Donald Gellatly said he enjoyed the BwB piece on the brothers who have played for Dundee.
“I feel compelled to expand the list further,” he said.
“As far as I’m aware, the only brothers to have played in the same Dundee FC XI in a competitive match prior to the McGinns were the Halketts and the McDonalds.
“Alex Halkett was a small right-half who made his debut for the Dee in a 1-0 win over Hibs in September 1901.
His older brother Johnnie played in the same match as the outside-left.
“Despite beating the men from Leith, both Halketts were dropped for the following fixture and never again appeared in the same Dundee first team together.
“Johnnie later moved to India to work in the jute industry and Alex went on to captain Aberdeen before losing his life in the Great War.
“Daniel ‘Roy’ McDonald was a sturdy half-back who joined Dundee in 1913 and he appeared in the same Dundee team as his eldest brother Jock the following year.
“Both players subsequently had their careers interrupted by the First World War but Roy returned to Dens Park after the conflict to play in the same XI as his other sibling Davie.
“Roy also played for Tottenham, Jock was a popular winger at Liverpool and Davie was on the books of East Fife.
“The list of brothers at Dundee continues with George and David Steven pulling on the famous Dark Blue shirt, albeit at different times, before the First World War, as well as Andy and Jimmy Morgan, who featured in the same Dee team in the Eastern League in April 1940.
“The only other brothers to play in competitive games for Dundee, again at different times, were the Chaplins.
“Indeed, John Chaplin took over the left-back position from his younger sibling George in September 1908 and he consequently played in the Dark Blues’ 1910 Scottish Cup-winning side.”
Donald continued: “Further, Charles and Alex Craig — plus Frank and Bill Ferrier — were bothers who played for Dundee Football and Athletic Club in Division One at different times in the late 19th century.
“The three Gilligan siblings should also get a mention and I believe they’ve still got relatives in the Tayside area.
“Sandy Gilligan scored the first-ever goal for a Dundee club in the Scottish Football League in 1893, William played half a dozen times in 1898 and Sam scored three goals in nine appearances for Dundee FC in 1903, which earned the dashing centre-forward future moves to Celtic and Liverpool.
“I’d love to unearth information on another Dundee player from the Great War period called Tommy Taylor, although your readers may tend not to take an interest in events they don’t remember, so it’s maybe too much of a long shot!
“However, Taylor was Dundee’s top scorer in the 1917-18 Eastern League, having come from junior football in Broughty Ferry.
“However, he promptly disappears from all records at the end of the term, despite having scored 28 times in 31 appearances.
“If there are any Taylors in the Ferry who may be descended from Tommy, I’d be very interested to hear what became of him.”
Also in reply to my plea for any players called Felix, Donald concluded: “There was a Felix McGrogan at Raith Rovers, then St Johnstone between 1961 and 1966 and a Felix Staroscik at Third Lanark in the late 1940s.”
Sandy Gilligan is featured in the Dundee v Rangers pre-match photo (above) from 1893 as Dundee took on the Glasgow side at West Craigie Park.
We’ve featured this photo before in BwB but it is worth listing again.
The Dundee players (in stripes) and officials are (back row, from left) — Adam Marshall (trainer), Mr Sandy Spalding, Willie Thomson, Mr David McEwan, Mr Tom Shaw,
James Brown, Bill Ferrier, Mr James McIntosh, Bill McKie, Mr J Black (referee), Dave Craig, Sandy Keillor, Mr James Petrie (president).
Middle row — Bill Longair, Bob Petrie.
Front row — John Clark, Jimmy Dundas, Sandy Gilligan.
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