The ‘invincibles’ label has been applied in recent years to football giants Rangers, Celtic, Arsenal, AC Milan and Juventus for going an entire season undefeated.
But before them all, the remarkable feat was achieved by Caledonian FC in the Highland League.
In season 1982-83, Caledonian’s record was played 30, won 23, drew seven and lost none, living up to their motto “Primus Inter Omnes” – First over All.
Forty years on, former Caley player and manager Peter Corbett is arranging a reunion of the all-conquering squad.
Ex Caley players to attend reunion
Ex-players from as far afield as New Zealand and Spain are lining up to join the event on Saturday April 22 as part of the Inverness Football Memories Project.
It will coincide with Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s home tie with Dundee in the SPFL Championship.
Other clubs, including Caley, went through the league undefeated in the 1890s and early 1900s when the membership varied between six and nine teams.
But the 1982-83 achievement was the league’s first unbeaten season since Aberdeen A’s run 70 years before.
It was another 32 years until Brora Rangers repeated the feat in 2015.
As a player for Caley, Inverness Thistle, Clachnacuddin and Ross County, and manager of Caley and Clach, Peter won more medals than any other Highland League player or manager.
He said: “Winning the Highland League undefeated was a real highlight of my career.
“It had not been done since the early days of the league when there were only a handful of teams playing.
“We had a great manager in Alex Main and a team with youth and experience and, most importantly, winners.”
Final game tension ‘could be cut with a knife’
The historic 1982-83 season culminated on Wednesday May 4 1983 in a match at Telford Street Park, Inverness, against Fraserburgh.
By then Caley had retained the league title with a win the previous week over local rivals Inverness Thistle.
It just remained for the club to avoid defeat in the final game of the season.
As manager, the late Alex Main, described in the 1986 book ‘Caley All the Way’ for the club’s centenary “A buzz of expectation and mounting excitement came from the crowd.
“In the Caley dressing room the tension could be cut with a knife”.
The pressure grew when Fraserburgh ignored the script and went 2-0 up after 20 minutes.
Neil Mackintosh pulled one back for Caley, but with 14 minutes left the record was in doubt.
However, top scorer Ray Mackintosh salvaged a point and a place in history with his last goal before retiring and becoming team manager.
The draw secured the record but cost manager Main £5. He lost a bet with striker Billy Urquhart who predicted they would not lose during the season.
Peter Corbett added: “We had won the league by the time the final game at home to Fraserburgh came around.
“But we dearly wanted to create history and complete the league programme undefeated.”
Peter recalls the club sponsor, Dicksons, laid on one of their new models of van to give the players a lap of honour of Telford Street.
Not quite an open-top bus – and not all the players could fit inside the vehicle – but the celebrations went long into the night.
Who were the Caley ‘invincibles’?
The Caley team for the record-breaking game was Billy MacDonald, Roddie Davidson, Kevin Mann, Martin Lisle, Peter Corbett, Derek Dewar, John Docherty, Neil Mackintosh, Ray Mackintosh, Billy Urquhart and Wilson Robertson.
Anyone wishing to join the reunion can contact Peter at rockycorb@hotmail.com
The Inverness Football Memories project can be seen on the Am Baile website.
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