Rock Football Club, usually referred to as Dumbarton Rock, 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 based in the town of

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

, in

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the north-west of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. ...

History

The club was formed in 1882, made up of abstemious Clyde shipyard workers of Irish extraction, and, after an 1883–84 season in which it won 12 of 22 matches, it joined 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 ...

. The club may have been influenced by having a match secretary, William Meikle, who had previously held the role at Pollokshields Athletic. The club therefore entered the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dumbartonshire Cup The Dumbartonshire Cup was the championship trophy of the Dumbartonshire FA from its inception in 1884 until the organization disbanded in 1938. There was however an 'extra' playing of the competition in 1939, immediately after the outbreak of the ...

for the first time in 1884–85. In the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

, the club lost 2–0 to

Yoker Yoker () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, located on the northern bank of the Clyde east of Clydebank, west of the city centre. The name is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic ''Eochair'' meaning a river bank. From the fourteenth centur ...

, a protest against Christie of Yoker not being properly registered being dismissed, although Rock did not lose the protest deposit. Rock also lost in the first round of the Dumbartonshire, to Vale of Leven Wanderers. The club's Irish links helped it get an invitation to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

to play a friendly with

Limavady Limavady (; ) is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying east of Derry and southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 11,279 people at the 2021 Census. In the 40 years between 1 ...

, which Rock won 6–4, and strong enough to draw with a strong Dundee Our Boys on a trip to Tayside at the end of the season. The club seemed to have finished the season on a high, as its reserve side reached the final of the Dumbartonshire Junior Cup by beating Renton Athletic, but for some reason the Athletic was put into the final, which it duly won. Despite an active season, the club never seems to have played another match. In 1885–86, the club reached the second round of the Scottish Cup, because opponents Levendale scratched; but Rock in turn scratched to

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

in the second. It seems to have had its talent raided by other local sides - in the 1885–86 season, centre-half Hartley and forward Gourlay were playing for

, itself having lost players to the professional English game, and left-forwards Kerr and Galbraith were at Dumbarton Athletic. The club left the Scottish FA in August 1886, so could not enter the Scottish Cup again, but had a remarkable afterlife, entering the Dumbartonshire Cup every season from 1885–86 to 1890–91 and scratching before the first tie every time.

Colours

The club's colours were blue jerseys, white knickers, and red hose.

Ground

The club played at Netherbog Park on Cemetery Road.

External links

Dumbartonshire Cup scratchings

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1882 Association football clubs disestablished in 1890 Football in West Dunbartonshire Dumbarton 1882 establishments in Scotland 1890 disestablishments in Scotland Irish diaspora sports clubs in Scotland