Carolina Port was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The sport's first major venue in the city, it was an early home of

Dundee F.C. Dundee Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland, founded in 1893. The team are nicknamed "The Dark Blues" or "The Dee". The club plays its home matches at Dens Park. The club was formed after a merg ...

and staged Dundee's first international match in 1896.

History

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

, one of the leading Dundee clubs, were based at Carolina Port from 1891. When they merged with local rivals

Our Boys ''Our Boys'' is a comedy in three acts written by Henry James Byron, first performed in London on 16 January 1875 at the Vaudeville Theatre. Until it was surpassed by the run of '' Charley's Aunt'' in the 1890s, it was the world's longest-r ...

to form Dundee F.C. in 1893, it was generally assumed that the new club – which had immediately secured election to the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

– would base themselves at Carolina Port, which was the most developed ground in Dundee at that time. They were, however, surprisingly beaten to the punch by a comparatively modest local outfit, Strathmore, who secured the lease for themselves. As a result, Dundee began their campaign in the less imposing surroundings of Our Boys' former home,

West Craigie Park West Craigie Park was a football ground in Dundee, Scotland. It was the home ground of Dundee Our Boys from 1882 until they merged with Dundee East End to form Dundee F.C. in 1893. It was used as the home ground of the new club until the end o ...

. Strathmore's audacious move failed to pay off, and within a year they had merged with Johnstone Wanderers to form Dundee Wanderers, playing at Clepington Park. This left Carolina Port available for Dundee to move in midway through their debut season. Having now become a regular venue for matches in Scotland's top flight, Carolina Port's prestige was further enhanced on 21 March 1896 when it hosted the Home International fixture between

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Two Dundee players,

Alex Keillor Alexander Lowson Keillor (20 October 1869 – 16 June 1960) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Montrose, Dundee and Scotland, being capped six times between 1891 and 1897. Born in Dundee, Keillor is one of only two men to be selected ...

and William Thomson, were in the Scottish side. Keillor became the first Dundee player to score a goal for Scotland, as the home side ran out 4–0 winners. Despite this, it was recognised that Carolina Port's location posed problems. Hemmed in amongst Dundee's harbour and overlooked by a huge pile of shale nicknamed the "burning mountain", future development of the stadium would be difficult. After a major reorganisation of the club in 1898, Dundee F.C. took the decision to relocate to a new site at

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards ...

in the less built-up Clepington district. The club moved to their new ground in 1899 (where they are still playing well over 100 years later), and Carolina Port was rapidly consumed by the expansion of the harbour.

References

{{Football venues in Scotland Defunct football venues in Scotland Dundee F.C. Scottish Football League venues Scotland national football team venues Sports venues completed in 1891 Football venues in Dundee