Drybrough Cup

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Drybrough Cup

The Drybrough Cup was a football competition held between Scottish clubs from 1971 to 1980. It was similar to the Watney Cup in England which commenced the previous year.

The format was a straight knock out cup, played pre-season. The entrants were the eight teams which scored the most league goals in the preceding season with the four clubs from the top division being seeded to avoid each other in the first round.

[edit] History

The Dryburgh Cup was played six times in all - 1971-72, 72-73, 73-74, 74-75, 79-80 and 80-81 and was one of the Scottish game's more obscure tournaments.

The early 1970s saw the authorities begin to move away from their long-standing opposition to sponsorship. But they embraced commercialism only tentatively, refusing to allow companies to lend their name to existing tournaments. As a result those companies prepared to put some money into the game had to set up their own tournaments, of which the Drybrough Cup was one - the first sponsored competition exclusive to Scottish clubs.

The competition was established in 1971, a year after the similar Watney Cup had been introduced in England and was open to the clubs which scored the most League goals in the preceding season - the top four from the then two existing divisions - with the draw seeded so that top division clubs couldn't clash in the opening round.

It was played before the start of the traditional season and all competitions were done and dusted inside a week. There was none of the giant-killing associated with the Watney Cup (where Halifax Town knocked out the Manchester Utd of Best, Law and Charlton and the competition was won by Colchester United!) as all four top league sides - Aberdeen, Airdrieonians, Celtic and St Johnstone won their ties on Saturday July 31st 1971 and the Dons and the Celts triumphed in midweek semi-finals to clash at Pittodrie in the Final on August 7th.

This was an open, attractive match watched by around 25,000 which Aberdeen won 2-1 thanks to goals from a Joe Harper spot-kick and Davie Robb. John Hughes scored for Celtic.

Although ostensibly for an equal number of first and second division sides, unsurprisingly the two promoted teams - Partick Thistle and East Fife - were among the lower division's leading scorers. So, in reality there were six 1st Division sides taking part. The two lower league sides - Dumbarton and Arbroath - went on to win promotion in 1971-72.

The initial tournament was judged a success. Each entrant was guaranteed a minimum of £1,000 (a tidy sum for some clubs) out of the £25,000 pot the sponsors put up for grabs. Significantly though, even at this stage, Celtic were reluctant entrants. They felt it was a needless addition to the calendar and they had a point. In England the Watney Cup was played for by the highest scorers EXCLUDING teams who qualified for Europe or won promotion.

In 72-73 the four lower sides were again eliminated immediately but the competition was still a success - a total of 67,000 watched the opening round. The Final was scheduled for Hampden - probably in anticipation of an Old Firm clash - but it was an all-green affair as Celtic bested Aberdeen 3-2 in front of 40,000 at Parkhead in the semis while Hibs crushed a full-strength Rangers (nine of the Cup-Winners Cup winning team plus Colin Jackson and Andy Penman) 3-0 before a crowd of 27,111.

But the competition had powerful detractors. None more so than Jock Stein who made his view quite clear in the match programme for the Aberdeen game: "I am one of those who are not really enamoured of this kind of cup-tie football at this time of year."

Those comments were made at a time when Celtic were a very successful club.

The Final was a thrilling affair where Celtic came back from two down at the interval to take the game to extra time before Hibs triumphed 5-3. While the attendance of 49,462 was nowhere near filling Hampden, it was a reasonable attendance for the first week of August.

At the start of 1973-74 the four top division sides - all playing at home - won once again, though Raith Rovers came close to an upset by taking Dundee to extra time. Attendances, other than at Dens Park, were pretty decent too. In the last four Celtic cruised past Dundee 4-0 with 26,000 inside Parkhead while at Easter Road, Hibs and Rangers again contested a Final spot. 28,089 saw the holders edge through 2-1 after extra time.

For the second successive season the Final was a Hibs-Celtic affair. This time though it was a much poorer game as Hibs retained the trophy in front of 49,204 thanks to the only goal of the game from Alan Gordon in extra time.

In 1974-75 it was as you were as the four top sides all won. And while there may have been a falling away in support from the Old Firm, interest was still strong elsewhere. A crowd of 13,272 were in attendance at Easter Road to watch Hibs beat Killie 2-1 on the unfeasibly early date for a football game of July 27th.

Once again the nearest thing to an upset was Dundee scraping through after extra time - this time against Queen of the South. Extra time was also required at Dens Park in the last four before Celtic won through to the Final while Rangers finally won at Easter Road, beating Hibs 3-2.

The first Old Firm final attracted 57,558 to Hampden to see an exciting encounter which left the teams deadlocked 2-2 after 120 minutes. Celtic finally got their hands on the trophy winning the penalty shoot-out 4-2.

After that the competition went into cold storage. Scottish football was restructured into three divisions at the end of the season, meaning two more League matches for the new Premier Division clubs. Coupled with the Old Firm's dislike it meant that the tournaments future was in doubt.

But the Drybrough Cup made a brief comeback at the end of the decade. In 1979-80 it still held enough allure to encourage over 10,000 along to Rugby Park to see Rangers beat Killie in the last four before going on to record their only success in the tourney, defeating Celtic 3-1 in the Final in a match most memorable for a Davie Cooper goal when he received the ball on his chest with his back to goal, swivelled and flicked it past four Celtic defenders before scoring.

But this was a competition whose time had come and gone. Fittingly, the first winners were also the last as Aberdeen beat St Mirren 2-1 in the 1980-81 Final (the only one that the tourney's arch-opponents Celtic didn't feature in) at Hampden. But whereas the Dons first victory was celebrated, this triumph doesn't even merit a footnote as a recent history of the club states: "History shows 1980-81 to be a season in which the Dons had nothing to show in terms of silverware."