Scottish First Division
Saturday 23rd February 2013
Dumbarton is
a town and burgh in West Dunbartonshire and the former capital of the ancient
kingdom of Strathclyde, which lies on the north bank of the River Clyde where
the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. The town was a Royal burgh
between 1222 and 1975 and is dominated by its castle which sits on top of
Dumbarton Rock.
Dumbarton came to prominence in the 19th century as a centre
for shipbuilding, whisky distilleries and glassmaking, but nowadays its seen
more as a commuter town, being 13 miles east-southeast of the city of Glasgow
After the Scottish League was split into two divisions the
club won the Second Division title twice in 1910-11 and 1971-72, but haven’t
played in the top tier since 1985 spending the subsequent years jumping between
the three SFL divisions.
Dumbarton played
at Boghead Park from 1879 until relocating in 2000, their home for 121 years
was the longest continuously used senior ground in Scotland before its closure.
The new stadium was built by Barr Construction and originally named the
Strathclyde Homes Stadium, before several sponsorship changes to the current
rebrand of The Bet Butler Stadium before the start of this season.
The stadium was
built on the former site of Denny’s shipyard and is commonly known by
supporters as "The Rock" The ground is easy to describe, having just
the one stand which has a 2,025 capacity which sits on the river bank
overshadowed by Dumbarton Rock. The one tier stand is decked out in black and
yellow plastic flip seats with the dugouts and another pair of floodlight pylons on the
opposite side. The three unused ends are closed in with a medal fence without
any cheeky free viewing gaps in between.
Dumbarton ground shared with Albion Rovers at Cliftonhill
before the stadium was officially opened on the 2nd December 2000 prior to a
3-0 win over Elgin City, with the biggest gate so far being 1,959 against
Queens Park on the 27th April 2002.
I jumped out of bed at 730am to be greeted to the sight of the
cold white stuff after a heavy overnight snowfall, which I wasn’t too bothered
about, as according to the weather forecast todays destination was bathing in
sunshine and clear blue skies. The journey to Dumbarton is a three train trip
via Edinburgh and then Glasgow, where I spent a few hours record store shopping
and obviously stopping off for a pint before catching the 1341 west bound train
to Dumbarton East.
The stadium is a 5-10 minute stroll around the corner from
the rail station, so I had plenty of time to do a lap of the outer perimeter of
the ground and try and capture a decent photography of the stand with the rock
behind it. After doing a lap I found it was impossible to achieve this snapshot,
the best I could muster was risking life and limb by climbing a wall at the far
end of the car park and only capturing the rock with the top end of the stand,
the bottom blocked off by the fence(see second pic.)
The game matched up “The Sons” against “The Bairns” so this
fixture sounded more like a kiddies crèche than a clash between two of the in form
teams in the Scottish First Division. Dumbarton have been in a rich vein of
form since Christmas winning six out of the last 9, with narrow defeats in
their other three fixtures. However there was nothing marginal about this game
as the visitors produced a comfortable victory where the game should have been out
of sight by half time, as they fluffed a series of excellent chances. The
Bairns first half dominance produced two goals, opening with Thomas Grant
slotting home after a through ball by Taylor found Alston who picked out his
team mate with a neat cross on 25 minutes. They doubled the lead five minutes
later, a precision pass from Taylor found David Weatherstone on the right wing who
stayed onside before running through to fire under the keepers body, although
Grindlay should have done better in stopping his effort.
Prior to the
kick-off I spoke to the head steward and asked if it was possible to take a
picture of the stand from the opposite side of the pitch. He was very cooperative
and said it wasn't possible with the players currently warming up on the pitch,
but insisted he would happily escorted me over at half time. Come the interval my
new friend in the hi-vis wasn't visible at all until the players reappeared for
the second half, as he had forgotten all about me, offering his sincere
apologies and requested if I could possible wait until full time. As I had to
catch the 1704 train back to Glasgow I was pushed for time but the game
finished without too much stoppage time, so as soon as the referee saw off the
players and exited down the tunnel he immediately honoured my requested.
I had another pleasant day ticking off another Scottish
League ground. The journey was stress free as the six trains I boarded ran like clockwork and of course my
afternoon was made more complete by attaining that vital money shot! (see
below)
DFC 0 FFC 2(Grant 25 Weatherston 30)
att.997
Admission £15
Programme £2
Ground no.338 The Bet Butler Stadium - Matchday Web album (18 pictures)
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