| Club: | Dumbarton |
| Season: | 1917–1918 |
| Manager: | James Collins |
| Stadium: | Boghead Park, Dumbarton |
| League: | Scottish League |
| League Result: | 8th |
| League Topscorer: | John McCulloch (13) |
| Season Topscorer: | John McCulloch (13) |
| Highest Attendance: | 8,000 |
| Lowest Attendance: | 2,000 |
| Average Attendance: | 3,260 |
| Pattern B1: | _thin_blackhoops |
| Pattern La1: | _black_hoops |
| Pattern Ra1: | _black_hoops |
| Pattern So1: | _2 gold stripes |
| Leftarm1: | FFD700 |
| Body1: | FFD700 |
| Rightarm1: | FFD700 |
| Shorts1: | FFFFFF |
| Socks1: | 000000 |
| Prevseason: | 1916–17 |
| Nextseason: | 1918–19 |
The 1917–18 season was the 41st Scottish football season in which Dumbarton competed at national level, entering the Scottish Football League. in addition Dumbarton played in the Dumbartonshire Cup and the Dumbartonshire Charity Cup.
See main article: 1917–18 Scottish Football League. This was the fourth season of war-time football, where the playing of all national competitions, other than the Scottish League, was suspended. Membership of the League was reduced from 20 to 18, with Aberdeen, Dundee and Raith Rovers withdrawing and Clydebank being admitted. Dumbarton's 8th-place finish with 34 points (22 behind champions Rangers) was their best performance since the 1893–94 season.[1]
Dumbarton re-entered the Dumbartonshire Cup for the first time in three seasons, but lost out to Clydebank in the final, which was held over until the beginning of the 1918–19 season.
Dumbarton retained the Dumbartonshire Charity Cup for the second successive year by beating Renton in the final.
During the season two charity matches were played for the benefit of the Red Cross War Fund, both being won, scoring 8 goals for the loss of 4.
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Source:[2]
| Player | From | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Finnie | Cambuslang R | 7 Jul 1917 | |
| James McGregor | Cambuslang R | 7 Jul 1917 | |
| William Wilson | Cambuslang R | 7 Jul 1917 | |
| James Stewart | Hamilton (loan) | 17 Jul 1917 | |
| John McMeekin | Glasgow Perthshire | 18 Jul 1917 | |
| Alex Marshall | Ashfield | 24 Aug 1917 | |
| Alex Trotter | Rangers | 25 Aug 1917 | |
| Richard Bell | Rangers (loan) | 14 Sep 1917 | |
| John McCulloch | Vale of Clyde | 29 Sep 1917 | |
| John Durnin | Partick Thistle | 1 Nov 1917 | |
| John Brodie | Celtic (loan) | 1 Jan 1918 | |
| Fred Williams | Bradford PA | 14 Feb 1918 | |
| William Gallacher | Vale of Leven (loan) | 27 Feb 1918 |
| Player | To | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Lister | Morton | 31 Jul 1917 | |
| John Semple | Ayr United | 7 Aug 1917 | |
| Pat Travers | Clydebank | 14 Aug 1917 | |
| George Baird | Rangers | 17 Dec 1917 | |
| John McCulloch | St Mirren | 12 Apr 1918 | |
| Hugh Cairney | Airdrie (loan) | 31 Jan 1918 | |
| Alexander Thom | Kilmarnock (loan) |
Source:[4]
In addition Robert Catterson, Thomas Hamilton and Joseph Tait all played their final 'first XI' games in Dumbarton colours.