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Donald Colman
PLAQUE096
PLAQUE096

Donald Colman

PLAQUE096
Dedicatee (Renton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, 1878 - 1942)
DescriptionDonald Colman
1878 - 1942
Captain and Trainer of Aberdeen FC
Inventor of the Football Dugout
Lived here
HistoryDonald Cameron Cunningham, known as Donald Colman (14 August 1878 – 4 October 1942), was a Scottish football player and coach in the early years of the 20th century, most notably for Aberdeen FC. His career in senior football did not begin until he was in his late twenties, and he was capped by Scotland at the late age of 33. As a coach, he was renowned partly as the inventor of the dugout, a sunken, sheltered area for note taking, which he introduced at Aberdeen FC's Pittodrie Stadium, making it the first football stadium to feature this innovation.

"No player ever associated with the Pittodrie Club ever enjoyed greater popularity nor carried the confidence of the public more than Colman." Aberdeen Daily Journal, 26th March 1921.

Real name: Donald Cameron Cunningham. Donald changed his surname to Colman to help hide from his family the fact that he was playing football.
A native of Renton, Colman was recommended by former Maryhill teammate Jimmy Muir to Jimmy Philip and, after an initial month's trial, joined Aberdeen FC permanently in October 1907 and went on to become an Aberdeen FC legend. A tough full back, with gentlemanly qualities, he was the most consistent player Aberdeen FC had had to that time. It was Colman at the age of 33, became the oldest Aberdeen FC player to be capped for Scotland.
During August 1916, Donald joined the Gordon Highlanders, having previously carried out his war work in an engineering establishment in the Vale of Leven.
As Aberdeen FC worked to rebuild after the end of the war, Donald was transferred to St Mirren at the beginning of March 1919 in time to assist them in the Victory Cup time replay at Dumbarton, but after only one game and one month he moved to Renton in April 1919 and allegedly St Mirren then Dumbarton FC after that, but he was back at Aberdeen FC for season 1919/1920. In September 1920 Donald did finally join Dumbarton as Player/Manager, a post he kept till 1925.
Donald returned to Aberdeen FC as club trainer in 1931 after a spell coaching in Norway, and amongst many contributions he helped to harness the talents of Mills and Armstrong. Colman was also the driving force at Aberdeen FC behind the first ever dugout to be built in Britain, the idea having been inspired by the huts used by football coaches in Norway when they sheltered from the weather during games. That first dugout was built prior to the beginning of season 1934-1935 and was just one of many ideas that Colman tried in his quest to improve Aberdeen FC. From feeding the players raw eggs and sherry before games to getting them free passes for the Beach Ballroom to help them develop their footwork, Donald left no stone unturned.
His great-granddaughter, Rachel Corsie, is also a footballer and captains the Scotland national team.
In November 2018, Donald was one of four inductees into the Aberdeen FC Hall of Fame.
Location InfoLocated to right of flat door entrance.