Robert Kelso Player Profile

Biography

Robert Robinson Kelso was already a Scottish internationalist and a world champion when he came to Dundee but he hadn’t played for the national side for ten years. He would however earn a recall into the dark blue of Scotland while playing for The Dee and would lead out his country as captain against Ireland in Belfast becoming the first Dundee player to captain Scotland.

Born in Cardross, Dunbartonshire on October 2nd 1865, Kelso started his football career with Scottish League side Renton with whom he won the Scottish Cup in1885 and 1888 and was runner-up in 1886. Renton Football Club were a prominent team in the early history of Scottish football, based in the village of Renton in West Dunbartonshire and they are remembered as one of the first clubs to have laid claim to the title ‘Champions of the World’ when in 1888, as Scottish Cup holders, with Kelso in the side, they challenged and beat the FA Cup holders West Bromwich Albion.

Shortly after becoming a football ‘Champion of the World’, Kelso moved south to Newcastle West End (a forerunner of Newcastle United) and then to Preston North End the following year. Preston were a side in their early years who had a strong Scottish influence and at Deepdale he won the English League Championship in 1889/90 before moving to Everton where he played in the 1893 FA Cup Final.

Kelso made his international debut while playing for Renton in a British International Championship match against Ireland at the first Hampden Park on March 14th 1885 in which the Scots won 8-2.

He made a further five appearances for Scotland between 1885 and 1888 including a 3-2 win over England at Lemington Road, Blackburn in 1887 although the English would get their revenge over Bob and the Scots a year later with a 5-0 win at the first Hampden Park.

It was at Everton that Kelso was converted into a gritty right-back and after 103 appearances and five goals at Goodison (as well as one guest appearance for Liverpool in the Lancashire League), Kelso moved to Dundee in the summer of 1896.

Bob made his debut for Dundee at Carolina Port on the first day of the 1896/97 season in a 5-0 defeat to eventual champions Hearts. Hearts won the League Championship by two points from rivals Hibernian whom Dundee beat 3-0 at home in Kelso’s second game thanks to a Joe Clark hat-trick.

Bob missed the next two matches through injury – the only matches he would miss that season – and scored his first goal for the club from the spot in a 4-1 home win over St Bernards at the end of September.

The 18 game league campaign was completed on January 16th with a 7-1 win over Abercorn as The Dee finished a credible fifth, six points behind winners Hearts. After beating Highland League side Inverness Caledonian (7-1) and Kings Park (5-0) in the first two rounds of the Scottish Cup, Dundee’s competitive season was over when they lost 4-0 to Rangers in the quarter-final but they filled out their calendar with ‘glamour friendlies’ against English opposition, including Bob’s old side Preston North End in Lancashire.

In Kelso’s second season he would miss just one game as The Dee reached the Scottish Cup semi-final, having scored a penalty in a 2-0 win against St Mirren at home in the second round. In the semi-final Kelso missed out on the opportunity of a fourth final appearance when The Dee went down 3-2 at Rugby Park in the days before the semis were played on neutral ground.

In the League Dundee finished seventh after winning a play-off against Partick Thistle at Meadowside Park near the River Clyde. The Scottish League were yet to use goal average to separate sides in the table and as the bottom three sides had to apply for re-election and play-off was held to determine who would have to do so. Thankfully for Dundee they won the play-off 2-0 despite The Jags having home advantage and they had to re-apply alongside St Bernards and Clyde and Second Division sides Kilmarnock (who lost the Scottish Cup Final 2-0 to Rangers) Leith Athletic and Port Glasgow.

Having not played for Scotland since 1888, Kelso was surprisingly given an international recall after ten years as reward for his consistent performances for Dundee.

On January 29th 1898 Bob was called up for the Scottish League side to face the Irish League at Dundee’s home ground Carolina Port. It was the second international to be hosted by Dundee following a full international against Wales in 1896 and both the League and full international side would often pick a ‘home’ player to encourage a healthy crowd.

The Scottish League triumphed 5-0 with two of the goals coming from future Dee RC Hamilton and Kelso’s performance impressed the selectors enough for a full international recall against Ireland in March.

The British International Championship match took place at Cliftonville’s Solitude ground in Belfast and Kelso captained the side as he won his 7th and last full cap in the 3-0 win.

At the end of the season Kelso was amongst a number of players who were involved in an acrimonious dispute about money as Dundee’s deteriorating financial situation meant they often struggled to pay the players. There was little surprise when a number of top players walked out including top goalscorer Dave Willocks who joined ex-Dundee captain Bill Hendry at New Brighton, ‘Plum’ Longair who joined Broughton United and Bob Kelso who joined Southern League side Bedminster FC from Bristol who played their home games at Bristol City’s current home ground of Ashton Gate.

Bob’s nephew Tom Kelso would also play for Dundee and Scotland at right-back in later years and join a select band of players who wore the dark blue for Dundee and Scotland while Bob holds the honour of becoming the first Dundee player to captain his country; one of only two men to have done so.