Dundee Saturday Morning Football League

The Dundee Saturday Morning Amateur Football League affiliated to the SAFA in season 2009-2010 after existing for 17 years as a friendly league. Games are played at Riverside Park or the University Grounds in Dundee.

The early years of the league’s formation are sketchy though an initial loose collection of teams started out in the early 1990’s playing at Riverside in Dundee. Founding members of the league that still play are Cowboys, Ferry Mechanics, Wellbeat and Springfield with a number of teams having joined in the past 10 years.

Over the years, the league built up a reputation for good clean football, played in a competitive manner and with a minimum of bureaucracy. In recent years the league expanded from the original 8-10 teams, to a larger single division of 17 teams in season 2009-10 with three new teams having joined in the first year of SAFA affiliation.

The following year, season 2010-11, saw the first year of two divisions of 10 teams with three teams being promoted to the Premier league for season 2011-12 into an expanded league which now consists of 24 teams split into two divisions.

 Hawkhill Athletic were promoted as Champions, with Cowboys and Ferry Mechanics also coming up into the top division whilst Wellbeat United were relegated to the First Division.  

As well as now entering teams into the Thorntons North of Tay and Fosters Scottish Amateur Cup, a pre season cup competition is played, currently held by Tayside Royal, and there are four other Cup competitions. The Referees Cup final is the finale to the season at which the fine money collected over the season and other funds raised for charity are donated to the representatives of the respective causes.

This year’s nominated Charity is Cash for Kids, who provide help and practical support to disadvantaged children in the Tayside area.

In addition the consolation Cup donated by the family of George McArthur, and named the George McArthur Memorial Cup is contested at the end of the season by the teams knocked out in the first round of the Referees Cup. It is normally played on the Friday evening before the Referees Cup Final.

There are also two Divisional Cups played in early Spring, the Premier Cup and the Balgay Bar 1^st Division Cup which are straight knock out competitions.

The league format is that all teams play each other twice with three teams to be relegated from the Premier and three to come up from the 1^st Division. This generally makes for an exciting finale to the league campaign.

Current Premier League champions are Tayside Royal who successfully defended their title from 2009-1o, the first time a team has done so for over 15 years. They made a clean sweep of all the trophies available to them in 2010-11 having won the Premier Cup, Pre Season Cup and the Referees Cup. Dundee University Medics picked up the Consolation Cup, (the George McArthur Memorial Cup) whilst Hawkhill Athletic won the 1^st Division trophy and the Balgay Bar 1^st Division Cup in season 2010-11.

The League is sponsored by Drainwater UK with The Premier League sponsored by Doc Ferrys and the 1^st Division by the Balgay Bar.

The league is proud to be affiliated to and supported by SportDundee and is a founding member of the West End Sport & Heritage Association which aims to develop sporting and cultural amenities in the West End of Dundee.

A Summer Cup tournament was organised this year to welcome the 5 new teams into the league and to encourage players to ‘Come & Try It’. This was sponsored by Mars ‘Just Play’ and endorsed by the SFA and SAFA. This initiative encouraged unattached players to trial for league teams and proved to be very successful, with all teams involved recruiting new players to their squads from it.

Further information on the league, including its mission statement, is available in the About page.

Should you require further information on the league please feel free to contact any of the committee members or e mail the league directly on dsmfl@hotmail.co.uk. Your query will be replied to the same day.