St. Clement's Football Club was a football club from Dundee, Scotland. Founded in 1875, they were the first club in Dundee playing association rules, and the first from the city to enter the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1876–77. The club quickly absorbed the
Dunmore Dunmore from the ga, Dún Mór, link=no or gd, Dùn Mòr, link=no, meaning "great fort", may refer to:
People
* Dunmore (surname)
* Earl of Dunmore, a title in the Peerage of Scotland, includes a list of earls
* Countess of Dunmore (disambiguat ...
club, with a number of Dunmore players (including captain Gorthy) being listed as St Clement's players by the end of 1877.
The club had early ambitions, in its first season arranging home-and-home matches against Queen's Park (albeit a second XI), and not being disgraced with defeats by 3–0 and 3–1, the club's only goal coming from a scrimmage in the match at
Hampden Park
Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...
being "loudly cheered" by the generous home fans.
One problem the club had was that the early rounds of the Scottish Cup was drawn on a regional basis, and, with no neighbouring clubs entering, the club was placed in the draw with the Edinburgh clubs; the club's first two ties in 1876–77 were played off at neutral ground in
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...
. The club's first tie was a win over the
Edinburgh Cup
The Dewar Cup Edinburgh was an indoor men's and women's tennis event held from 1968 to 1972, and played in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of the second leg of Dewar Cup Circuit of indoor tournaments held throughout the United Kingdom.
History
Th ...
holders 3rd Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers, Stiven scoring the only goal after nine minutes. In the second round, the club came from behind to beat St. Andrew's, with goals from Sharp and captain M'Lennan (the latter from a Stiven left-wing cross); St. Andrew's protested that Sharp's goal should not have been allowed, but it was turned down.
The club's run ended in the third round with a 2–1 home defeat to
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ...
of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
, St. Clement's handicapped by captain M'Lennan being forced to miss the game.
St. Clement's reached the fourth round in the
1877–78 Scottish Cup
The 1877–78 Scottish Cup – officially the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup – was the fifth season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. For the first time, over 100 teams took part in the competition whi ...
, but the club only won one match (against Dunmore, in the latter's only Scottish Cup tie), being the beneficiary of one walkover and one bye. In the fourth round, drawn away at Beith, the club scratched.
In the 1877–78 season it was still one of the top sides in the town, beating
East End
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
4–0 and Strathmore 2–0, and it was the side invited to play an
Arbroath
Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902.
It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen.
...
scratch side on 16 March 1878, before an "immense concourse" of spectators, as the first association game played in the town; St. Clement's won 6–0.
However, the club seems barely to have played afterwards. A return match at home to Arbroath at the start of the 1878–79 season ended in a goalless draw, and, although St. Clement's was said to have been scheduled to play at Heart of Midlothian later that week, the fixture was taken by the
Our Boys
''Our Boys'' is a comedy in three acts written by Henry James Byron, first performed in London on 16 January 1875 at the Vaudeville Theatre. Until it was surpassed by the run of ''Charley's Aunt'' in the 1890s, it was the world's longest-runn ...
side instead, with the Our Boys side including at least three St. Clement's players (Dron, who captained the side, Westwater, and Gorthy). By the 1879–80 season, Westwater and Gorthy were turning out regularly for Our Boys instead and St. Clement's may no longer have existed other than as a notional member of the Scottish FA; the local media did not report on any matches which did take place. St. Clement's continued to enter the Scottish Cup but did not play any ties after the Dunmore victory. The last reference to the club is to its being drawn to visit Strathmore 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 football knockout competition. A total of 147 teams entered the competition, five more than the previ ...
.
Colours
The club played in white shirts and knickerbockers.
Grounds
The club's first ground was
Baxter Park
Baxter Park is a park located in the east of Dundee, Scotland. It was designed between 1862-63 and is the only complete park wholly designed by Sir Joseph Paxton in Scotland. The park is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Lands ...
. From 1876 to 1878 the club played at Magdalen Green, and from the start of the 1878–79 season the club was back at Baxter Park.