football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
match between
Arbroath
Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...
and Bon Accord which took place on 12 September 1885.
It holds the largest margin of victory in an unrigged first-class football match. A match between AS Adema and SO l'Emyrne, a thrown game where SO l'Emyrne scored deliberate own goals in a protest against prior officiating decisions, took the title of most goals in a professional football match in 2002.
Background
Arbroath were drawn against Bon Accord in the first round of the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Gayfield.
Although Arbroath were only founded seven years earlier in 1878, they were already vastly more experienced than Bon Accord who were only a year old. Some sources state that Bon Accord were really Orion Cricket Club, who had received the entry confirmation from the Scottish FA instead of Orion FC. However, in reality Bon Accord had been formed in 1884 as a bona fide football club, while Orion FC were not formed until October 1885, well after the opening rounds of the Scottish Cup had been played.
"Bon Accord" was used to commemorate the watchword that initiated the storming of the Castle of Aberdeen during the
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and 14th centuries.
The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotla ...
. At the time, any Scottish-based team could enter the Cup without any previous experience.
A record-breaking game
Bon Accord are said to have arrived for the match without any form of standard football kit, a portent of what was to follow. The club's designated goalkeeper, Jimmie Grant, had declared himself injured the day before the game, so right-half Andrew Lornie took over between the sticks. With the teams being so mismatched, it was likely that Arbroath would win easily, but even in those days when high scoring games were common the result was unprecedented.
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 match."''A day when Scottish football scorched the record books The Scotsman, retrieved 14 July 2007. Archived fro the original on 27 March 2008. Referee Dave Stormont later claimed that had he taken a harder line with the Aberdeen team, Arbroath could have won 43–0. Stormont said, “''My only regret was that I chalked off seven goals, for while they may have looked doubtful from an offside point of view, so quickly did the Maroons carry the ball from midfield, and so close and rapid was their passing, that it was very doubtful whether they could be offside''.” Other reports claim only 4 goals were chalked off. It was claimed that Arbroath goalkeeper Jim Milne Sr did not touch the ball in the entire game and spent the whole of the match sheltering
from the rain under a spectator's umbrella.
The 18-year-old
John Petrie
John Petrie (15 January 1822 – 8 December 1892) was a Scottish-born Australian politician,
architect, stonemason and building contractor in Brisbane who became the city's first Mayor.
Private life
John Petrie was born 15 January 1822Too ...
scored 13 goals, still the record for most goals scored in a senior tournament, although it was equalled by
Archie Thompson
Archie Gerald Thompson (born 23 October 1978) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also currently serving as a club ambassador for Melbourne Victory FC.
Born in New Zealand, Thompson played youth foot ...
when
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
beat
American Samoa
American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...
2002 World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
.
The Bon Accord goal keeper on the day was Andrew Lornie.
Concurrent Dundee Harp match
On the same day, away in
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
, Dundee Harp were also playing in the first round of the Scottish Cup against Aberdeen Rovers. Dundee Harp beat Aberdeen Rovers 35–0. The referee noted 37 goals, but Harp's secretary suggested a miscount must have occurred as he had recorded only 35. The match official, acknowledging it was difficult for him to keep accurate details during such a deluge of goals, accepted the lower tally and wired the official score of 35–0 to the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...
headquarters.
Bon Accord and Rovers had played each other the previous February, Bon Accord winning 5–3.
Aftermath
In the following rounds of the Scottish Cup, Arbroath beat local rivals
Forfar Athletic
Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in . They play their home games at Station Park, in t ...
9–1 in the second round and Dundee East End 7–1 in the third round before losing 5–3 to
Hibernian
Hibernian may refer to:
* Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence
** Irish (disambiguation)
Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to:
Sports clubs
* Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875
* Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...
in the fourth round, scoring a total of 55 goals in that season's Scottish Cup. Bon Accord did win a Cup tie in 1891–92, beating Stonehaven 8–0 away in the first preliminary round, but wound up at the end of the season.
To celebrate the historic achievement of the scoreline, the Angus MSPAndrew Welsh tabled a motion in the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
in 2000.
In December 2000, Romanian side Carpați Mârșa beat Avântul Dârlos 41–0, but the result was not ratified as it was not in a professional competition, so Arbroath maintained their record. A similar situation arose in May 2016, when Pelileo SC beat Indi Native 44–1 in an Ecuadorian third division match.
On 31 October 2002, Malagasy side AS Adema beat
SO l'Emyrne
Stade Olympique de l'Emyrne was a Malagasy sports club based in Antananarivo, Madagascar. They won the THB Champions League in 2001 and were runners-up in the Coupe de Madagascar in 2003.
SOE's 2002 results were forfeited after the team intentio ...
149–0 in the national championship; while this has been claimed as the record for highest victory margin in a senior football competition, SOE intentionally scored own goals throughout the match as a protest to a refereeing decision in their previous match, meaning Arbroath still holds the record margin of victory for a ''contested'' match in senior football.
In March 2012, amateur side Wheel Power FC won 58–0 against Nova 2010 FC, eclipsing the Illogan Reserves' 55–0 victory against Madron FC in the Cornish
Mining League
The Mining League (last sponsored by One and All Sports) was a football league competition based in Cornwall, England, UK, with three divisions. The First Division sat at level 13 of the English football league system
The English footbal ...
in November 2010 to become the biggest win in British football history.
On 2 August 2020, TPS II Winogrady beat Big Show FC 46–0 in a Polish Cup regional tie in
Poznań
Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...