Bon Accord Football Club were a football team from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

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who suffered the worst defeat in any Scottish senior football match, losing 36–0 to Arbroath on 12 September 1885 in a first round match of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,John Petrie John Petrie (15 January 1822 – 8 December 1892) was a Scottish-born politician, architect, stonemason and building contractor in Brisbane who became the city's first Mayor. Private life John Petrie was born 15 January 1822Toowong Cemetery ...

, a Scottish Cup and joint world record. The Bon Accord goal keeper was Andrew Lornie.

Game v Arbroath in the Scottish Cup

Arbroath were 15–0 up by half time, and scored another 21 goals in the second half. The ''Scottish Athletic Journal'' at the time wrote "The leather was landed between the posts 41 times, but five of the times were disallowed. Here and there, enthusiasts would be seen scoring sheet and pencil in hand, taking note of the goals as one would score runs at a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

match."''

Later history

Bon Accord were founder members of the

Aberdeenshire and District Football Association Founded in April 1887, the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association is an affiliated local association of the Scottish Football Association. Member clubs are drawn from the historic counties of Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Kincardinesh ...

. The club played in the

Aberdeenshire Cup The Aberdeenshire Cup is a Scottish football tournament for all senior clubs affiliated to the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association (ADFA), being clubs from the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. The Aberdeenshire C ...

from 1889 to 1892, its best performance being winning through two rounds (including a 10-0 away win at Aberdeen Harp) before losing to

, this Aberdeen in time merging with Orion F.C. &

Victoria United :''Victoria United is also the name of a defunct Scottish soccer team, see Victoria United F.C.'' Victoria United is a Canadian soccer team based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. With lineage to clubs founded in 1904, the team plays in th ...

to form

. The club entered the Scottish Cup in 1891-92. In the 1st round (5 September 1891), they defeated Stonehaven away 9–0, with goals from Forsyth (3), Hay (2), Clark (3), and Macfarlane, but then lost 5–2 at home the original Aberdeen in the 2nd round (26 September 1891).

Colours

The club's original colours were red and white striped shirts (in the context of the time, probably hoops) and white shorts. There is a reference to them wearing plain white shirts for the tie with Arbroath, taken from their cricket whites, but this is probably apocryphal and based on the erroneous belief that Bon Accord was a re-named Orion Cricket Club. From 1890 to 1892 the club wore dark blue.

Bon Accord Juniors

A second Bon Accord club was founded as a junior outfit in 1892, after the demise of the original, and played until 1906. In the 1980s, Bon Accord re-emerged in the North Junior Football League, North East Junior leagues, courtesy of the largesse of Bryan Keith – the former head joiner of

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and founder of the Bon Accord Glass company – as part of his own Bon Accord Sports Club. Moving the side from their Findon Park ground in the fishing village of Findon (which was taken over by their former derby rivals

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– who had given up on trying to win a following in Aberdeen dominated by Banks O'Dee, Aberdeen East End and Sunnybank), Bon Accord thereafter played at the custom-built Keith Park in the Hillhead,

Bridge of Don Bridge of Don is a suburb in the north of Aberdeen, Scotland. In , the Bridge of Don electoral ward was estimated to have a population of 19,545. Bridge of Don is split into four areas for statistical purposes by Aberdeen City Council and Poli ...

area of

, and played in blue-and-white halved tops, blue shorts and socks. However, when Bryan Keith left the club to become chairman of Montrose, Keith Park and the Bon Accord Sports Club was bought by the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

, who eventually renamed Keith Park as the Hillhead Sports Centre. By the summer of 1997, Bon Accord F.C. were no more. After 17 years in amateur football, Aberdeenshire amateur side, Wilson's XI (named after founder Norman Wilson), returned Keith Park to junior football when they joined the grade in 2000, rebranding themselves Hillhead Juniors in 2006. A Bon Accord City AFC, made up of Bon Accord Juniors and Wilson's XI members who opposed the takeover and renaming, currently play in the Aberdeenshire Amateur leagues, playing at Aberdeen University's Balgownie Playing Fields, the former playing fields of Wilson's XI.

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs Football clubs in Aberdeen Defunct football clubs in Scotland 1997 disestablishments in Scotland Association football clubs disestablished in 1997 Kincardineshire