Fact: only Scots football team named in the bible

The Queen of the South changing room is given a once-over with a mop and bucket. Picture: Robert Perry

Queen of the South is a club with a famous history. The team’s name was first heard in the corridors of Parliament in 1857, where poet David Dunbar referred to his hometown of Dumfries by the nickname that a newly-formed football team in 1919 promptly adopted. The club’s greatest heroes have not necessarily been world beaters, but they are well-loved, and their accomplishments are worthy of note (Tommy Bryce entered the Guinness Book of World Records 21 years ago when he scored a hat-trick in one minute and 46 seconds; goalkeeper Alan Ball, who made a record number of appearances for the club, was granted two testimonials).

But the club can boast of an achievement that dates back far beyond that - because it is one of the only clubs in the world to be referenced in the Bible. The God-approved team, founded in 1919 after the merging of three clubs, is mentioned in Matthew 12:42:


The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgement

of this generation, and shall condemn it...

You’ll find references to other teams in the Good Book as well, most notably Brazilian team Corinthians and English side Arsenal. But the Doonhamers’ presence in the Bible is the most unequivocal (grammar alert: unlike most mentions of football teams in the Bible, Queen of the South is the subject of the sentence).