20 years ago, the world famous feet of Brazilian football legend, Pele, were striding around Dens Park.The superstar managed to find time to chat to school kids from Hill Primary, sign loads of autographs and present an award.The award was "Man of the match", presented to Nigerian, Godwin Okpara.Dens was hosting Group C matches in the under 16 World Cup Tournament. Nigeria finished top above Argentina, Canada and China.Below are some more pictures of his Dundee Football Club visit. The wee lad he is holding is, Kristofer Johnston, who'll be 20 years old now!Photos by DC Thomson.
Back in the days when Dundee did know how to score, most of the football grounds didn't offer much in the way of scoreboards. Before electronic visual display units were invented, the majority of grounds only had metallic grid frames installed, where letters of the alphabet were used to represent a particular game that then required referring to the match-day programme to discover which letter was who. Even then it was only used for half-time scores. All this had to be done by hand, with a guy slotting in the numbers (scores) alongside the corresponding letters (teams), each digit on a seperate metal panel.When Dundee played Anderlecht in 1963 over in Belgium, the Heysel Stadium had a huge scoreboard display. This one wasn't for half-time scores, they used it during the game that was being played. Again, theirs still had to be operated manually, but because it was so large, each individual panel was about 4 ft square, and the guy would have to keep removing then replacing a panel every time a goal was scored. I can just imagine the poor bloke cursing Dundee when we met in the European Cup Quarter Final, and banged in 4..!!The TV cameras caught the busy scoreboard action on the night, as you can see in the photo.
A rare and ancient action picture from Dens Park taken in 1903. This was when the Dee played in an all dark blue strip. The North Stand was extended a few years later then eventually replaced with the present Stand in 1921.The 1902-03 season was a pretty good one for Dundee, finishing in 2nd position in the League, reaching the semi final of the Scottish Cup and winning the Forfarshire Cup and Dewar Shield.It was a particularly good year for goalie Billy Muir, letting in only 12 all season.The highest attendance at Dens in 1903 was 24,000 in a Cup game against Hibs.Thanks to DG.Photo. Dundee Ref Library.
A wee seasonal graphic if anybody wants to download it. Click on the image to get the large version.
Here's hoping the new Jocky era can bring the passion back to Dens!!
The above picture of James Grady celebrating his goal, was taken on 6th May 2000 in a game at Dens against United. The Dees won 3-0, Falconer getting the other 2.Below are 2 clips of the Grady goal viewed from opposite angles. The first is from the main Stand enclosure, and the second from the Derry gantry. It's a really good team goal, the move starting way back at the corner flag in our own half.Photo by DC Thomson.
Alongside all the trophies on display in the Dens boardroom is a sizeable collection of rare, historic souvenirs showing the history of the Club.Here below is a wee look around some of the memorabilia in the room.They also do a rather nice fruit salad....
The Dee feature on the earliest known footage of a Scottish League game ever to be caught on camera. Filmed at Dens Park in 1911, (which means Dundee were the present Scottish Cup holders at the time), it captures a match against Raith Rovers. As for the result, well you'll have to watch the wee video to find out...!!DFC are the 2nd team running onto the pitch, in the slightly darker shorts.Photos by DC Thomson.
This is the oldest aerial shot of Dens Park I have. The picture was taken on 11 Sept 1922. As you can see, the ground is situated on, what was then, the edge of the city limits. Very sparse North of Dens and to the left, where todays tenements in Provost Road & Moncur Crescent are, there was a football pitch. Must have been quite a slope to play futba on!5 days after this photo was taken, the Dees beat Partick Thistle 1-0 at Dens, in front of 17,000.Click on image to enlarge.
20 years ago, the world famous feet of Brazilian football legend, Pele, were striding around Dens Park.
