Dykebar Football Club was a Scottish football team located in the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire.

History

The club was founded in 1879, albeit in its early years it did not play competitive football, and did not even host a "conversazione" - the usual annual celebration of a club - until January 1886. Its first competitive football came in the

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest teams ...

in 1885–86, and its first match something of a false start; the club lost to Paisley Hibernians but the Hibernians had not registered a single one of the starting XI with the Renfrewshire FA, so Dykebar was put through to the second round; Hibernian secretary James Gildea accepted the blame, on the basis that, having registered the players with the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility fo ...

, he had not thought it necessary to do so again with the county association. In the second round the club beat Northern (Greenock) 4–1, coming from behind, and lost 7–0 to

Abercorn Abercorn ( Gaelic: ''Obar Chùirnidh'', Old English: ''Æbbercurnig'') is a village and civil parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around west of South Queensferry. The parish had a ...

in the quarter-final in front of a "meagre" crowd. Dykebar joined the

in 1887, at the same time as the re-formed Paisley Athletic. This helped in taking advantage of the gradual consolidation of clubs in the town; on the demise of the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

club, the Wee Dykies took on Robert Spruill, one of the first centre-midfielders in the game and who later became the club president. Dykebar's first

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1887–88 was against

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film ''Horton ...

, and the Wee Dykies

went nap To go nap is an English expression meaning to score or win five times or, alternatively, to risk everything on one attempt.Soanes and Stevenson (2005), p. 1168. More broadly it can mean to take everything. Origin The phrase originates from a bid ...

, winning 5–2 in a result described as "the surprise of the round". Another 5–2 win at

Lochwinnoch Lochwinnoch (; sco, Lochineuch, gd, Loch Uinneach) is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying on the banks of Castle Semple Loch and the River Calder, Lochwinnoch is c ...

put the club into the third round for the only time; the home side protested to no avail about the "huroo" squad of fans which accompanied the team. In the third round Dykebar took Kilmarnock to a replay before losing. The club's best run in the county cup came in 1889–90, when it reached the semi-final, and only lost to

Port Glasgow Athletic Port-Glasgow Athletic was a football club based in Port Glasgow, Scotland. The club was formed in 1878 and originally named Broadfield before changing their name in 1881. They played in the Scottish Football League between 1893 and 1911, and were ...

in a second replay. The club repeated the feat in 1892–93, but by this time most of the clubs in the shire had dissolved, and the club only needed one match to get so far; this time the club lost 6–3 to Morton at home in the semi. Dykebar did reach two competition final, that of the Paisley Charity Cup in 1889–90 and 1890–91; the competition was generally a four-team invitational. In 1888–89 the club walked over town rivals St Mirren in the semi-final but lost to Abercorn in the final. In 1890–91, the Wee Dykies went into the final on the back of a "splendid" win over

Arthurlie Arthurlie is an area of the town of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. History of Arthurlie The lands of Arthurlie were held in medieval times by the Stewart family, a branch of the noble Stewarts of Darnley. Later the lands became the prop ...

in the semi-final and triumphing in a four-a-side tournament against Abercorn, St Mirren, and Port Glasgow Athletic. However the club was outclassed by the Saints in the final; St Mirren was now definitively the top side in Paisley and would never relinquish that distinction. The rise of professionalism (Dykebar's "modus operandi" was "strict amateurism") and loss of fixtures, combined with the cost of renting a cricket ground, meant the club ran out of money during the 1894 season. The club held a concert in December 1894, in order to raise enough money "for the purpose of defraying whatever debt remained against the name of Dykebar F.C."; at least in this the concert was successful. The club was struck off the Scottish FA roll before the next season.

Colours

The club's colours were originally black and white vertical stripes and blue knickers. In 1888 the club changed its jerseys to white.

Ground

The club originally played at Greenhill. From October 1885, the club played at Thistle Park, the ground of the Paisley Thistle

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

club, and formerly the ground of St Mirren and (the previous season) the now-defunct

; facilities were spartan, without even a table for reporters. The biggest known attendance was "fully 5,000", with the ground "taxed to the utmost", for the

1888–89 Scottish Cup The 1888–89 Scottish Cup was the 16th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. 3rd Lanark RV beat Glasgow rivals Celtic (making their Cup début) 2–1 in a replayed final. The original match was won 3–0 by 3rd L ...

second round derby with St Mirren.

Notable players

* William Paul, the club's match secretary for its entire senior existence, and also the club's only international player, earning a cap in the 1891 international against Ireland.

External links

Scottish Cup results
(NB: the

1890–91 Scottish Cup The 1890–91 Scottish Cup was the 18th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Heart of Midlothian defeated Dumbarton 1–0 to win the trophy. First round * * Match Declared Void *** St Johnstone Declared ...

tie with Lanemark was actually played, at the latter's ground, and ended 5–2 to Lanemark)
Renfrewshire Cup

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs disestablished in 1895 Association football clubs established in 1879 Sport in Paisley, Renfrewshire 1879 establishments in Scotland 1895 disestablishments in Scotland Football in Renfrewshire