Fort William 2021-22 Thread

[welshbairn]

5 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Yep, Aviemore only hosting amateur football has always puzzled me.  It's clearly big enough to be able to accommodate a team playing in the pyramid and there's wealthy businessmen live there ( I know of 2 without even thinking about it).

It's a bit of an anomaly really.  Although there are a lot of incomers that make up the permanent population, from the Central Belt and England, who are probably very unlikely to be interested in an Aviemore team playing at a higher level. A bit like Fort with the entire population who like football supporting one of the Old Firm.

Is it not mostly holiday homes and seasonal workers? Strathspey Thistle probably get one or two from there.

Edited July 27, 2021 by welshbairn

[GordonS]

6 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

A bit like Fort with the entire population who like football supporting one of the Old Firm.

I don't know if it's changed much or if what I saw was representative but when I was there a fair number of folk supported Aberdeen - I knew more that supported the Dons than Celtic. 

Most of the guys interested in football would look out for Fort William's scores or were roughly aware of how they were doing, but none of them would ever have considered going to a game, regardless of their big team.

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

There's a bit of detail on the rise and fall of Aviemore in here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v0w2.

[TheScarf]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

Is it not mostly holiday homes and seasonal workers? Strathspey Thistle probably get one or two from there.

Probably but my mate played for them for the last couple of years and said barely anyone from Grantown bothered to come and watch them let alone anyone from Aviemore/Carrbridge.

[HibeeJibee]

Have they ever had much of a support?

Over last 35yr in HL they have never got out of bottom third... plus over last 25yr only in 2014-15 have they got out of the last 2 or 3 places (often sat last). They only once qualified for Scottish Cup - in their very 1st year: losing to Stirling Albion after a replay - then since it went all-in 15yr ago have won twice v Preston and Vale of Leithen. Have they ever reached a cup final since joining HL?

Hasn't been much to get people excited sadly.

In recent years they've tried all manner of weird 'n wonderful ideas... from US reality TV to a BBC documentary to loaning an entire XI from Inverness.

[Jacksgranda]

2 hours ago, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

There's a bit of detail on the rise and fall of Aviemore in here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v0w2.


 

It must have really fallen, that page isn't there anymore.

[welshbairn]

6 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

Have they ever had much of a support?

Over last 35yr in HL they have never got out of bottom third... plus over last 25yr only in 2014-15 have they got out of the last 2 or 3 places (often sat last). They only once qualified for Scottish Cup - in their very 1st year: losing to Stirling Albion after a replay - then since it went all-in 15yr ago have won twice v Preston and Vale of Leithen. Have they ever reached a cup final since joining HL?

Hasn't been much to get people excited sadly.

In recent years they've tried all manner of weird 'n wonderful ideas... from US reality TV to a BBC documentary to loaning an entire XI from Inverness.

You can't build up a support if you don't play at home for half the season. The US reality show might have been fun, American football  soccer scholarship students over on a gap year to see how they got on in the Highland League. The purists would have been appalled, mind.

Edited July 27, 2021 by welshbairn

[welshbairn]

5 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

It must have really fallen, that page isn't there anymore.

Works if you take the full stop off the end.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v0w2

[LongTimeLurker]

Are Fort William not viewed as an unwelcome intrusion into shinty territory by some of the locals? There's likely to be deeper reasons like that why a Lochaber team didn't work out as well in an HL context as Wick Academy did in Caithness. It's good there is finally a pyramid so clubs find their proper level. Season after season of getting annihilated doesn't do anyone involved any good.

[invergowrie arab]

1 hour ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Are Fort William not viewed as an unwelcome intrusion into shinty territory by some of the locals? There's likely to be deeper reasons like that why a Lochaber team didn't work out as well in an HL context as Wick Academy did in Caithness. It's good there is finally a pyramid so clubs find their proper level. Season after season of getting annihilated doesn't do anyone involved any good.

I don't think its as strong as unwelcome. Maybe bemusement that anyone would want to play football when shinty is on offer with 4 clubs within 10 miles of FW.

Think Rangers viewing a professional Queens Park as an unwelcome intrusion south of the Clyde.

Shinty isn't in great shape itself. FW have been up and down the leagues for a while now and Lochaber Camanachd scratching games for lack of a side when they ran 2 sides a decade back. Not unrelated to comments about local economy above.

[theoriginalhedge]

2 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Are Fort William not viewed as an unwelcome intrusion into shinty territory by some of the locals? There's likely to be deeper reasons like that why a Lochaber team didn't work out as well in an HL context as Wick Academy did in Caithness. It's good there is finally a pyramid so clubs find their proper level. Season after season of getting annihilated doesn't do anyone involved any good.

I think this thread kind of sums up the general  lack of interest for football  in the area . The vast majority of posts are from fans of other clubs who seem more intrigued with the next development of an ongoing saga than anything else.  The lack of any positive vibe coming from local supporters is quite worrying as is the  approach from Fort William themselves at trying to resolve the issues and create a plan going forward.  Crowd funding and hoping for sympathetic help comes across as a last ditch attempt to keep their heads above the water long enough to reach the shore.  What happens after that ? 

 

[Buddie Holly]

i have been to fw loads of times but only found out where the ground was last week as I walked back into town after conquering ben nevis.popped in for a look and met who i presume was the groundsman.he told me to look about if i wanted but my view from behind the goal was enough for me,very sad the state of a pitch that hasn’t had football played on it for so long.the bare patch in goal mouth was like concrete.really hope they can find a solution.

 

[RH33]

On 25/07/2021 at 22:24, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

"Consideration of the options available" - did this include moving to the astro at Lochaber HS for the season?

If the league were willing to work with the club in a compassionate and pragmatic way, I don't see why this couldn't have been an option for a season.

The number of postponements would certainly have dropped.

I don't really know the full circumstances here, but from the outside this does seem rather draconian.

If this marks the end of Claggan Park as a Highland League ground, I'm just glad I managed to get myself to a game up there before the end came.
 

It fails to meet several of the criteria for the leauge.

[RH33]

On 26/07/2021 at 14:07, TheScarf said:

Tbf the Aberdeen-shire based HFL suits, bar Rod Houston, probably won't bothered what Fort are up to.  They're highly unlikely to send someone down there to take a look at how things are moving along pitch-wise.  As long as the Aberdeen area clubs are fine that that's good enough.

Obviously my comments do hold a bias, I'll also add that until this thread i had no idea.of the situation so I've not spoken to him, but Rod genuinely cares about football across the Highlands at all levels. His roles at North of Scotland schools and latterly HFA meant he was involved in setting up grassroots on both the mainland and islands. Hes been involved.on NCL and HFL on and off for many years.

He has spent time working with Fort to find solutions since he went into post at and he won't have taken the decision consider breach of rules lightly.

However, that pitch is clearly unplayable and at some point the LMC have to draw a line and say we have these standards for a reason. 

[TheScarf]

8 minutes ago, RH33 said:

Obviously my comments do hold a bias, I'll also add that until this thread i had no idea.of the situation so I've not spoken to him, but Rod genuinely cares about football across the Highlands at all levels. His roles at North of Scotland schools and latterly HFA meant he was involved in setting up grassroots on both the mainland and islands. Hes been involved.on NCL and HFL on and off for many years.

He has spent time working with Fort to find solutions since he went into post at and he won't have taken the decision consider breach of rules lightly.

However, that pitch is clearly unplayable and at some point the LMC have to draw a line and say we have these standards for a reason. 

Indeed, I know your dad would give a shit whereas the Aberdeen based league officials won’t.

[RH33]

4 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Indeed, I know your dad would give a shit whereas the Aberdeen based league officials won’t.

Yeah, sorry I was trying to back up your point that he does. 

[RH33]

8 hours ago, Squonk said:

I haven’t read this thread from the beginning, so apologies if I’ve missed anything, but as someone who was born and bred in the Fort and has lived here for more than 60 years, I’m slightly bemused by some of the abject guesswork taking place as to why so many of Fort William’s home games have been postponed.

The impressive multi-season chart on this site detailing the number of each club’s postponements makes the major factor abundantly clear, as does a grasp of basic Scottish geography and meteorology.

Aside from Ben Nevis (which is actually relevant due to its close proximity), what is Fort William famous for?

 If you said whisky, aluminium, outdoor activities, the Nevis Range ski centre, the surrounding scenery, a dilapidating pedestrianised High Street full of tartan tat and charity shops, the West Highland Way, being aesthetically challenged, or midges – you’d not be wrong.

However, if the aforementioned chart instead logged the annual precipitation at each club's location, the contrast would be equally stark, not least because Fort William is the only west coast club in the Highland League, ‘affording’ it a disproportionately high level of Atlantic-formed rainfall compared to its competitors. The gap between the annual rainfall here versus the east coast is astronomical.

Fort William is known, first and foremost, for its biblical rain. Legend has it that Noah had to move from the Fort to the middle-east to build his ark because the materials kept floating away in “this never-ending ****ing rain!”

I accept that, realistically, the drainage problem should’ve been sorted within the preceding 35 years, but in mitigation, Highland Scotland has encountered snow and ice during most winters within those same 35 years, yet, all these years later, and despite technological advances, most Highland League clubs still encounter wintry weather-related match postponements in present times.

Also, have you ever tried to get an emergency plumber at the weekend?

In the past, Fort William has produced footballers of the stature of Scottish internationalists Duncan Shearer and John McGinlay, as well as the likes of Donald Park, George ‘Pele’ Campbell, and Duncan’s brother David Shearer, amongst others.

Shinty co-existed when those players made their mark so I don’t believe there’s any significant loss of quality footballers to the game of shinty. A more likely factor is simply the gradual decline in interest in football by youngsters nationwide.

I can’t speak for everyone, but my experience of watching the Fort play involves excitedly attending a handful of home games at the start of each season, often with a new set of players and/or manager and/or committee, all of us full of nerves and trepidation, buoyed by a small amount of hope and expectation.

Green shoots of recovery are deemed to be visible if there have been no double-figure defeats in the first couple of games, but even the most optimistic supporter starts to become demoralised if we’re still waiting to get our first point on the board half a dozen games in, having already lost to the second and third bottom ranked sides.

Looking up Glen Nevis from Claggan Park can be a photographer’s dream when the weather is like it has been for the past fortnight or so, but it’s not much fun for supporters or players alike during the vast majority of the winter season, when horizontal stair rods of rain, driven on strong Atlantic gales, persist for months on end. Walking to the ground only to find the match has been postponed isn’t much fun either.

So, spare a thought for all those who've inherited decades worth of problems but are prepared to put in so much time and effort for so little reward. I can’t imagine that the players and officials want any special concessions or even sympathy. However, a little bit of understanding wouldn’t go amiss.

Personally, I can see the prospect of relegation having a galvanising effect on Fort William FC, but even if they do end up being relegated, they’ll eventually find their true level, which can only be a positive thing.  

Just as well the HFL secretary has a geography degree then!

[GordonS]

I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone here but it does bear repeating - Fort William gets 3 times as much rain as Nairn. The Fort gets as more rain in 3 months in the winter than Nairn gets all year. Add into that the reduced amount of sunlight and it's not exactly a recipe for a quality grass surface.

The council really should have worked with them when they put the 3G pitch in at the high school.

[stulch]

It does make you wonder if their world-wide crowd funding should have been for a 3G even though that would be so much more expensive. [emoji2957] If they ever had the money, unlikely I know, would they get planning permission with their location?

[Aqy]

12 hours ago, stulch said:

It does make you wonder if their world-wide crowd funding should have been for a 3G even though that would be so much more expensive. If they ever had the money, unlikely I know, would they get planning permission with their location?

Maybe they could apply for that now that they have the lease, previously it was a public park.