Excerpt 1... Dundee Utd – The Arabs
(From Chapter 11 ‘The Return of Danny Rainbow’)
The winter of ’62/’63 was a cold one. Ask the sparrows. So cold that for a while there was scarcely a game of football to be seen in Scotland (Except of course at Kilmarnock where, as we know, Jack Frost fears to tread.) Dundee United Football Club fared worse than most in those bitter weeks incredibly managing to play only three times in the three months between December and March.
Of those three matches that did get played, one in particular was worthy of mention - a home Scottish Cup tie against Albion Rovers. On the face of it not a remarkable looking fixture. In reality however, it would go down as one of the most significant happenings in the modern history of Dundee United Football Club.
To say that the United directors were keen to get the game played would have been putting things mildly. Yet another Saturday was approaching and the Tannadice pitch was covered in a good few inches of snow and ice. Faced with another inevitable postponement someone at the club desperately suggested renting an industrial tar burner to thaw the pitch out. All and sundry agreed this was a fabulous idea, the machinery was duly hired and on reflection, the idea partially worked. Within minutes they melted all the snow and ice off the pitch with an ease that had all in attendance nodding at one another in a satisfied manner.
They also burned all the grass off the pitch.
Smiles vacated and, faced with a scene from the Battle of the Somme, it was suggested (possibly by the same chap who thought about the tar burner in the first place) that if they covered the mud in sand no one would notice, least of all the referee who by the law of averages would probably be registered blind any way. After further backslapping had subsided they did exactly that, dumping several lorry loads of Broughty Ferrie’s finest on the big brown rectangle that, at that point, was the vision of Tannadice Park.
Miraculously or predictably, depending on how much cash was actually slipped into the referee’s pocket that Saturday morning, the pitch was declared playable and the game went ahead. United ran out comfortable three-nil winners prompting observers to comment that the Dundee team ‘took to the surface like Arabs.’
And so an affinity was made. The fans, never slow to pick up on a vibe, embraced the idea and, for the next few games, rudimentary Arab headgear (towels to you and I) was the preferred attire for the Tannadice faithful. The dressing up then became more widespread in the 70’s and 80’s, particularly on the bigger occasions, and slowly the fans and by association, the team itself, became known as ‘The Arabs’. And although United still hang on to their original nickname of ‘The Terrors’, it is their other, more mysterious Eastern image that endures as the moniker of choice for the fans and players down Tannadice way.
4.
Of course it all began for Dundee United a long time before those wintry days of 1963. Fifty-four years before to be exact, in 1909. Borne out of the city’s Irish settlers, the club started on its way as Dundee Hibernian FC. They wore green and white strips and controversially chose to play their games at Clepington Park, the ground on which the current Tannadice Park stands today. I say controversially because this was already the home of another Dundee team, Dundee Wanderers who were to be unceremoniously booted out by their landlords in favour of the new club who had sneakily offered to ‘up’ the rent for the privilege of playing at this ready made football ground.
This choice of Clepington Park. however, backfired on the Dundee Hibs committee somewhat when, in a ‘get it right up ye!’ gesture, The Wanderers completely dismantled their ground right down to the goal posts and took it away with them leaving the dismayed new tenants with nothing more than an open space and the natural contours of the land with which to develop.
Dundee Hibs took over the site with resolve though and keen to stamp their own identity on the place, immediately took to renaming it. The main entrance to the new ground would be on Tannadice Street and after a healthy couple of hours of creative teeth-gnashing and debate the committee could come up with only one option – ‘Street Park’. Some felt the name lacked impact but with no other suggestions forthcoming it looked as if the name would surely be adopted. Then in a dramatic eleventh hour turnaround, Club Secretary, Pat Reilly, on returning from a much- needed comfort break, controversially threw another name in the ring. As the now historic minutes read;
‘ Secretary Reilly proposed with much gusto for the ground be named Tannadice Park ..…This was immediately seconded by Goalpost-Convenor O’Hanlon and after a short but heated discussion …. the motion was approved seven votes to three. …. Secretary Reilly further proposed that more toilet paper be placed in the lavatory…..This too was carried unanimously.’