Bon Accord FC
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Bon Accord Football Club was a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
team from
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 ...
, Scotland who suffered the worst defeat in any Scottish senior football match, losing 36–0 to
Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...
on 12 September 1885 in a first round match 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 wor ...
. Thirteen goals were scored by centre-forward
John Petrie John Petrie (15 January 1822 – 8 December 1892) was a Scottish-born Australian politician, architect, stonemason and building contractor in Brisbane who became the city's first Mayor. Private life John Petrie was born 15 January 1822Too ...
, a Scottish Cup and joint world record. This record stood until 2023, when St Machar Thistle were defeated 51-0 by AC Mill Inn Academy in the Scottish Amateur Cup.


History

The club was founded in 1884. '' Bon Accord'' (French "good agreement") is a
motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...
of Aberdeen, also used
metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...
ically for the city itself. Contrary to
urban myth Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
, the club did have experience before 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 wor ...
tie against Arbroath; one of its earlier matches was a 5–3 win against Aberdeen Rovers.


Game v Arbroath in the Scottish Cup

Bon Accord was drawn at home, but conceded the right to host the game to Arbroath. Arbroath was 15–0 up by half time, and scored another 21 goals past Andrew Lornie in the second half. The ''Scottish Athletic Journal'' at the time wrote "The leather was landed between the posts 41 times, but five of the times were disallowed. Here and there, enthusiasts would be seen scoring sheet and pencil in hand, taking note of the goals as one would score runs at a
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
match."''


Later history

Bon Accord was a founder member of the
Aberdeenshire and District Football Association Founded in April 1887, the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association is an affiliated local association of the Scottish Football Association. Member clubs are drawn from the historic counties of Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Kincardineshire ...
. The club played in the
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 ...
from 1889 to 1892, its best performance being winning through two rounds (including a 10–0 away win at Aberdeen Harp) before losing to the original Aberdeen. The club entered the Scottish Cup in 1891–92, by which time the
Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...
had brought in preliminary rounds. In the 1st preliminary round (5 September 1891), Bon Accord won 9–0 at
Stonehaven Stonehaven ( ) is a town on the northeast coast of Scotland, south of Aberdeen. It had a population of 11,177 at th2022 Census Stonehaven was formerly the county town of Kincardineshire, succeeding the now abandoned town of Kincardine, Aberd ...
, with goals from Forsyth (3), Hay (2), Clark (3), and Macfarlane, but it lost 5–2 at home to the original Aberdeen in the 2nd round (26 September 1891), a tie notable for having the first penalty-kick in Aberdeenshire football, scored for Aberdeen by Key past Thomson. The club's final match was in aid 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 ...
, against a team of select junior players; the club's dissolution may have been down to a 4–1 victory over Victoria United, as in the aftermath seven of its players were recruited by Aberdeen, and another three emigrated. A Junior side – founded as Junior Bon Accord in 1890 – soon adopted the name.


Colours

The club's original colours were black and white striped shirts (in the context of the time, this refers to hoops) and white knickers. There is a reference to players wearing plain white shirts for the tie with Arbroath, taken from their cricket whites, but this is probably apocryphal and based on the erroneous belief that Bon Accord was a renamed Orion Cricket Club. From 1890 to 1892 the club wore dark blue.


Ground

The club's home was the Recreation Grounds in Aberdeen. In 1891 the Bons replaced
Caledonian F.C. (Aberdeen) Caledonian F.C. was an association football club from Aberdeen, Scotland, which played in the Scottish Cup, and reached the Aberdeenshire Cup final, in 1890–91. History The Caledonian football club was formed by the Caledonian Cricket Club ...
at the Holburn Grounds.


References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs Football clubs in Aberdeen Defunct football clubs in Scotland 1884 establishments in Scotland Association football clubs disestablished in 1892 1884 disestablishments in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1884