Today I'm once again going back 4 years to 30th July 2017 and the Scottish League Cup Group Stage. This time it was a Tayside derby match between Dundee and Dundee United played at Dens Park, the home ground of Dundee in this most local of local derbies.
I mentioned in one of my recent articles that the two football clubs of Dundee have stadia which are separated by just 352 yards and are therefore the closest senior professional clubs in the UK. This always had a kind of fascination for me and I wanted to know how the away side travelled to the game. Did they get a coach perhaps? Did they get changed at their own ground and make the journey resplendent in full kit? I was about to have all my questions answered!
Dundee, nicknamed the Dees or the Dark Blues, are the older of the two clubs and were founded in 1893 and had their heyday in the early 1960's when they won the Scottish League title (1962) and went all the way to the Semi-Finals of the European Cup the following season. Dundee United, nicknamed the Tangerines or the Terrors were founded in 1909 and have been the more successful of the two clubs over the last 50 years or so. United also have a Scottish League title to their name (1983) and similarly made it all the way to the European Cup Semi-Finals the following season.
United's fans also have a nickname: they are known as the Arabs.
Nobody is certain as to the origins of the nickname but the commonly accepted version dates back to the harsh winter of 1962/63. United had made two attempts to play their Scottish Cup tie against Albion Rovers and hired a tar burner to melt ice that was on the pitch. This however left the playing surface pretty well devoid of grass and the club covered the pitch in sand. The game went ahead and United won the tie handsomely, prompting some observers to comment that they had taken to the new surface "like Arabs"!
Pre-match, Les and I got word that the United team were about to make their journey to Dens Park and we made our way down Tannadice Street to witness the departure. Eventually the players emerged onto the street, dressed smartly and many with little suitcases on wheels. En masse, they marched up the hill to their away game looking suitably resolute.
Before a derby crowd of 10,460, United took the lead on the stroke of halftime via a goal from Paul McMullan. Dundee were not to be denied however and Mark O'Hara produced an equaliser on the hour mark. There was no further scoring and, this being a League Cup Group Stage match, the two sides proceeded immediately to penalties, United were victorious in the shootout by 4-3 but both teams qualified from the Group of five teams. Remarkably, the next day the draw was held for the second round of the competition which reverted to a straight knockout competition and, almost unbelievably, Dundee drew Dundee United once again!
CRB Match No. 2162
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