Come on the Fort…………………

Sunday, 6th December 2009

Fort William beat Strathspey Thistle 2-1 in the Highland League on Saturday and if I know the manager, Cal McLean, they’ll still be out celebrating now. All the goals came in the final ten minutes of play; Fort took the lead with a lob from their, uh, ginger wizard, Sean Ellis, before Thistle pulled level with three minutes remaining. Drew Ferguson scored the winner with virtually the last kick of the game. Fort William were down to ten men by then – but that’s a given, they almost always are. This is the side which finished last season having won just a solitary point, a record. They were bottom the year before too. And the year before that. They were bottom on Saturday, until Drew Ferguson stepped up. Now they’re third bottom; giddy heights indeed.

I know this is of scant importance in the grander scheme of things, and I know that a good many of you aren’t terribly keen on football. But this is different; this is a bunch of people fighting desperately to keep a football club in their town, so that the local kids can play every week (they have loads of youth and reserve teams). The players – most of em – are paid: six quid a week. Everyone else chips in for nothing. The manager, Cal, is up at the crack of dawn to try to drain the pitch with a garden fork – the pitch is mostly unplayable because the local council won’t pay to have it drained. They have been a laughing stock for being so fabulously useless, but still they keep trying, some of the lads doing round trips of 140 miles for training and games. I know of them because I went there to do a story and believe me, you won’t meet a better bunch of people anywhere. And that win over Strathspey was the very least they deserved. So at the risk of boring you, let’s hear it for Cal and Drew Ferguson and Fort William Football Club, hope that the win persuades the local council that they need a decent pitch and hope – against all hope – that they stuff Lossiemouth next weekend. In the meantime, if you have a few bob to spare, sponsoring a match will set you back the princely sum of £150. So this is a begging blog too, for which apologies. Find out more about them.

Previous Back to Rod Liddle Next

Actions: Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (11)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Zach Busman

December 6th, 2009 3:20pm

Mon.Henri can lend a hand,peut-etre?

Phil B

December 7th, 2009 7:24pm

Spot on again Mr Liddle!
Dont let the racists grind you down mate& Im a Palce supporter!.

Baron Pipin II

December 7th, 2009 11:02pm

Neat, friendly town Fort William; until two years ago, on our annual pilgrimage to the land of haggis and often incomprehensible language, we used to stop there to have a bite. The restaurant sat on the peer, the service was well, nothing to shout about, but the salmon unbeatable.

Football seems the one pastime the pseudo-liberal fruitcakes haven’t yet expropriated, although who knows what the future holds. The boys should stick to it come what may.

Baroness Pipino and I will see what can be done.

Lungfish

December 8th, 2009 12:55am

I must say thankyou to that kind person I met in Fort William in 1993. I had been very drunk and for some reason ended up in Skye. Its a long story but I banged on the door of a B&B at 4 in the morning with no money and this women opened the door and forced me to accept her hospitality. The thing about the people up there is they are not effected by bullshit- truly love the highland Scots- its the socialist idiots from Glasgow and Edinbugh that are destroying our country that I despise.

Lupus Lungfish

December 8th, 2009 1:19am

Aye Baron- the original Loch Fyne seafood joint up there in Inverary- a bottle of cheap white sparkly ,some oysters and a beautiful lassie - down the wool mill for some bargain socks , what more could a man ask for?- love Scotland!

Lungfish

December 8th, 2009 3:09am

Baron- A friend of mine has a cottage just the other side of Inveraray- going down that road, through that campsite to the salmon farms way way far away och noo ect chop down a tree and stick it on the fire, hawl in some macky and curl up with a local wench etc etc.

James Murphy

December 8th, 2009 3:59pm

There, you see! I knew I was right when I referred to you as 'affable' on another blog! I was laughed to scorn for doing so, but I knew that the chest of the intellectual bare-knuckle fighter always hides a big heart. - Rod, it's an honour, as one of your 'stupidest and bitterest' critics (on Man-Made Global Warming) to sing your praises here. As this, and your posts on the current moral crisis besetting young black men, make clear: you are a disputant of bravery, integrity and insight. don't let the buggers get to you. - You don't really want to go to their ghastly dinner parties anyway!

rod liddle

December 8th, 2009 5:17pm

James - thank you, and genuine apologies for earlier comments.

rod liddle

December 8th, 2009 5:18pm

(and you're right about the dinner parties)

Keith D

December 9th, 2009 8:21am

As a one time resident of Argyll it struck me that the local football team always had a fair degree of overlap with the Shinty Club.Well done The Fort for the cup win this year!