Dean Football Club, sometimes referred to as Kilmarnock Dean, was 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 ...

club from

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

History

The club was founded in 1874 and took its name from a castle near Kilmarnock. As the club had its meetings at Robertson's Temperance Hotel, it may have had links with the

Temperance Movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

. The club only ever played 7 competitive fixtures; 4 in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Ayrshire Cup The Ayrshire Cup was an annual association football regional competition in Scotland. The cup competition was a knockout tournament between football clubs in the historic county of Ayrshire. The Ayrshire Cup was first held in 1877–78, the tr ...

. The club lost 6 of these fixtures. The biggest recorded win for the club is a 3–0 home win against St Andrew's of Kilmarnock in a friendly in 1875. Its Scottish Cup results grew progressively worse in its first three years of entry. In 1876–77, the club was let down by its nominated umpire, in a 3–2 defeat against

Girvan Girvan (, "mouth of the River Girvan") is a burgh and harbour town in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Girvan is situated on the east coast of the Firth of Clyde, with a population of about 6,450. It lies south of Ayr, and north of St ...

played at

Eglinton Park Eglinton Park is a public park located in the North Toronto neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a few blocks west of the Eglinton Subway Station. It is bounded on the south end by Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west ...

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

; the Dean players disputed the winner for Girvan, which the Girvan umpire had given as a goal, but, as the Dean umpire could not make up his mind either way, the referee gave the goal. The following season the club lost 6–0 at

Kilbirnie Kilbirnie () is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley and ...

, the home team penning Dean in its goal area for 35 minutes before the first goal. In 1878–79 the club suffered its worst defeat, 9–0 to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

. Its last Scottish Cup tie, in 1879–80, against

Mauchline Mauchline (; ) is a town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In the 2001 census Mauchline had a recorded population of 4,105. It is home to the National Burns Memorial. Location The town lies by the Glasgow and South Western Railway ...

at Holm Quarry (the home of Kilmarnock Athletic), ended 3–1 to the village side, Alex Robertson scoring Dean's only competitive goal when the club was 2–0 down. The club's first Ayrshire Cup tie came in the first season of the competition. Dean was favoured to beat the newly founded Hawthorn club at home, but, in a "very fast" game, the visitors won 1–0. In 1878–79, the club lost 1–0 at the village side of Coylton Coila. In the 1879–80 competition the club finally avoided a defeat, drawing 0–0 against Mauchline in the first round, but the club was then disqualified, as the Ayrshire Football Association found the club at fault for not arranging a replay within the competition deadline. The club did not enter the Ayrshire Cup again, and the last known reference to the club is its being drawn at home to Auchinleck Boswell in the

1881–82 Scottish Cup The 1881–82 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the ninth season of Scotland's most prestigious Association football, football knockout competition. A total of 147 teams entered the competition, f ...

Colours

The club wore royal blue shirts and white knickerbockers.

Ground

The club played at Hillhead, off Kilmaurs Road.

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

Sport in Kilmarnock Association football clubs established in 1874 Association football clubs disestablished in 1881 1874 establishments in Scotland 1881 disestablishments in Scotland