Tag Archives: Scotland

The Auld Fem Derby

03 Thursday Apr 2014

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Sunday 30th March 2014 ko 12.00

Scottish Women’s Premier League

RANGERS 2 (Sneddon 20p Mulvey 55)

CELTIC 1 (Jones 11)

Att 79 at Petershill Park, Glasgow (Petershill JFC)

Entry £4

No Programme

To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure how to approach this game. On one hand it was a women’s game, not known for being high profile in the UK, but it did involve Celtic and Rangers with all the sectarian idiocy that fixtures between the two clubs attracts. I pondered my attire, would that red Neilston scarf bought the previous day attract unwanted attention, would my SLR camera be allowed in, and would there be a sizeable police presence?

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The Brightest Star

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

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Saturday 29th March 2014 ko 14.00

West of Scotland Junior Cup 3rd Round

NEILSTON JUNIORS 0 Digney sent off FT (2nd booking)

SHOTTS BON ACCORD 1 (McKenna 88p)

Att 121

Entry £5

Programme £1

Scarf £5

We had a guest on this mini-tour, Sim loves his football despite being an Oxford United fan, and with this fixture being the centrepiece of the weekend I wanted it to give him a true flavour of the Junior scene in Scotland. We drove south-west from Glasgow for around 11 miles to Neilston, just south of Paisley. Like the latter town the village grew massively during the Industrial Revolution due to the textile trade and the derelict Crofton Mill still stands, the only survivor of the seven mills than stood beside the River Levern between Neilston and Dovecothall.

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The Third Way

31 Monday Mar 2014

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Friday 28th March 2014 ko 20.00

East of Scotland Amateur Cup Semi-Final

TOLCROSS THISTLE 1 (Perry 43)

STEINS THISTLE 2 (Lynn 46, M Kane 61)

Att 148 at Ainslie Park, Edinburgh

Entry £4

No Programme

North of the border the football is split 3 ways, Senior, Junior and Amateur, and there’s very little cross-over. You get some clubs in one section that could easily play in what is, in theory, the higher level, and especially the case of the Seniors, the converse also holds.

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Farewell, the bonnie banks of Ayr!

23 Sunday Feb 2014

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Saturday 22nd February 2014 ko 14.15

Scottish Junior FA Cup 5th Round

WHITLETTS VICTORIA 4 (Holland 56 Allan 59 Balfour 69 72)

YOKER ATHLETIC 1 (Frew 42)

Att 367

Entry £5

Programme (Chinese takeaway style) 30p

Badge Comp

Tea £1

As a hopper when you can’t find anything that takes your fancy, a good option is work on the lengthy list of Scottish Junior grounds that may not be in use for much longer. I like many others had loved Benburb’s soon-to-be lost Tinto Park, and as I drove north up the M6 yet another time, I wondered if my day could be as special as a fortnight ago. I surprised myself by having as good a time as then, if not better. Continue reading →

Everything You Need

09 Sunday Feb 2014

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Saturday 8th February 2014 ko 13.45

Scottish Junior FA West Region, Central League Cup 2nd Round

BENBURB 1 (McGurgan 30) Lovering sent off 88 (2nd booking)

THORNIEWOOD UNITED 6 (Duffy 6 Murphy 16 Malone 45 McGowan 62 O’Donnell 78 Brophy 85)

Att 64

Entry £5

Programme £1

When I was a sixth-former we were encouraged to debate the burning issues of the time. I remember a particularly heated debate on the death penalty, and a particularly powerful argument was putting yourself in the position of the condemned prisoner and the dread of waiting for the appointment with the executioner. I felt a flavour of that dread about those involved at Benburb.

Benburb are on borrowed time at their home Tinto Park. The 82 year old stadium has been sold for housing, the “Site Office,” sign is up on the fence outside, and the club neither know who now owns their home, or when the axe will fall.

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Encroachment

30 Monday Dec 2013

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Saturday 28th December 2013 ko 13.30

Scottish Junior FA West Region, West of Scotland Superleague, Premier Division

KIRKINTILLOCH ROB ROY 2 (McGeough 71 Sawyers 90)

CUMNOCK JUNIORS 1 (Maguire 26)

Att 219 (head count)

Entry £5

No Programme (the club normally issue, but editor away on holiday)

Bundle of old issues-complementary

Club bar scarf- complimentary

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The Red-Wud Kilburnie Blastie

22 Monday Jul 2013

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Sunday 21st July 2013 ko 13.00

James Glen Memorial Trophy 3rd Place Play-Off

RUTHERGLEN GLENCAIRN 4 (Terry 10og McAlpine 25 Sullivan 37 Mackay 85)

ASHFIELD 3 (Flannery 32 Marshall 41 Barclay 66)

Att 107

At Valeside Park, Kilbirnie (Kilbirnie Ladeside JFC)

Entry £5 (but see below!)

No Programme

Badge £3

Raffle £1

Football Card £1

Kilbirnie is a small town of around 7,000 inhabitants situated in North Ayrshire around 20 miles south-west of Glasgow. The area was built up around the flax and weaving industries before iron and steelmaking took over in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Glengarnock Steel Works opened its blast furnaces around 1841 which caused a massive influx of people seeking work. Initially these works were owned by Merry & Cunninghame before being taken over by David Colville & Sons and eventually were Continue reading →

The Castle

22 Monday Jul 2013

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Saturday 20th July 2013 ko 15.00

Scottish Challenge Cup Preliminary Round 2nd Leg

THREAVE ROVERS 1 (Fyfe 74)

THE SPARTANS 0

The Spartans won 4-3 on aggregate

Att 258

Entry £4

Programme £1

There’s signs of life in the lower reaches of the Scottish game for this season. There’s never been a functioning pyramid below Division 3, in the north if a club wins the Highland League there’s no way up, and in the south there’s the East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues, the former far stronger. And parallel to it all are the Juniors, ploughing their own furrow, a few only meeting their nominally senior compatriots in the Scottish Cup. The clubs at the bottom of Division 3 simply have carried on being uncompetitive knowing that there’s no automatic means of their removal.

For this season though, Continue reading →

Bon Accord

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

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Sunday 27th January 2013 ko 12.30

Scottish Premier League

ABERDEEN 0

HIBERNIAN 0

Att 7,184

Entry £28

Programme £3

When it rains, Aberdeen sparkles, as the water brings out the mica in the granite that so many of its buildings are built from. That doesn’t stop the built environment having a rather dour feel, the grey walls giving a sense of foreboding. Aberdeen granite is to be found in the Houses of Parliament and London Waterloo Bridge too.

The city’s motto is “Bon Accord,” French for “Good Agreement” a phrase reputedly from the password used by Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence, when he and his men laid siege to Aberdeen Castle before destroying it in 1308. Continue reading →

O, wad some Power the giftie gie us

31 Monday Dec 2012

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Sunday 30th December 2012

At St Michael’s & The South Church, Dumfries.

I woke after a night drinking in Dumfries at some of the warm taverns frequented by the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns, which in all honesty is more of a case of finding a pub which he didn’t visit regularly! It was an escape from the cold wind, and judging by the way the locals were shoveling the hot food down I wasn’t the only one thinking along the same lines. I was visiting my pal Iain, and he’s moved house since I last visited and when I woke, I poked my head between the curtains and spotted an interesting cemetery. Continue reading →