Gilligan Family

The Gilligans were a small footballing dynasty in Dundee. The family had particularly close ties to East Craigie.

Sam Gilligan

The only one of the four brothers who never played for East Craigie, playing for Dundee Violet instead. His senior clubs are listed as Dundee, Celtic, Gillingham & Bristol City. He was player manager of Gillingham during the Great War. In 1926 he moved to Ohio to manage an art gallery. While there he was player manager of Mahominy Valley FC, where he won district league and Cup titles.

Will Gilligan

Died in 1914. Played for East Craigie then Dundee, Derby and Bolton.

John Gilligan

An employee of the Dundee Gasworks by the 1930s, John spent 15 years at Clyde, but not before spells with East Craigie, Dundee Wanderers, Partick Thistle. From Clyde john moved then played for Forfar & St Johnstone, suffering a career ending injury sustained in 1920 while at Saints.

Sandy Gilligan 13th Oct 1872 - 28 June 1952

The most famous of them all. Sandy started out at East Craigie in 1889 before moving to the seniors with East End. He joined the newly merged Dundee, scoring their first competitive goal in 1893 in the 3-3 draw against Rangers. Sandy turned professional and received the princely sum of 10s per week. He stayed with Dundee until 1896 when he moved to Bolton, finishing his career there in 1900. Sandy returned to manage East Craigie - his first love.

Sandy was a devotee of bowls and was a member of the, appropriately named, East End club at Baxter Park. Sandy was a riveter at Caledon Shipyard for 50 years. Sandy died at home at 4 Springhill in on 28th June 1952. He was married to his wife for 57 years and was survived by three sons - two of whom (John & Samuel) also played for East Craigie- and a daughter - Jemima who was awarded a B.E.M for her work during the war making steel anti-torpedo nets.