus of sporting interest for the city's large Roman Catholic commun ...

side, and in the following season 5–1 at home to Dundee Strathmore. Angus was just as unsuccessful in its two

Forfarshire Cup The Forfarshire Cup is a football competition in Scotland competed for by teams in the Forfarshire Football Association from Angus, Dundee and Perth. The name of the competition is often baffling to some, as "Forfarshire" is an archaic and angli ...

entries, losing 3–0 at home to Tay Bank of Dundee - a junior side - in 1884–85 and 2–0 at home to

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

in 1885–86.

The cuckoo in the nest: Angus Athletic

Angus strengthened in September 1883 by taking over the Forfar East End junior club, the East End side becoming the Angus second XI, taking on the name of Angus Athletic. This meant that by 1884 Angus had 37 members, but was still much smaller than any of the Dundee clubs. The Angus Athletic took part in junior and second XI competitions in the county; in 1884–85 the Athletics finished as runner-up in the Forfarshire Second XI cup, losing 4–1 to the Dundee Harp reserves in the final. The Athletics also occasionally played senior sides in friendlies. In 1884–85, the Athletics played the nearby Lindertis side on at least three occasions, with wins of 4–2 and 6–1 (at home) and 7–0 away.

Forfar Athletic formation and demise of Angus

Senior football grew hugely in Forfar in 1885. Angus increased its membership to 60. However, towards the end of the season, the Angus Athletic split away to form a new club, Forfar Athletic. Its last match as Angus Athletic was a 5–4 win over the Alpine club of

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. ...

on 2 May 1885; its first recorded match as Forfar Athletic was against Our Boys Rangers of Dundee on 16 May 1885. The Forfar match secretary (James Black) had been the East End secretary in 1883, and Angus' honorary secretary the previous season. The new club acquired 40 members before the 1885–86 season started. The Athletics joined the Forfarshire Football Association in June, alongside the Angus. The key match between the sides came in the first round of the

1885–86 Scottish Cup The 1885–86 Scottish Cup was the 13th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Queen's Park won the competition for the eighth time after they beat defending champions Renton 3–1 in the final. Arbroath set a worl ...

. It was Forfar's first match in the competition; it proved to be Angus' last. Angus had warmed up for the match with a rare big win the previous week, 5–1 at Dalhousie, and took the lead in the tie, but did not take enough advantage of having the conditions in its favour in the first half, and went down 3–1. On the Forfar side, eight of the players - Ogilvie, Christie, Stormont, Smith, Menzies, Anderson, Samson, and Lamond - had played for Angus Athletic in the Second XI Cup final the previous season, and one more player (Black) was the Forfar nominated umpire for the tie. None of the Angus Athletic players was playing for Angus. The result of the tie switched momentum to the new club. By 1886, Angus was stuck on 60 members, while the Athletic had risen to 150 members, and was one of the biggest clubs in the county. The nail was driven in in the Forfarshire Cup; Angus went out in the first round while Forfar reached the semi-final. Angus nearly had one slight moment of retribution against Forfar, in a friendly on 7 November 1885 at Station Park, in which Angus was 3–1 up at half-time and still 4–3 up early in the second half; however, the play was "brought to an abrupt conclusion" and the match abandoned. Given this sweeping rise of a rival club, Angus shut up shop. its final reported match was a 7–2 defeat at Montrose in November 1885, and it was struck off the association membership roll for non-payment of subscriptions in August 1886.

Colours

The club played in 2" hooped blue and black jerseys and hose, with white knickers.

Grounds

The club's ground was originally at Bankhead Farm, 5 minutes' walk from

Forfar railway station Forfar railway station served the town of Forfar, Angus, Scotland from 1848 to 1967 on the Scottish Midland Junction Railway. It was the second station in Forfar, following the earlier Forfar Playfield railway station terminus. History The st ...

owned by Andrew Christie. When the club decided to move, it presented Mr Christie with a portrait. The Angus Athletic reserves played on Market Muir. In the 1884–85 season, the club moved to Station Park, shared with the new Forfar Athletic club. The first match reported match played there, with the "wet and sloppy" pitch described as "a field behind the station", was an Angus Athletic game against

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...

at the start of 1885, which ended in a 1–1 draw.

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Football clubs in Angus, Scotland Association football clubs established in 1880 Association football clubs disestablished in 1886 1880 establishments in Scotland 1886 disestablishments in Scotland Forfar Athletic F.C.