A brief history of Duddingston Athletic AFC 

 

Duddingston Athletic's beginnings go back to 1986 when the club was first formed as Royal Scot Star by Kenny Robertson.

Formed with a number of friends who drank in the Royal Scot pub, the team first played in the Maybury Sunday league.

 

Home in 1986 was Ratho and the official team colours were light blue, with a committee of four picking the team rather than an official manager. The club’s philosophy at its formation was to play football the proper way and to breed a fantastic friendly atmosphere through the whole squad.We are proud to say that 22 years later this is still the same philosophy and many of our players have stayed with the club for testimonial periods of 10 years or more.

 

 

The club performed well in the Maybury league winning a couple of promotions and adapting well to the rigours of Sunday league football. In 1991 Royal Scot Star moved from the Maybury League into the Edinburgh Sunday Amateur league and the following year was renamed Marchall Star due to a sponsorship deal with the Marchall Hotel.

 

At this time Craig Samuel became the manager and the team continued to perform well in the new league set up.

 

 

In 1996, a decision was made by the committee to apply to use the Duddingston Recreation ground pitches at Cavalry Park and a further name change was made to Duddingston Athletic to fit in with the new location.

 

Two years later was the club's most successful season, finishing a very respectable third place in the 1^st Division and reaching their first ever cup final, losing 2-1 at Broxburn Juniors' park to a well organised Whispers team from Tranent.

 

Season 1998/99 signalled the start of a new era with Gary Buglass taking charge of the team as player manager. The following three years saw the team play some great football and initiate a recruitment drive of younger players - many of whom are still with the club today.

 

Buglass maintained the great atmosphere through the club and it is down to him that many of the players have been with Duddingston for so long.

 

He moved to Australia in 2002 and the mantle of manager was passed over to Brent Scoon, a player who had been with the club for eight years. Unfortunately his period in charge was marred by long term injuries to key players and Duddingston were relegated that year and spent the following two years in mid-table mediocrity.

 

Season 2005/06 brought another managerial change when previous team captain Paul Nibloe took over the reigns following a lucrative sponsorship deal with First Mortgage. The home colours were changed to those we use today - red and black.

 

This season saw a breakaway league formed in Edinburgh - the Edinburgh and Districts Sunday Amateur Football Association: The Fair Play League - with the aim to bring back the enjoyment back to playing Sunday football. We are still in this league today.

 

In 2006, Mikey Dixon, who at the time had played with the club for 10 years and to date is the all-time leading scorer, took over as Manager and remains in charge to this day. His first season in charge led to Duddingston finishing third in the league and reaching their second cup final, the League Cup Final where again Duddingston lost out in a closely fought contest, 3-2 to Leith Crown.

 

The following season was not as successful with Duddingston flattering to deceive and despite a promising start faltered to a mid table position.

 

 

The end of this season however signalled the start of a new era for the club as Duddingston Athletic travelled to Kaunas, Lithuania, to play a post-season friendly against FBK Kaunas.

 

Despite the vast gulf in fitness, the amateurs of Duddingston competed and acquitted themselves well in the Darius S Gireno stadium.

After a slow start to season 2008/09, losing the first two games, Duddingston went on to win the next twelve league games in a row.
April then saw Duddingston play nine games in one month where they lost three and won six securing third place in the league with a couple of games to spare and earning them promotion to the premier league for the first time in the clubs history.