1930 Dunvegan Football (Soccer) Club
From the introduction of soccer into Glengarry County at the turn of the century, to the formation of the Glengarry Soccer League in 1924, to the Pioneers to the current successful senior women’s team, Dunvegan has a rich tradition in this area’s soccer history.
One of the great teams from the hamlet’s proud soccer heritage – the 1930 GSL champion Dunvegan men’s club – has now been enshrined into the Glengarry sports hall of fame.
One member of the 1930 Dunvegan club – William Keith ‘Little Willie’ MacLeod – is already in the Glengarry sports hall. MacLeod, a centre-half, played for Dunvegan in 1924 when the club was a charter member of the GSL, or the Glengarry Football League as it was then known.
Longtime Glengarry News sportswriter Angus H. McDonell once referred to ‘Little Willie’ as one of the great centre-halves in the history of Glengarry soccer.
MacLeod was a fixture in the Dunvegan line-up from the time the team was founded in 1924 until he hung up the cleats following the 1946 season. MacLeod attended soccer games in Dunvegan right up until his death in 1995 and was often asked to officially begin the local soccer season by kicking the first ball.
Men bearing the name MacLeod have played a major role in the long history of Dunvegan soccer. William was just one of five MacLeods who were on the original Dunvegan team. The Dunvegan midfield was made up of three MacLeod brothers – William, Chisholm and Cameron.
The first edition of the Dunvegan team established itself as the class of the West Division, which also included Greenfield and Maxville. Dunvegan was set to represent the West in the first GSL championship game, but a squabble resulting from an ineligible player protest led rest of the league to turn its back on the GSL president’s decision to uphold Dunvegan’s status as the first-place team in the division.
While Greenfield and Laggan tried unsuccessfully to stage its own title game, the unopposed Dunvegan squad became the league’s first champion. The Dunvegan franchise remained a strong competitor for the league title in the following season, but it wasn’t until 1930 that the club would win another championship.
By then the roster had almost completely been turned over as only William K. MacLeod and Donald R. Campbell remained from the original team. While William’s brothers Cameron and Chisholm were no longer with Dunvegan, yet another sibling – Donald – had arrived on the scene as the goalkeeper. In fact, Dunvegan’s drive to the 1930 championship was a real family affair. In addition to the MacLeods, there were two other sets of brothers – Rodger and Peter Hartrick and Wildfrid (Bill) and Donald Kennedy.
Rodger played defence for the 1930 team but was in nets when Dunvegan won its next league title in 1939. Joining Rodger on defence in 1930 was Kenneth MacLeod. The half-line featured William K. MacLeod in the middle flanked by Donald R. Campbell on the right and Peter Hartrick on the left.
The centre-forward and team captain was Charlie Fleming, a native Scotsman who worked at the Skye farm of Donald Hugh MacIntosh. Englishman Arthur Wrigley also worked on a local farm and was the inside right forward.
Donald Kennedy was the inside left forward. On the wings were Wilfrid Kennedy and Norman MacLeod. Norman MacLeod has a legacy in Dunvegan soccer to this day. Three of his granddaughters – Betti, Bonnie, and Bobbi Jo – have played for the Dunvegan women’s senior team. Bobbi Jo is still an active member of the club while Bonnie serves as the Dunvegan rep on the GSL exective.
The leadership for the 1930 team was provided by president Donald D. MacKinnion, a farmer and drover by profession, and vice-president John A. Steward, a well-known pipe major and blacksmith.
