For We’re the Pars, Dunfermline Athletic…..

ThePars.mp3

As well as having a small Dunfermline Athletic section on my blog, I thought I’d also post up a page about the club I love dearly. For those of you who don’t know, here’s a small taste of the Pars’ history, where the “Pars” nickname originates and when I started following the team.

Dunfermline Athletic- A brief history.

Dunfermline Athletic Football Club were founded in 1885 and owe their existence to the local cricket club. 11 years previously, a football section was formed as part of the cricket club in order to maintain fitness throughout the winter period. The simply named Dunfermline Club became the biggest amateur club in the town until a dispute among the members caused the football section to split from the rest of the club in 1885.

So, on 2 June of that year, Dunfermline Athletic FC were formed in the town’s Old Inn pub, which is still around today. Their first game was on June 13th at East End Park, which in those days was located slightly west of the current stadium location. Dunfermline won the match 2-1.

Originally, Dunfermline played in maroon shirts but they reverted to their now traditional black and white striped shirts in 1912. In this period, success for Dunfermline was limited though they did manage to sign Scotland international Andy Wilson, which was a massive coup for the club at that time. They club won the Central League and Scottish Qualifying Cup in 1911 and 1912 respectively, and they won the newly formed Scottish Second Division title in 1925/26.

But that was that until the 1960s, which is regarded as the club’s golden era. In 1960, Dunfermline were in deep relegation trouble and turned to a certain Jock Stein, manager of the Celtic reserve side. Astonishingly, his team defeated Celtic 3-2 in his first game as part of six successive wins which saw the Pars survive by the skin of their teeth.

But Stein had only started the magic and in 1961, not only did he lead the Athletic into their first Scottish Cup final, he led them to the trophy. They played Celtic at Hampden and after a 0-0 draw in the first game, goalkeeper Eddie Connachan produced an inspired display as Dunfermline sensationally triumphed 2-0 in the replay, with goals from Davie Thomson and the legendary Charlie Dickson securing the trophy.

And the Pars’ success continued. Stein led the club into Europe, that included memorable victories over soon to be English champions Everton over 2 legs and an incredible tie in 1962 with Spanish giants Valencia. 4-0 down after the first leg, Stein went for it in the second game and Dunfermline won 6-2. This led to a 3rd match to decide who went through, which Valencia won 1-0.

Stein however shocked Dunfermline and left for Hibs in 1964 before joining Celtic. Player Willie Cunningham took over and the Pars had arguably their greatest ever season under him in 1964/65 but ended with nothing. They looked on course to win the championship and Scottish Cup double but lost out to Kilmarnock for the title and then losing the Cup 3-2 to Stein’s new Celtic side.

European success continued but Cunningham left in 1967 to be replaced by George Farm, who led the club to their second Scottish Cup in 1968, as we beat Hearts 3-1 in the final. He also took the club on their greatest European run, which included knocking out West Bromwich Albion, to the Cup Winners Cup semi final in 1969, but sadly Dunfermline lost over 2 legs to eventual winners Slovan Bratislava.

This however started a downturn in Dunfermline’s fortunes and throughout the 1970s they struggled and flirted with bankruptcy. The successful team were gone and crowds dropped as Dunfermline fell spectacularly from grace. With the league’s restructured to accomodate a Premier League, Dunfermline found themselves in the First Division and were eventually relegated to the Second Division. The glory days were over and in 1983, Dunfermline finished in their lowest ever placing- 9th in the Scottish Second Division, then the lowest league in Scotland.

The club then turned to reserve coach and former player Jim Leishman and, after narrowly missing out on promotion in 1985, a year later the club won the second division title, its first championship since 1926. The following season, promotion was again won to the Premier League for the first time and although the Pars were relegated, they bounced back at the first attempt in 1989.

Crowds were rising and in season 1989/90, the Pars recorded their highest ever average attendance for a season- a quite marvellous 10,978. Despite missing out on Europe by only 5 points, Leishman was controversially deposed as manager in 1991 in favour of assistant Iain Munro, with the board looking for Leishman to take on a role on the board. This was a decision which infuriated the fans, with 4,000 marching through the town to demand his re-installment.

It wasn’t to be and between Munro and his successor Jocky Scott, Dunfermline were relegated in 1992 with a pathetic 18 points, and had lost a League Cup final to Hibernian. Scott was then sacked at the end of season 92/93 after his team threw away promotion in spectacular style- a 2-0 home defeat to already relegated Cowdenbeath proving to be the final straw.

The club turned to former Pars player Bert Paton, a legend of the 60s, and Dick Campbell to revive the club at a time I started watching the team. Despite two narrow misses, the Pars finally won the First Division in 1996 ahead of the much fancied Dundee United. This was made all the more poignant due to the fact the club tragically lost its skipper Norrie McCathie in January of 1996.

Bert led the club to 5th and 8th in the Premier League and to 2 League Cup semi finals before resigning in January 1999, with the club bottom of the table. Dick Campbell took over and despite a good run of form, the Pars were heading back to the First Division.

Dunfermline started the season as favourites for the title but drew games they should have won. A 3-1 defeat at St Mirren in October 1999 saw Campbell resign and Jimmy Calderwood take charge. He led the team to promotion then to 9th, 6th and 5th place in the SPL before we reached our first Scottish Cup final since 1968 in 2003/2004, going down 3-1 to Celtic, as well as 4th in the SPL.

He then shocked everyone by resigning to take over at Aberdeen and Davie Hay was installed. A disasterous UEFA Cup exit to Icelandic side FH Hafnarfjordur saw him have the fans on his back and a 2-0 defeat at Livingston in April 2005 saw the club stare relegation in the face. He was sacked and Jim Leishman, back at the club as a director, took temporary charge. 5-0 and 1-0 wins over Dundee and Dundee Utd respectively saw the team survive and he was handed the job permanently.

In 2005/2006 the club comfortably staved off relegation and reached their 3rd League Cup final, but went down meekly to Celtic in the final by 3-0. However, a poor start to 2006/2007 saw him resign after a 4-0 loss to Hibs and Stephen Kenny was installed as manager. Despite a poor league start, Dunfermline charged past Rangers, Hearts, Partick Thistle and Hibernian to the Scottish Cup final and although they made a late effort at closing the gap on relegation rivals St Mirren, a 2-1 defeat at Inverness on the penultimate day sent the club down. And despite a spirited showing, we went down 1-0 to Celtic in the Cup final.

Onto last season and despite being favourites for promotion, the club had a bad start and another dismal UEFA Cup exit, this time to Swedes BK Hacken, did little for morale. Consecutive humilations by Hamilton (0-5), Stirling Albion (0-3) and Livingston (0-4) saw the Pars sit in 9th place in the First Division. Although they reached their first Challenge Cup final, losing to St Johnstone, Kenny was sacked in December and veteran striker Jim McIntyre was appointed. Results steadily improved and Dunfermline finished last season in 5th place. Hopefully next season we can make a promotion challenge.

“The Pars” Nickname

In my view, Dunfermline have one of the strangest nicknames in Scottish football, ‘the Pars’. Even more remarkably, there is no clear indication as to where the nickname originates. There are plenty of ideas, see which you one you prefer as to where the Pars originated.

1. At one time, the team were playing so badly that they were nicknamed the “paralytics”, which was then shortened to “the Pars”.

2. When the club changed its strip to its now famous black and white stripes, the name “Pars” was used as a shortened name for parallel lines.

3. In the early part of the 20th century when the Rosyth Naval Base opened (Rosyth is around a mile or so from Dunfermline), sailors from the south west of England came to watch the Athletic and unfurled a banner reading “Plymouth Argyle (Rosyth) Supporters”. Hence the “Pars”.

4. When Dunfermline gained league status they were called “the Pars” because they were now on a par with other teams.

5. When the team first wore their black and white stripes, they were called “the Pars” because their colours resembled the parr, which is a type of salmon.

6. In January 1913, local rivals Cowdenbeath were involved in a courtcase over the lease of North End Park, which was Cowden’s home at the time. Their solicitor asked Cowdenbeath’s secretary if they were on a Par with Dunfermline, to which he replied “higher up”, which, so goes the theory, caused banter between Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath fans, resulting in the nickname. This theory is funnily enough the one which Cowdenbeath fans tend to believe!

I personally go with theory 3, which is the most popular view. But it is one which has split the club and its fans for many many years, and will continue to do so for many more!

Dunfermline Athletic Factfile

Here’s a quick look at some facts and figures for the Pars.

Dunfermline Athletic play at East End Park, Halbeath Road, Dunfermline. The stadium is now all seated with a capacity of 11,790. Home fans occupy the centre and west wings of the Main Stand, the North West Stand and the Norrie McCathie Stand, also known as the “toon end”. East End Park’s record attendance is 27,816 which was set against Celtic on 30 April, 1968.

Dunfermline’s record victory was set on 27 September 1930, with Stenhousemuir on the receiving end of an 11-2 defeat. The club’s record defeats are 11-1 against Hibernian in 1889 and 10-0 against Dundee in March 1947.

Athletic’s record appearance holder is Norrie McCathie, who made 497 appearances between 1981 and 1996. He died on January 8th 1996 while still captain of the club.

Charlie Dickson holds the honour of scoring the most league goals for Dunfermline, smashing in 154 between 1955 and 1964, including the killer second in the club’s 1961 Scottish Cup final triumph.

The most capped internationals whilst playing for Dunfermline Athletic are Stevie Crawford and Andrius Skerla. Stevie made won 19 of his 25 Scotland caps while playing for the Pars, while Lithuania’s Andrius also won 19 caps while at East End Park.

Dunfermline Athletic honours list:

Scottish League, Highest Position: 3rd (1964/65, 1968/69)

First Division, Champions: 1988/89, 1995/96

Runners Up: 1986/87, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1999/00

Second Division, Champions: 1985/86

Runners Up: 1978/79

Division Two (Pre League Reconstruction of 1975), Champions: 1925/26

Runners Up: 1912/13, 1933/34, 1954/55, 1957/58, 1972/73

Scottish Cup, Winners: 1961, 1968

Runners Up: 1965, 2004, 2007

Scottish League Cup, Runners Up: 1949/50, 1991/92, 2005/2006

European Cup Winners Cup, Semi Finalists: 1968/69

Quarter Finalists: 1961/62

Fairs (now UEFA) Cup, Quarter Finalists: 1965/66

Third Round: 1964/65, 1969/70

Second Round: 1962/63, 1966/67

Scottish Qualifying Cup, Winners: 1911/12

Central League, Champions: 1910/11, 1911/12

BP Scottish Youth Cup, Winners: 1987/88

To go to the Dunfermline Athletic section of my blog, click here