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Fort William tomorrow


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1 hour ago, Vale Vale Vale said:

Was a harder league back then, did Peterhead win the league that season?

Was some good battles between Vale and Peterhead back then for a while our games with you guys were more heated than games against Buckie.

Nah, we just missed out but we won it the following season. To be fair to Fort William at that time they were playing catch up as is usual for them at the end of the season and played virtually their youth team. The story at the time was that the Peterhead chairman offered to buy them all a drink as consolation but nearly all of them were underage for alcohol.

Got fond memories of the Highland League and wouldn't like to see anyone go under but it's worrying if they can't raise a team at this stage of the season.

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I think it's a real shame the locals don't take much of an interest in them. Having a club in the Highland League is something to be proud of IMO. The place does seem to lack that community spirit I associate with a lot of other towns and regions in the west highlands. The

Their location is most definitely a nightmare for attracting players for minimal cash. Tough ask to get boys to travel an hour and a half to play in a team regularly getting hosed and what I assume is no more than travel expenses.

A Skye team would be tremendous but I can't see that happening.

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17 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I think it's a real shame the locals don't take much of an interest in them. Having a club in the Highland League is something to be proud of IMO. The place does seem to lack that community spirit I associate with a lot of other towns and regions in the west highlands. The

Their location is most definitely a nightmare for attracting players for minimal cash. Tough ask to get boys to travel an hour and a half to play in a team regularly getting hosed and what I assume is no more than travel expenses.

A Skye team would be tremendous but I can't see that happening.

They'd probably be good in the air...

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1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I think it's a real shame the locals don't take much of an interest in them. Having a club in the Highland League is something to be proud of IMO. The place does seem to lack that community spirit I associate with a lot of other towns and regions in the west highlands. The

Their location is most definitely a nightmare for attracting players for minimal cash. Tough ask to get boys to travel an hour and a half to play in a team regularly getting hosed and what I assume is no more than travel expenses.

A Skye team would be tremendous but I can't see that happening.

Not sure about lack of community spirit. Fort William were the top shinty side in Scotland for a number of years recently. Kilmallie were in the Premier League last season and Lochaber (Spean Bridge) still are. The Fort - Kilmallie Camanachd Cup final in 2005 was a fantastic sporting occasion.  I'd suggest there is plenty of community spirit and interest in sport, but simply that shinty is more popular than football. Natural enough too I'd say that people would prefer to watch a team of locals playing against other Highland teams with whom they have long established rivalries rather than a football side with lots of guys from Inverness getting pumped by teams from Aberdeenshire. 

Skye too would be far stronger in shinty. Epic crowds followed their 1990 Camanachd Cup team. A football team couldn't command that support, indeed Portree's Highland Amateur Cup runs a few years back didn't compare.

Edited by Waspie
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Not sure about lack of community spirit. Fort William were the top shinty side in Scotland for a number of years recently. Kilmallie were in the Premier League last season and Lochaber (Spean Bridge) still are. The Fort - Kilmallie Camanachd Cup final in 2005 was a fantastic sporting occasion.  I'd suggest there is plenty of community spirit and interest in sport, but simply that shinty is more popular than football. Natural enough too I'd say that people would prefer to watch a team of locals playing against other Highland teams with whom they have long established rivalries rather than a football side with lots of guys from Inverness getting pumped by teams from Aberdeenshire. 
Skye too would be far stronger in shinty. Epic crowds followed their 1990 Camanachd Cup team. A football team couldn't command that support, indeed Portree's Highland Amateur Cup runs a few years back didn't compare.


Fair points but I still think it's poor the local football team are mostly ignored or forgotten about, especially by the local press.

I'm finding it incredibly difficult to get a hold of attendance figures but read a blog from a few years ago that suggested there were only 40 people in attendance at a league match. Is that the average sort of crowd for matches at Claggan Park? With a population of over 10k I'd expect better than that, even in a town where shinty is the main sport.

I was hoping to get up to the match on the 23rd against Lossiemouth but now that our match against Falkirk on the same day holds some significance I'll most likely be heading to that.
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9 hours ago, blueone said:

The story at the time was that the Peterhead chairman offered to buy them all a drink as consolation but nearly all of them were underage for alcohol.

Got fond memories of the Highland League and wouldn't like to see anyone go under but it's worrying if they can't raise a team at this stage of the season.

:lol:


On the squad thing... they scratched a midweek North of Scotland Cup tie at Forres earlier this season, but that was put down to them being unable to use triallists (which implies having to go and draft-in or borrow players when it comes to league games tbf). However things look pretty bad on the squad front.

They only had 2 substitutes against Clachnacuddin; only 3 substitutes against Rothes (of whom 1 was triallist given he has a 'T' beside him on teamsheet they tweeted); and only 2 substitutes against Brora. Even as far back as September they only had 3 substitutes against Buckie. These are going by teamsheets from their twitter. Even back in August they only had 4 substitutes (of whom 1 was a triallist) v Huntly; 4 v Cove; and 5 v Keith on the opening day. Rules allow 7.

Their team photo does have 17 stripped players including 1 keeper, and 7 others in tracksuits/etc.:

DIEQ5vsXUAAh32f.jpg:small

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One of the main characters behind the scenes at Fort William died about 9 months ago.  I know he did a heck of a lot behind the scenes and sometimes when these people go three or four together can't replace them.


The driving forces are very difficult to replace, they do so much that when others try to take on their duties they don't even know about half the stuff that needs done, never mind have the skills and time to complete them.
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11 hours ago, blueone said:

Nah, we just missed out but we won it the following season. To be fair to Fort William at that time they were playing catch up as is usual for them at the end of the season and played virtually their youth team. The story at the time was that the Peterhead chairman offered to buy them all a drink as consolation but nearly all of them were underage for alcohol.

Got fond memories of the Highland League and wouldn't like to see anyone go under but it's worrying if they can't raise a team at this stage of the season.

Did you win the league at PRP that season, was at the cup final between Keith and Peterhead at PRP, can’t  remember who won and can’t remember if it was the same season.

Was at the vale/fort game a couple of seasons back when they beat us 2-1 they looked like a decent side, was a really poor home crowd, social club next to ground was empty, thought to myself how do they get by.

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On 12/4/2017 at 04:42, Robert James said:

For the last 3 years, Lewis & Harris FC has played in some of the North Caledonian Cup Competitions (with some success), but have you ever tried the  Western Isles ferry to the mainland in winter ?  Not something you would want to do too often.

True, but Orkney rugby play in a national league and that ferry can be entertaining too. 

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On 09/12/2017 at 15:35, GordonS said:

True, but Orkney rugby play in a national league and that ferry can be entertaining too. 

And Orkney FC in the NCL.  But the problem for Lewis & Harris FC is that after the ferry they have to travel across the West Highlands as well. 

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And Orkney FC in the NCL.  But the problem for Lewis & Harris FC is that after the ferry they have to travel across the West Highlands as well. 

Orkney RFC also frequently scrounge players from the mainland to make up the numbers.
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On 05/12/2017 at 10:56, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I think it's a real shame the locals don't take much of an interest in them. Having a club in the Highland League is something to be proud of IMO. The place does seem to lack that community spirit I associate with a lot of other towns and regions in the west highlands. The

Their location is most definitely a nightmare for attracting players for minimal cash. Tough ask to get boys to travel an hour and a half to play in a team regularly getting hosed and what I assume is no more than travel expenses.

A Skye team would be tremendous but I can't see that happening.

I agree on both points. 

Would an all weather pitch at Claggan be feasible, as it might help Fort attract/retain players ? Surely there must be an external funding source.

Regarding Skye, why doesn't the island enter a 'combined' team in one or more of the NCL cup competitions ? Shetland FC and Lewis & Harris FC  have done so, and been successful. This would at least provide a few winter matches. 

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I agree on both points. 
Would an all weather pitch at Claggan be feasible, as it might help Fort attract/retain players ? Surely there must be an external funding source.
Regarding Skye, why doesn't the island enter a 'combined' team in one or more of the NCL cup competitions ? Shetland FC and Lewis & Harris FC  have done so, and been successful. This would at least provide a few winter matches. 
There was a bidding process for a 3g in the area for which the football club made a bid. I believe they lost out to the high school which makes sense. I seriously doubt there is funding or need for a second pitch as there is a small population and no other populations close by. What I don't understand is the lack of joined up thinking as surely Fort and the council could have found a way to move to the high school
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When all-weather pitches (a wee bit off a misnomer when it snows heavily!) were installed in Lockerbie Dumfries  Kirkcudbright  Newton Stewart and Stranraer.they were organised by D&G council with money supplied by Sport Scotland and Scottish government and in one case at least the SRFU helped.

 

The main criteria were they had to be administered by a recognised football club ( Mid Annandale Saint Cuthbert Wanderers Newton Stewart and Stranraer) and also had to be close to a school to allow free access during school hours.

This may vary from area to area but has proved a success in the South in encouraging a lot more people of all ages to play football at their own level and looks like what is needed at Fort William. 

 

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17 hours ago, info said:

When all-weather pitches (a wee bit off a misnomer when it snows heavily!) were installed in Lockerbie Dumfries  Kirkcudbright  Newton Stewart and Stranraer.they were organised by D&G council with money supplied by Sport Scotland and Scottish government and in one case at least the SRFU helped.

 

The main criteria were they had to be administered by a recognised football club ( Mid Annandale Saint Cuthbert Wanderers Newton Stewart and Stranraer) and also had to be close to a school to allow free access during school hours.

This may vary from area to area but has proved a success in the South in encouraging a lot more people of all ages to play football at their own level and looks like what is needed at Fort William. 

 

Clachnacuddin were going to install a 3 or 4g pitch and share it with Inverness City, but Sport Scotland halved their grant offer and it fell through. Money's harder to come by now.

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They should've put the pitch on the Black Parks to be honest. There's no chance there'll be another built in Fort William, unless those Americans magically materialise again with half a million quid... Sadly, I do think Fort are going to fold in the next season or two.

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Unfortunately it depends very heavily on the priorities individual councils - and councillors - put on them.

As noted D&G has numerous 3G pitches: almost every major town now has one.

In contrast the Scottish Borders only has 2 - of which 1 only opened earlier this year and was partly externally funded. Meanwhile there are more plastic hockey pitches than hockey clubs.

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