The photos in this post were taken at the Dumbarton FC 150^th anniversary Exhibition held in Dumbarton Library towards the end of last year.

The club’s biggest achievement was in being overall Champions of Scotland twice – shared with Rangers in 1891 and won outright the following season. See to the right of photo below:-

The rest of that information board relates to minor trophies, Charity Cups and the Stirlingshire Cup.  I took two photos of it since the angle wasn’t great for getting the whole board in:-

The Dunbartonshire Charity Cup was on display:-

As was the Dumbartonshire Cup:-

The club won the Scottish Cup in 1883 and is one of the few whose names are on the actual trophy as opposed to plinths below it:-

The Festival of Britain (St Mungo) Quaich was won in 1951. The picture below shows the Quaich and one of the mugs presented to the winning players:-

Festival of Britain Quaich inscription:-

The Scottish Football League Second Division Trophy (1972):-

It seems we’ve won the Stirlingshire Cup again.

It’s getting to be a habit, three times in four seasons.

Mind you this was last season’s final (2012-2013) and it’s become a mainly reserve/youth team competition.

A full (and I mean full) list of Stirlingshire Cup results is here.

For the average football fan most seasons are a bit of a non-event.

By-passing glory hunters (yes, Old Firm fans, I’m looking at you) your team will achieve nothing at all – beyond perhaps mid-table mediocrity, which in itself is not to be sniffed at I suppose.

Once in a while, though, something comes along that makes the usual torments all worthwhile – a cup run (Ha! – when was the last time we had one of those; Stirlingshire Cup wins don’t really count) a promotion or the avoidance of relegation. I suppose we must add to that list nowadays a play-off appearance – if it’s the right play-off!

This season has seen that feeling enhanced. Last year’s play-off win was marvellous but once we went on the run that qualified us for it there was a momentum to follow and while nothing was taken for granted the team was playing well and since we’d actually finished third in the league losing in the play-offs wouldn’t have been too much of a disappointment.

This season though has seen what amounts to a miracle. With only one league win and two draws up until the middle of December we looked doomed. What has happened since would be incredible if we hadn’t witnessed it. (Nine away wins! More points gained away than lost. Escape even from the relegation play-off with effectively two games to go.)

And somehow the avoidance of relegation – always the main goal just after a promotion – seems to mean more than a promotion, especially when it has looked unlikely for most of the season. (Cowdenbeath fans will have been mightily relieved yesterday even though they must have felt reasonably secure for most of the time.)

But let’s not get too carried away with thoughts of doing well in Division 1 in future. For a club like Dumbarton survival at this level is success. We’ve achieved that this season – against the odds. Yet it’s always going to be a struggle when the resources are stacked against us. The likelihood is that as a part time team we cannot be a force in this division. I can live with that.

Edited to add:- The suggestion that the Div 1 clubs will break away from the SFL to become an SPL 2 fills me with foreboding. At the minute we might be in that but for the past 20 or so years we wouldn’t have had a sniff. I suspect those full-time teams who think that may be a lifeboat are kidding themselves. The country isn’t really big enough to sustain even twelve full time teams never mind twenty. Neither are the crowds.

Scottish Cup, 3^rd Round, The Rock, 3/11/12.

Well. A win’s a win – even if it is in the Cup. Our record in cups (the Stirlingshire version apart) hasn’t been too good for an awfully long time.

The comments on the Pie Shop say it wasn’t convincing. Given our persistent failure to win in Div 1 that’s not altogether surprising but at least this has shown that we can beat a team.

I don’t know whether to hope for a big team at their place in the next round to get in some money or for someone else we might be able to beat.

Onwards (and upwards?) to Cowdenbeath on Saturday first, though.

Stirlingshire Cup Final, The Rock, 16/11/10.

Silverware again!

I wasn’t at the game and didn’t even clock the score till yesterday afternoon.

It was a clean sheet – and Michael White was in goal.

There is no full team listing on the club website yet so I don’t know exactly who played where* but this competition has been reserved for under 19s with a few older players allowed.

The youngsters are certainly doing well. Good for the confidence I hope.

*Update: The team is now listed. Looks like a fair spread of youngsters.

Ochilview, 13/10/09

Hey! We’ve won a cup!

(Thanks to Big Rab for the comment about this but I had also been “watching” it on Pie And Bovril.)

It may be only the diddiest of wee diddy cups and a showcase for fringe players and under-19s and the like but it’s the first time we’ve won it in fourteen seasons.

It’ll be nice to have something else to jostle in the trophy cabinet with the 3rd Division Championship Trophy and the Festival Of Britain (or St Mungo) Quaich.