Bo’ness United 2 East Stirlingshire 0
Balmy Bo’ness, with the Firth of Forth shimmering in the distance, is an intriguing place to spend a Saturday.
At just after noon, I am greeted by a young gentleman wearing shorts and a T-shirt and carrying a bottle of beer who greets me with a cheery ‘good morning’. His appreciation of the precise time matches his disregard for the realities of the temperature as he makes his paseo towards the town centre. They obviously make them tough in Bo’ness.
The young man is sauntering in a temperature that my car has insisted is zero degrees. The under-20 team at United had played in minus four the previous night at Newtown Park, perhaps in the manner of the newborns of Sparta being left on a stone overnight to toughen them up.
Resilience is the theme of the day. They have been playing football at Newtown Park since 1882. The band hall in a corner of the stadium has been ravaged by fire, a grandstand has disappeared, and the pitch is now artificial. It remains impervious to the weather, however, and is the only Lowland League fixture to survive the frost.
Chris Veitch, secretary, is one of the volunteers who has spent his morning sprinkling salt on the terracing before returning to organise matchday. A tour of the stadium is akin to a walk down memory lane, where structures built by miners of long ago are complemented by trailers and huts that house trophies, hospitality guests and heroes of the past.
There is endurance in person as well as in structure. Bo’ness have a kitman who has been in his post for 63 years. In the members’ lounge, there is a Scottish Junior Cup-winning goalkeeper who played on until 48 years of age.
A fan enjoys the only Lowland League game to survive the frost, between Bo’ness United and East Stirlingshire
A bird’s eye view of Bo’ness United’s Newtown Park as the floodlights go on
Bo’ness battle their way to a 2-0 victory against visitors East Stirlingshire on Saturday
The kitman, Charlie Patrick, came to Newtown Park as a teenager. He is now 78. ‘I was working with a boy who played for the club and I thought I would come up to see what it was all about,’ he says. He stayed. ‘Every year I tell them: “That’s it, I’m retiring”, but I always come back.’
A bachelor, he cheerily concedes that his club is his link to society. ‘It’s important to me because it gets me out and talking to people, doing something,’ he says. He once ran the lines for the club in the days when assistant refs were a luxury rarely available.
‘I had to stop it,’ he says. ‘I got carried away and regularly got sent off.’
His face is a regular feature in the photographs that adorn the walls of the two lounges and the committee room. He is pictured standing alongside the heroes of various campaigns.
‘The Scottish would give the greatest memories of my times here,’ he says of the Junior Cup. ‘I have watched us in four finals and we have won two.’ The club have won the trophy three times (1948, 1976, 1984)
The 2-0 victory over Baillieston in 1984 gave him his best memories. ‘Lex Shields scored two tremendous goals that day. The second one was amazing and I will never forget that. I can still see it in my mind’s eye.’
Shields, who sadly passed away last year, aged 66, had dribbled around a phalanx of players before nutmegging the goalkeeper.
The goals and the personality are remembered fondly by Gavin Kirkwood, 62. ‘In my first two seasons here, I played in the Scottish final and we lost and then I played the next year when we won. I thought it was going to be like that every season. I was only 21 when we won at Ibrox,’ he says.
Kitman Charlie Patrick first came to the Bo’ness games as a teenager, and is now 78
Ian Fleming, director of East Stirlingshire, admits it can be a struggle to keep the club going
A supporter enjoys the Lowland League action at Newtown Park on Saturday
He is sitting in the members’ lounge where people pay a subscription that goes directly into the club’s transfer budget.
Kirkwood, who lives in the town, attends most home games and is aware of the effect the triumphs of the past still have. ‘If I am walking through the town, I am regularly stopped for a chat and it always turns to 1984,’ he says.
‘It was the greatest moment of my career, one of the greatest moments of my life. I remember Lex’s goals, of course, but I always remember walking around the ground and seemingly shaking the hand of every supporter. Then it was back to the town for an open-top bus, a reception, and then around the clubs and pubs with the cup. Good times, great memories.’
Kirkwood left the club in 1994 to join Armadale and then Arniston. ‘I came back to play here a couple of times,’ he says. ‘I retired when I was 48.’
He still keeps in touch with the Bo’ness players from the glory days and mourns the loss of Shields.
‘It was a tremendous shock, very sudden,’ he says. ‘He was a great player and some character. We all miss him.’
Shields and many others are recalled by John Spowart, who has watched the side from ‘the mid-sixties’ onwards.
Bo’ness born and bred, he has witnessed profound changes at the club he loves. ‘The grandstand came down in the 1990s and the artificial surface was introduced a few years ago, so things are always changing.’
Supporters gets their money’s worth from the only game to go ahead in Lowland League
Plenty of goalmouth action as Bo’ness ensure they take all three points against the Shire
It’s that typical Saturday feeling as fans get their refreshments ahead of kick-off
Scottish Junior Cup-winning hero Gavin Kirkwood still attends most Bo’ness home games
The club now work together with the community club and there are plans for a £4million hub behind one of the terraces.
It would be yet another step for a stadium that has hosted a team since the end of the 19th century. The original Bo’ness eventually played in the Scottish League before being wound up in the 1930s, and then immediately came back as an amateur team. In 1946, Bo’ness merged with Bo’ness Cadora to become one of the biggest Junior clubs in Scotland.
‘We are now in the Lowland League, of course,’ says Spowart. The club sit fifth in the table but resilience is not just a trait on show at Newtown Park.
‘It is always kind of tough,’ says Ian Fleming, director at East Stirlingshire. ‘We are here this week and we are playing. That’s something of an achievement.’
The Shire have, of course, dropped from the SPFL and are nomads, now playing home games at Ochilview in Stenhousemuir.
‘There are only two directors. Me and Andy (Williamson) have full-time jobs, so it’s difficult to go out and get sponsors. We have just got a couple of other sponsors on board and they have been great.’
There is comfort in the fact there is no relegation from the Lowland League this season, as the team are stranded in bottom place.
Atmospheric view of Bo’ness United’s Newtown Park ground which beat the weekend frost
Fans enjoy the perfect view of the action between Bo’ness and the Shire on Saturday
A supporter savours his own aerial view of the action behind one of the goals
A loose ball is retrieved as the action rages on at Newtown Park on Saturday afternoon
‘I know I am biased but we are not playing like a bottom of the table side,’ says Fleming. ‘But that is where we are.’ Indeed, Shire play their part in an entertaining game.
The club have control of hospitality and kiosk on their matchdays at Ochilview and Fleming hopes this will help achieve financial sustainability. He is also keen to keep recruiting players from the local area.
A master of endurance, his will is strengthened by anxiety. ‘Andy and I always say that we don’t want to have our names above the door if the padlocks are put on,’ he says. This drives them to make the club viable.
‘I have been a director for 14 years and a fan since the early nineties,’ says Fleming. ‘Aye, it’s been a long shift.’
The chill cannot obscure his smile that threatens to be sunny. Resilience after all, is the name of the game.
