John Petrie

John Petrie was a huge figurehead for the Arbroath team of the 1880s and into the 1890s, playing for the club over 13 seasons as well as being club trainer for several seasons through the 1890s.

Prior to joining Arbroath, he played for Strathmore of Arbroath and soon after joining up at Gayfield he was involved in the historic 36-0 win against Bon Accord, in which he scored a world record 13 goals.

As a forward, he was extremely aggressive and during the 1880s was suspended on numerous occasions for a month at a time by the Forfarshire FA due to several incidents of dirty tactics during matches. Later in his career he dropped back to play as a half back, due to his excellent (and aggressive!) tackling.

John did play for a variety of other teams during his career, representing Dundee East End in the spring of 1886 as well as Cowlairs in the autumn of the same year, and in 1891 it was reported in numerous Ulster papers that he had signed for Distillery of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, however he still made an appearance for us that season when home for New Year.

While still trainer at the club, he came out of retirement to play in Scottish Qualifying Cup games against in 1899, getting on the scoresheet in the process and showing the younger forwards at the club how to do it! He eventually retired as trainer of the club in the summer of 1922.