Dumbarton FC, is a Scottish football league team formed in 1872, who play their home games at the Strathclyde Homes Stadium, next to Dumbarton Castle.  The club was one of the strongest teams during the nineteenth century winning the Scottish Cup in 1882/83 and reaching the final a further five times. As reigning Scottish Cup holders they met the FA Cup winners, Blackburn Olympic, and thrashed them 6-1 to be hailed as champions of Great Britain. In 1890 Dumbarton helped form the Scottish Football League and tied with Rangers on points for the title. Since no mechanism had been agreed to separate clubs that finished level on points, a play-off was arranged. After this match was drawn, the two clubs shared the championship. The following season Dumbarton won the competition outright, two points ahead of Celtic. In 1893 the Scottish FA recognised professionalism but Dumbarton continued to hold fast to amateur principles. This proved a costly decision as most of their best players moved to clubs where they could earn a wage. In 1895 and 1896 they finished last and had to apply for re-election. They were unsuccessful in 1896 and were relegated to Scottish Division Two. After finishing in last place in 1897 the club resigned. They spent  several seasons in the non-league wilderness when they almost went out of existence. Dumbarton were elected back into the Scottish Second Division in 1906. In 1911 they won the Second Division championship but failed to be elected to the First Division. In 1913 it was decided to increase the First Division by two members to 20 clubs: despite having finished in sixth place, Dumbarton were elected to fill one of the vacancies along with champions Ayr United. They continued to compete in the First Division until the  Great War but in 1922 they were relegated to the newly reinstated Scottish Second Division. During the inter-war period the club generally finished in the top half of the Second Division. After the Second World War, Dumbarton resumed their career in Division B (second tier) and in 1954 they were relegated to Division C consisting  largely of reserve teams. Once again the club was on the verge of closing before a new board was appointed to keep the team alive. In 1955 the C division was  scrapped and Dumbarton returned to an enlarged Second Division. They survived another financial crisis in the 1960s before going through something of a resurgence. In 1970 they took Celtic to extra-time in a League Cup semi-final before going down 3-4. In 1972 they won the Second Division championship in a dramatic finale by beating Berwick Rangers in the last game of the season. After narrowly surviving their first season back at the highest level for 50 years, Dumbarton found themselves back in the second tier when the Scottish League was restructured in 1975 with the formation of the Premier Division. Although they reached the Scottish Cup semi-final stage in 1976, it would be a long struggle to improve their status. In 1984 Dumbarton were promoted to the Premier Division. Completely out of their depth, they were relegated the following season. Instability on and off the field contributed to further relegations and in 1997-98, Dumbarton were playing in the Scottish Third Division (fourth tier). In recent years the club has undergone something of a revival. They left Boghead Park in 2000 to move into the all-seat Strathclyde Homes Stadium.  They were champions of the Third Division in 2009 and in 2012 they won promotion via the play-offs to the First Division. They spent six seasons in the second tier of Scottish Football before relegation in 2017-18.