Jump to content

Gala Fairydean Rovers / Netherdale blog


Rab B Nesbit

Recommended Posts

Wow. That's some article. Many WW people can be seen including yours truly, Tommy and Sir Peter :lol:

Here's a reverse photo of the author who flew up from Eastbourne for the day:

IMG_2701.thumb.JPG.97b800236366ebc09221194b9a4df2b2.JPG

Edited by The Mantis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/17/2017 at 09:00, Rab B Nesbit said:

A pretty amazing blog on Gala written around the game with WW last month. Well worth a read ... 

https://dbauckham.exposure.co/a2d984f01dfbc4f39f647a5602e4f050

Really enjoyed that Rab sure Jimmy was down at that game.

Quite interesting the folks views on liking the stand and not liking it. I suppose its the sort of thing you either love or hate its architecture of its day I suppose concrete seemed to be the rage in the 60s:lol:

I remember the first time I went there was in 1978 for a Scottish Cup tie and I probably had a "wow" factor when I seen it hadn't seen anything like it:lol:

Gala are one of those clubs who should have really got into the league during the 60s-90s who knows what would have happened. If they had got in when the stand was built they could have really taken off given the money they were pulling in from that lottery which built the stand. Interesting that they were going to extend if if the had got into the SFL.

Hopefully they get the grants that they need to do the work required on the stand.

Edited to add

I wonder why the rugby club moved a few 100 yards along the same road? Its strange seeing the rugby stand at the "new" ground for it being built around the same time it looks a few decades older than the football one.

Edited by cowdenbeath
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen photos of the stand as originally built - with the only thing joining the roof and the main body of the stand being the 4 uprights - and, while the photos being in black-n-white probably helps, it does look gravity-defying and utterly space-age.


Gala and Hawick - whose stand is less 21st century and more 19th being the upperwork of a woollen mill which burnt down - and Clydebank applied to join SFL in 1967 when (after more than decade of running with an odd number) it was decided to make Division Two up to 20. Clydebank won which wasn't a huge surprise... as they'd only just been detached from the ill-fated "East Stirlingshire Clydebank FC" experiment and had been marking time in the Combined Reserve League.

Third Lanark folded at the end of the season but they just ran with an odd number again up to 1974... when Hawick tried again, and alongside Inverness Thistle, Elgin, Forres, Ross County and Gateshead lost-out to Ferranti Thistle.

Gala tried again unsuccessfully in 1994, 2000 and 2002. There was also a brief prospect of Clydebank relocating to Gala before they folded.To this day the only Borders club to have played in the Scottish League remains Peebles who featured for 3 seasons in the 1920s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

I've seen photos of the stand as originally built - with the only thing joining the roof and the main body of the stand being the 4 uprights - and, while the photos being in black-n-white probably helps, it does look gravity-defying and utterly space-age.


Gala and Hawick - whose stand is less 21st century and more 19th being the upperwork of a woollen mill which burnt down - and Clydebank applied to join SFL in 1967 when (after more than decade of running with an odd number) it was decided to make Division Two up to 20. Clydebank won which wasn't a huge surprise... as they'd only just been detached from the ill-fated "East Stirlingshire Clydebank FC" experiment and had been marking time in the Combined Reserve League.

Third Lanark folded at the end of the season but they just ran with an odd number again up to 1974... when Hawick tried again, and alongside Inverness Thistle, Elgin, Forres, Ross County and Gateshead lost-out to Ferranti Thistle.

Gala tried again unsuccessfully in 1994, 2000 and 2002. There was also a brief prospect of Clydebank relocating to Gala before they folded.To this day the only Borders club to have played in the Scottish League remains Peebles who featured for 3 seasons in the 1920s.

Don't know why they ever took so long to replace Third Lanark as I said in my previous post it would have been interesting if Gala had got in in the 60s with them having a bit of money behind them with their fundraising lottery.

Probably a bit unlucky in 94 Inverness were always going to get in but Ross County were on the back of a few decent Scottish Cup results which brought them to notice, anyway those 2 have been well justified.

Its quite amazing really that apart from Peebles short stint in the 20s the Borders has never been represented in the national leagues, I suppose you could sort of say Berwick represents the area but its not really the same thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Sad to see probably the best stand in non league fitba could be in trouble.Hopefully it gets an uplift,cracking views of the match from up there and decent bar underneath. Fingers crossed it survives. 

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/both-loved-and-loathed-gala-s-a-listed-brutalist-stand-is-under-threat-1-4858381/amp?__twitter_impression=true

Edited by newcastle broon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, newcastle broon said:

Sad to see probably the best stand in non league fitba could be in trouble.Hopefully it gets an uplift,cracking views of the match from up there and decent bar underneath. Fingers crossed it survives. 

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/both-loved-and-loathed-gala-s-a-listed-brutalist-stand-is-under-threat-1-4858381/amp?__twitter_impression=true

We hope and expect  that the intrusive drilling will show that the stand is substantially structurally sound and that it only requires repairs to the eroded concrete on parts of the exterior along with a general facelift, clean up and repair of the drainage etc. A great deal of work has so far gone into securing in excess of £200k to fund these repairs. If the costs are higher then we are confident we can secure the extra money needed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Soor Plooms said:

We hope and expect  that the intrusive drilling will show that the stand is substantially structurally sound and that it only requires repairs to the eroded concrete on parts of the exterior along with a general facelift, clean up and repair of the drainage etc. A great deal of work has so far gone into securing in excess of £200k to fund these repairs. If the costs are higher then we are confident we can secure the extra money needed. 

Good to hear,it certainly looks structurally sound,impressive funding by the way in what is an amazing piece of architecture. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Soor Plooms said:

We hope and expect  that the intrusive drilling will show that the stand is substantially structurally sound and that it only requires repairs to the eroded concrete on parts of the exterior along with a general facelift, clean up and repair of the drainage etc. A great deal of work has so far gone into securing in excess of £200k to fund these repairs. If the costs are higher then we are confident we can secure the extra money needed. 

:thumsup2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...