Stroll Three (Above)

This third Stroll, by far and away the longest and perhaps worthy of a car or bike, is again one that can be taken in either direction and it can begin and end at Dumbarton Central or start at the former and end at Dumbarton East. This description takes the latter option and goes anti-clockwise. It is also the one that covers the second and greatest of the Dumbarton teams of the period, the lasting influence of which was ultimately felt not just in Scotland and England but as far as today's Czechia. 

From Central turn left into Burnbank Rd. and follow it until the bottom of the High St. is reached at the Glasgow Rd. Between it and Bridge St. the tenements, the closes that had already been the source of Sparrow Brown now also produced the brothers, Abe and Jimmy Hartley, Bob Ferrier Snr, Willie Thomson and Johnny Madden. Thomson and Madden would win six caps between them but here was the difference. Brown had played only locally, whereas the new wave went South; the Hartleys to Everton and beyond and Lincoln and others respectively, Ferrier to Sheffield Wednesday, Willie Thomson, albeit briefly, to Newton Heath, Manchester United in embryo, and Madden to Celtic via Gainsborough and Grimsby. And, of course, Madden would be with Eaglesham's John Dick one half of the Scots duo that took the beautiful game to the Pragues, Slavia and Sparta.  

Then comes a slight diversion, a there-and-back. Robert Johnston, or Johnstone as he became in England, lived half-way up West Bridgend at No. 58. After three seasons at his home-town club he would play for Renton, Sunderland, Third Lanark and Dunfermline. And West Bridgend can be found by turning left from High St. at Bridge St. and crossing the bridge itself. But back on High St. and moving further up you will find the childhood homes at Nos. 147 and 157 of Willie Robertson, the amateur exception that proved the rule, then more footballing brothers, the Bells, Jack and Lawrence, at No. 121 and that of John Miller at No. 101. Jack Bell would win ten Scottish caps, either side of Scottish professionalism, hinting that it might otherwise have been more. He would also play for Everton in two stints, Preston North End with Celtic in between. Lawrence Bell's thirteen year career would take in Third Lanark, Sheffield Wednesday, Everton, Bolton etc., and John Miller's Wednesday, between Liverpool and Derby County.

Now at the top of the High St. turn left into Church St.. This is where Hugh Mair lived at No. 7 and Alex Latta at No.45. Mair was a Dumbarton forward for a decade. Latta would win a single Scotland cap before, over six seasons, making one hundred and forty-eight appearances for Everton followed by a further year with Liverpool.  

At the top of Church St. we are back at roundabout on the Glasgow Road. As before cross it into Strathleven Place and continue up and onto Bonhill Road and where Poindfauld Terrace joins from the left and Round Riding from the right. Left is where Tom McMillan and Dickie Boyle lived, both on first right Allan Place, the former at No. 7, the latter at No.1, having moved from 9, College St. so by Leitch Keir. McMillan would stay at home and win a single Scottish cap, Boyle would play alongside Latta at Goodison, making a total of two hundred and forty-one starts between 1892 and 1901. Right are the various childhood homes, all around Boghead, of Alex Miller, Boghead Park being the Dumbarton ground at the time. He would also stay local but in his case for a full decade. 

Retracing your steps back to the Glasgow Rd. roundabout now turn left eastbound and to Morrisons once more. It stands now on what was once Clyde St. James McNaught lived on it at No. 44 and Jack Taylor at No. 19 before moving to nearby Jamesfield. Indeed Dickie Boyle spent his early years at No.1. McNaught would go South to Newton Heath once more and Spurs, Taylor to St. Mirren, four hundred games for, like several full or near contemporaries, Everton and four Scotland caps. And beyond Jamesfield still on the Glasgow Rd. lived goalkeeper, John McLeod. A Dumbarton man through-and-through apart for five games for Rangers at the very end of his career he was born on the High St., brought up at Greenfield, then a market garden now houses backing onto the St James Retail Park and then lived at No. 73 and would also have five Scottish appearances to his name.

So now there remain just four more players in a stroll that has taken in sixteen already. Two are in the sides streets close to Dumbarton East station. They are Daniel Watson and Alf Smith. Both played out their careers in Scotland, the former solely at Dumbarton, the latter splitting his time at his town-club and Third Lanark. Neither was capped. Watson stayed on Wallace St. by Hugh Wilson and then Plumber Brown. Smith was at 5, Burnside Terrace, just to the east of the railway. The two others are on the return to Dumbarton Central. The first is James Stevenson, who grew up first on Church St. with Latta and Mair and then finally on College St. at No. 75 again by Leitch Keir. And Stevenson, whilst he would never be capped as his neighbour had been, would start and finish at Dumbarton with an eight year down South between, mainly at Preston and West Bromwich. The second is Albert Sa(u)nderson, a duck through the underpass to where No. 45 once stood and is now the Risk St. car-park. He would spend five seasons solely at The Sons before moving to Newcastle, an economic rather than football migrant.