East Craigie Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Dundee. Members 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 ...

, they currently play in the . The club are one of a number who claim to be the oldest Junior club currently in existence, but are the oldest football club playing in Dundee.

History

The club were founded in 1880 when workers from the Wallace Craigie weaving

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile manufacturing, Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the A ...

in Dundee, who had formed a cricket team earlier in that year, remained to play football after the closure of the cricket season. Originally known as "Craigie", the club became East Craigie after a donation from the owner of a local farm of that name. East Craigie have played unbroken since their formation, and lay claim to being the oldest Junior club in Scotland although this is disputed by other clubs such as

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. Nicknamed ''The Rabs'' or ''The Roy'', they were formed in 1878. They wear red and black strips and currently compete in t ...

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and Vale of Clyde. Their current Craigie Park ground was opened in April 1932 with a game against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

which drew almost 8,000 spectators. Former East Craigie players include

Jimmy Sharp James Sharp (11 October 1880 – 18 November 1949) was a Scottish international footballer. Career Club Born in Alyth, Perthshire, Sharp began his career with East Craigie and then joined Dundee in 1899. There he was a regular at left back ...

and

Jimmy Easson James Ferrier Easson (3 January 1906 – 20 May 1983) was a Scottish footballer who played as an inside-forward for Portsmouth in the English Football League, helping them reach the FA Cup Final in 1934. He also made three appearances for the Sc ...

who both went on to gain full international honours for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, and Archie Taylor who won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

with both

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

and Barnsley. Up until the end of the 2005–06 season, they played in the Tayside Premier League of the

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. The SJFA restructured prior to the 2006–07 season, and East Craigie found themselves in the 12-team East Region, North Division. They finished seventh in their first season in the division. In 2021-22 the club left behind the Junior level of football and moved upwards to join the Senior pyramid with the formation of the new Midland League.

Honours

* North-Tayside Inter Regional Cup winners: 2021–22

References

Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Football clubs in Dundee Association football clubs established in 1880 1880 establishments in Scotland {{Scotland-footyclub-stub