Excuses, excuses

Once upon a time, as all good fairy stories begin, the tickets for the South Enclosure had D.E.R.E printed on them. This was corrupted over the years into “Derry” - which by sheer coincidence is one of the words in the sectarian anthem “Hello Hello” later borrowed and adapted by followers of a variety of clubs throughout Scotland and beyond. The other clubs, of course, adopted only the tune and the bare bones of the lyrics, taking care to remove the sectarian references. Dundee fans, on the other hand, could leave in one of the sectarian references because of those four letters printed at one (unknown) time on the tickets so they all lived happily ever after.

Or was it the initials of Dens Road East? See, that's the trouble when more than one person makes up a cover story.

Others will claim that the Derry was the nickname of the local primary school and that the current nickname of the stand is accounted for simply by the age old tradition of naming stands at football grounds after the closest seat of learning. Admittedly, not an age old tradition that ever really caught on anywhere else.

Alternatively, someone sprayed “DERRY'S WALLS” somewhere on the outside of the South Enclosure at some time for some reason. Although the account is somewhat lacking in detail, the event was so embedded in the psyche of the Den's Park faithful that “Derry” was adopted as the name of the stand. The story, like the graffiti (if it ever existed) doesn't wash.

Ok, so Dundee bought the stand from Rangers then. Such stands did change hands between clubs at one time, though there's no record of any other club agreeing to buy sectarian baggage. The vague grain of truth in this one (or the inspiration for the lie) is that the renowned architect Archibald Leitch is responsible for the main stands at both Ibrox and at Dens; amongst others – he didn't just design stands for clubs blighted at one time or another by sectarianism. But that's the main stand, not the South Enclosure. It's the wrong side of the ground and it's the wrong end of the stick.

The final throw of the revisionist dice claims it’s all just a reference to the dairy that was situated near the ground. For those not familiar with the accent, “Dairy” in Dundonian is pronounced “Derry”. There are, fortunately, no accounts of paramilitary campaigns against cows, or kids from Dundee going all the way to Northern Ireland to pick up a block of cheese for their grandparents, but you can see how easily it could have happened.

A fairytale illustration. (The white horse IS a coincidence)