Тейпорт: История шотландского города и футбольного клуба

Tayport, also known as Ferry Port on Craig, is a town in Fife, Scotland. It lies on the Firth of Tay opposite Broughty Ferry, a suburb of Dundee. The two were linked by a ferry service until 1939. To the east of Tayport is the vast Tentsmuir Nature Reserve, an area of forested dunes edged by wide sands that continue all the way round to the mouth of the River Eden. The civil parish of Ferry Port on Craig had a population of 3,815 in 2011.

Tayport was originally known as "Southferry", or, in full, the "South Ferry of Portincraig" (from the Gaelic port na creige, "harbour of the rock"). This distinguished it from Northferry on the opposite bank of the Tay. By the 19th century, Northferry had become Broughty Ferry, while Southferry had become Ferry Port on Craig. This cumbersome name was replaced by the simpler "Tayport" after the coming of the railway in the 1850s.

For over a century the game of football has been a major influence in most communities in Scotland; Tayport is no exception. From Victorian times, through to the Second World War, the town had at least one football club. We know that Tayport had a Junior club pre First World War, winning the East of Fife Cup in 1905, for example. The Great War in 1914 effectively signalled the demise of junior level football in the town for seventy five years. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, there were various amateur clubs, but success was fleeting and there are few records. After the Second World War the town's football club was called Tayport Violet. In 1947 a new club emerged when Tayport Amateurs was formed by locals who had been playing friendlies as a senior boy scouts team; this was the birth of the club we know today. The Amateurs team joined the Midlands Amateurs' Alliance League, which was essentially for clubs’ reserve XIs, whilst Violet played in the Midlands’ top division. In 1950, the Midlands Amateur Football Association reorganised and both teams found themselves in division two. They finished the season in 1st and 2nd spots respectively. After promotion, 1952 53 saw Violet and the Amateurs finish 2nd and 3rd in the first division; however, Violet was disbanded after this season. At the invitation of Tayport Town Council, in 1975, the Amateurs moved to the Canniepairt. Clubrooms were constructed which, over the years (like the ground) were improved in order to provide the accommodation which both the club and wider community now enjoy. In 1980, the club which, since 1953 had run an Alliance, or Reserve XI, started a third team – the Fife XI which was to enjoy eleven successful seasons in the East Fife Amateur Association and for one season, in the Kingdom Caledonian League. In 1990, the club's junior team was launched and the name of the club became ‘Tayport Football Club’, a name which could embrace both amateur and junior grades. The 2000–2001 season was the club's last in the Amateurs Leagues. Tayport FC have enjoyed great success since 1990 including being OVD Scottish Junior Cup Winners in 1995/96, 2002/03 and 2004/05 (website www. tayportfc. org)

Scotscraig Golf Club is the 13th oldest golf club in the world. Towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815) some of the members of the St Andrews Society of Golfers – later to become The Royal and Ancient Golf Club – began to play golf more regularly than the Society's infrequent meetings afforded. Amongst them was Mr. William Dalgleish of Scotscraig, whose lands included an area known as the Garpit, around part of which ran a racecourse (although there is no record of any racing, the course is carefully marked out on early ordnance survey maps). In the centre of this area, golf was played over six holes, before the club was created in August 1817. The original rules, adopted at the first annual meeting in Scotscraig House in October 1818, dictated that a uniform would be worn: a red coat with a green velvet collar and a badge on the left breast. This was not merely fashion but a requirement; those appearing without uniform did so under a penalty of two bottles of port! An annual competition for gold and silver medals was held until 1854, when the club was closed, as disaster struck when the course was ploughed by the farmer who had come to own the land. Around 1886 the Scotscraig Estate, on which the club had been situated, passed into the hands of Vice Admiral William Heriot Maitland Dougall who was keen on golf. In 1887 he instigated the club's revival, restored the trophies and helped secure a course; it was re opened for play in 1888, and by 1890 had been laid out as a nine hole course. The club house was erected in 1896. In 1904 more land was acquired, and an 18 hole course was laid out, incorporating the original nine holes. It is considered a particular advantage that the ninth hole is hear the clubhouse, so that elderly players and those who cannot spare the time for the full round of 18 holes can play on either half. The grounds were acquired by the club in 1923.

In the early part of the 19th century, there were four small schools in Tayport: two were for boys and two for girls. When the provisions of the Education Act 1870 were extended to Scotland, a school was built which could accommodate all the children of the community; the present building was opened in 1875, and was extended as the population increased. Initially the school ran both a primary and secondary programme, although the infants were accommodated at the building which is now Ferryport Nursery on William Street. In 1967, when junior secondary schools were closed, Tayport became a primary school and the older pupils were sent to Madras College in St. Andrews or Bell Baxter High School in Cupar. On 7 May 1975 the school held an open evening to celebrate its centenary. An exhibition called ‘Grandfather's School Days’ was borrowed from the Albert Institute in Dundee, and many old photographs and mementos loaned by former pupils were put on display.