Rye Rovers

A Memory of Dalry.

Walking up Vennel Street, Dalry one afternoon I was approached by a pal's dad, Jimmy Morrison. Jimmy, I'd heard, was putting a junior football team together. He crossed the road towards me and said: "Fancy joining my team? We're applying to play in the Ayrshire league."

"Who else have you got?", I asked. "Nobody yet, you'd be the first", he replied.

I signed up as the first player in the new 'Rye Rovers' squad of young hopefuls.

Remarkably, in our first season we finished fourth top of the league but the following year we scooped two magnificent silver trophies and the Ayrshire League title. We played our home games down at the Public Park.

I can still recall the names of most of the lads in the team in which I played for the best part of three years. Most were school pals or lads from neighbouring towns like Kilbirnie or Glengarnock. One very talented player we had was Ian McQueen - he would have passed for a screen double of Hollywood film legend Steve McQueen. Ian could play in virtually any position and with great effect, whereas I stuck in the right half position and held the title 'bite yer legs' after my famous Leeds United namesake star (Norman Hunter)!

Ian (McQueen) had a younger brother Gordon who was desperate to join the Rye Rovers side which by then was beginning to enjoy considerable success and not too small a weekly following. We were even getting write-ups in the local newspapers - the first time (other than when my mother registered my birth) I'd got my name in print.

Anyway, team boss Jimmy Morrison turned down McQueen the younger as too inexperienced and not of the quality he wanted for the title-bound Rye Rovers. It became as famous a blunder as that of Decca, the record label that turned down The Beetles. Young McQueen got a trial for Largs Thistle and then went on to stardom joining firstly, Scottish First Division side St. Mirren and then (on a huge transfer fee) signed up for Leeds United. He went on to Manchester United (now the world's richest football club) and played for Scotland on numerous occasions on the world stage. Jimmy never forgot the day he turned him down at Rye Rovers.

Training on Wednesday evenings each week was tough as the manager had a rigorous programme to get us fit and able to take on some hard teams that made up the Ayrshire league. Jimmy licked us into shape and we became a formidable team, gaining more respect with each game we played...Dalry was proud.

We had made it to the final of the Ayrshire Cup. Our opponents were The Blacklands, a hard-as-nails outfit from the darkest reaches of Kilwinning. Such was this big occasion, we hired a bus to take us an our die-hard supporters including my latest girlfriend to the game. The neutral venue was the famous Ardeer Recreation's ground in Stevenston. In our deep orange and black strips we certainly looked a true professional side that day.

Within five minutes of the kick-off we were a goal behind and it looked like we were about to go out to this bunch of hard men from Kilwinning. Rye Rovers was widely regarded as a classy side with good technical skills on the pitch. I was told it was only my so called 'skills' as a player with the scythe-like tackling qualities for stopping the attacking forwards that put a harder edge to our reputation.

We got a quick equaliser and went in at half time all square…we were amazed at how we'd held out. The second half saw an amazing transformation - the uplifting team-talk by our manager had lifted our spirits higher than the Ayrshire seagulls soaring above this coastal venue. We fought like Trojans and were soon in the lead. Three-one up we thought it was all over and could see the cup with our name engraved upon it. Wrong, the toughies from Kilwinning fought back to equalise and things were looking grim, our defence was under constant bombardment and open warfare replaced gentlemanly footies.

With less than ten minutes left to play, my teamate and half cousin Alistair Campbell swung a precision cross over from the left wing which magically collected with my right boot . In true 'Roy of the Rovers' style, the ball almost bust the opposition's net and we were 4-3 ahead! I was a hero! We all retired to the Milton Hotel in Kilbirnie for a celebration dinner and the presentation of well-earned medals.

The best years of my youth.

My footballing career, whilst more than enjoyable, was short-lived. The lack of distance vision (I became short sighted at the early age of 16) caused consternation within the Rye Rovers team as I kept passing the ball to the opposing side by mistake. I began to rely more and more on wearing glasses and desperate to keep playing for the Rovers. One day I saw a newspaper article on the famous Glasgow Rangers winger, Willie Johnstone, which said he was also short sighted but wore contact lenses. This, I thought, was the answer to my dilemma.

Straight to our local optician in Dalry, Thomas Loudon ('see the world with a clearer vision, visit T. Loudon Optician' was the advertisement above his shop). When he explained in simple terms that the cost of the contact lenses would be 50 - I'd never seen fifty quid in my life never mind had it - I knew it was curtains on any thoughts of planning, what may have been a mildly successful career in football. I struggled on to the end of the 1966 season but was forced to hang up my boots but not before winning three medals and stashing away some great memories. It's amazing that after 44 years, I can still remember the names of every one of my team mates.

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