It has been apparent in his previous contributions that Andy Boyd pays great attention to detail.
His latest offering is one that will assist Lil Lindsay in her quest to find the names of players who won Scottish Junior international caps when playing for Dundee Violet.
After a long association with Dundee East Craigie, Lil is now helping out the Pansies and found the aforementioned caps while cleaning out cupboards at Glenesk Park.
Andy has sent in a very detailed spread depicting players from Dundee junior clubs who won caps.
“February 23, 1901, saw a 3-0 win for Scotland over Ireland at Cliftonville, Belfast.
“Alec (Sandy) Towns, of Violet, and Alexander Fairweather (Stobswell) became the joint second junior footballers to be capped from Dundee.
“The original selection for this game had Towns as a reserve and he got the step up only when Maxwell of Burnbank Athletic joined the professional ranks.
“The game was originally due to be played on February 2 but was postponed due to the weather wiping out almost all football in Scotland and Ireland.
“Scotland won again on March 30, 1901, this time against England at Celtic Park.
“Fairweather won his second cap, while East Craigie’s Cairns made his first international appearance.
“Thomas McNiff, of Violet, originally mentioned in Lil’s article, won his first cap on March 1, 1902, in the 5-0 drubbing of Ireland at Celtic Park.
“McNiff was capped again a month later (April 5) and England and Scotland drew 3-3 at Villa Park.
“England in this game were represented by the Birmingham & District FA.”
Andy also revealed McNiff appeared for Scotland Juniors against Celtic that same year and, around the same time, was turning out in a few matches for Dundee FC reserves.
He joined the Dark Blues at the end of that junior season and he may have made a couple of appearances for Dundee in the late 1890s.
Andy pushed on to the 1921-1922 season and continued: “John Phillips (Violet) made his first appearance for the national side on March 12, 1921, when Scotland were beaten 1-0 by Ireland at Celtic Park.
“Phillips was again in the side on April 9 that year as the Scots got the better of England 2-1 at Villa Park.
“It was a busy time for Phillips as in June 1921 he took part in the Scotland Junior FA tour of Norway.
“He netted three goals on the tour.
“His first came in the second game against the Norwegian XI in a 5-4 win at SK Brann.
“In all, Scotland played seven games with wins against the Norwegian XI (twice), Vidar, Stavanger Select and Stavanger Idriotsforening.
“There doesn’t seem to be a result listed for the game against Christiania in Bergen, but the final game against SK Brann Bergen closed the tour with a 6-1 defeat.
“Martin, of Dundee North End, was listed as a reserve for this tour.
“Dundee’s Dens Park was the setting for an international on March 22, 1922 — a 2-1 success for the Scots against Wales. Violet’s Donaldson made his first appearance along with Smith (Dundee North End) in front of a crowd of 9,000.
“The referee was a WF Campbell, of Dundee.
“Donaldson and Smith were again in the side exactly a month later as Scotland and England drew 2-2 at Pittodrie.”
With all the Violet players now accounted for, Andy forwarded other interesting facts.
“The first Dundee Junior internationalist was Hugh Dailly, of North End,” Andy revealed.
“He played for Scotland in the 5-2 defeat against England in April 1898, at Small Heath, Birmingham.
“Indeed, he was the first player to be capped at Junior International level from north of the Tay.
“He is also the first player from Dundee to be capped against England at senior and junior level.
Alec (Sandy) Towns also played for Dundee ‘A’ and Montrose, and later became the president of Downfield Juniors.
“In 1932, Dundee United were showing an interest in his son James at Downfield but nothing came of it.
“In 1934, his other son Martin was a reserve for the Junior international against England at Dens.
“Along with McNiff and Towns appearing for Dundee ‘A’ teams, I believe that Fairweather and Dailly appeared for the senior team.”
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