Shaun Dennis Obituary

20th December 1969-16th May 2025

It is with great sadness that Raith Rovers learned this afternoon that Shaun Dennis had passed away peacefully this morning. 

In the world of football these days, the label of legend can be used too easily. But to Raith Rovers, Shaun was a true LEGEND.

Shaun Dennis sits in 7th place in the list of all-time appearances for Raith Rovers with 453 games played having scored 16 goals.  

Gordon Wallace signed Shaun as a twelve-year-old central midfielder, although at the time he wasn’t able to sign schoolboy forms until he was thirteen. His papers were found in a drawer a few years later at the club. It wasn’t until Frank Connor came to the club that he officially signed; Frank had started a relationship with the junior side Lochgelly Albert, where young players were farmed out to them to gain experience. The funny thing was that both big Iain Ferguson and Shaun joined Lochgelly, but Shaun never played one game. The clubs didn’t realise that if you played in the Scottish Junior Cup that it Cup-tied players for the whole of that season, Fergie played and Shaun didn’t. 

Shaun made his Rovers’ debut in a friendly against Rangers at Stark’s Park on Saturday 30th of July 1988, in which Terry Butcher made his comeback after breaking his leg. A match that was covered by BBC Breakfast as the English captain was playing. 

Shaun explained, “ I was due to go away on holiday that weekend and Frank said to me that if I cancelled my holiday, he would play me. I thought at first it was a wind-up but he kept his word. It was a high profile game played in front of a big crowd (9,500) and we did well narrowly losing 2-1. I was up against Kevin Drinkwell, but they had a team that was full of Scottish and English internationals”. 

Shaun broke into the first team and felt lucky to be playing in a team and learning from the likes of Cammy Fraser, George McGeachie and Bobby Glennie. 

Shaun loved playing for Frank Connor, and the team did well in the league and had some great cup-runs. During Frank’s time at training a bag would be dropped on the floor containing the training kit and you had to be sharp if you wanted a pair of tracksuit bottoms, Shaun said, “if you weren’t quick enough you got nothing”.  

When Jimmy Nicholl took over the younger players like Sinky, Jason Dair, Colin Cameron and Stevie Crawford all got their chances and they probably wouldn’t have been given the chance like that at any other club. They got their chance because there was a necessity for them to play at an early age at Raith Rovers. It was because of the size of the club with such a small budget that they were brought through and did very well. Shaun Dennis thrived in this team. 

Shaun became the first Raith Rovers’ player to get a Scottish Under21/23 cap since Jim Baxter. But even then Shaun kept his feet firmly on the ground. Jimmy Nicholl phoned the Craig Brown and suggested that someone look at me and I was called up. Shaun felt if you didn’t play for Celtic or Rangers, you were only there as a ‘Hamper-Carrier’, so he went to the European Championships and never got a game, so that’s what I thought he was! 

For the next game, he wasn’t selected, but someone pulled out and Tommy Craig called him in as a replacement. He made his debut in 5-1 over Switzerland. 

There had been talk of moves from Raith Rovers to Celtic but nothing ever happened. At one point it looked like he was going to sign for Preston, where David Moyes was Assistant Manager at the time. He also had spoken to Jim Duffy at Hibs and it seemed a better deal for Shaun, to stay in Scotland. Raith Rovers received Andy Millen and £250,000 in 1997. 

Shaun made 64 appearances for Hibernian before returning to Stark’s Park, firstly on-loan before coming back on a permanent basis in 2001. Shaun turned down the offer from the Hibs’ manager Alex McLeish to let him go to Barnsley to come back to Raith Rovers. 

Shaun had contacted the then Rovers’ manager Peter Hetherston about joining on-loan, to prove his fitness. He played a dozen games before signing on again. 

In his time with Raith Rovers, Shaun Dennis won the Scottish League First Division in seasons 1992-93 and 1994-95. He won the Scottish League Cup (Coca-Cola Cup) in 1994. He also won the Scottish League Second Division in 2002-03 under Antonio Calderon. 

In November 2017, Shaun Dennis was inducted into the Raith Rovers’ Hall of Fame. 

While the owner of the Abbotshall Hotel in Kirkcaldy, Shaun played host to the Rovers’ Down South tribute dinners on several occasions. On one occasion when the guys went to pay the bill for the dinner, Shaun then proceeded to count out £200 to give back to “help with the cause!” 

As recently as August 2024, Shaun was the guest at Reminiscing Raith where regaled all present with his wonderful tales of his football career. He also brough his grandchildren to a game last season. He received a hero’s welcome at the club he loved. 

There has been a huge out pouring of love for Shaun from all his team mates. 

All at Raith Rovers would like to send his wife Tracy and family our deepest condolences. 

John Greer 

Club Historian.

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