Everton History

Football Dugouts

Everton built one of the first dugouts in England at Goodison Park after visiting Pittodrie.

The first dugout appeared at Pittodrie (home of Aberdeen) in the early 1920s. The story goes that Aberdeen’s trainer at the time, Donald Colman, was a boxing and dancing enthusiast obsessed with his players’ footwork. Because he also made meticulous notes during each game and therefore needed a dry notebook, he had Aberdeen build a sunken covered area at Pittodrie, thereafter known as the ‘dugout’.

A few years later, Everton visited Pittodrie, liked the idea and built one at Goodison Park. Don’t forget that this was some 40 years before the introduction of substitutes.

In the early days, dugouts had to be sunk below ground level so as not to get in the way of the crowd, although it is not that uncommon in non-league football to find the odd example where they are positioned immediately in front of the stand, as at Sidlesham until fairly recently.

These days, it is quite rare to see a proper dugout, sunk below ground level. Part of this reason probably stems from the fact that it is virtually impossible to get a good view of the action from such a worm's eye position, although a more pragmatic answer is that they tend to get full of water, particularly during a typical British football season.

Wembley Stadium was unusual in that there were no dugouts as such, but instead the classic ‘trainers bench’ was provided on the touchline.

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