31st March 2025
Since attending my first football fixture in Scotland (Celtic vs Dunfermline Athletic in April 1992), I had seen – prior to last Saturday – 25 out of 42 clubs currently playing in the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). At that rate of progress, it will take me another 22 years to complete the set. (These numbers exclude the five clubs – East Stirlingshire, Berwick Rangers, Brechin City, Cowdenbeath and Albion Rovers – that I watched before they dropped out of the SPFL).
At the weekend, I made the 70-minute train journey from Milngavie to Hamilton West – changing at Westerton – to watch Hamilton Academical FC play Raith Rovers FC in the Scottish William Hill Championship at New Douglas Park.
The football season is entering what the experts call its “business end”. At the start of play, Hamilton were in 8th position in the 10-team league, only two points above the 9th place slot (occupied by Dunfermline with a game in hand), the final occupants of which will be required to successfully negotiate play-offs with teams from the division below in order to retain their Championship status.
By contrast, Raith – in 6th place – were seemingly in mid-table no-man’s land: 6 points behind the 4th place (Partick Thistle) that would secure a position in the play-offs for promotion to the Scottish Premiership and 10 points above Hamilton. Nothing was guaranteed, however. With 3 points for a win and half-a-dozen games still to play, there remained scope for some twists before the promotion and relegation issues were finally decided.
Although I was greeted at Hamilton West by the correctly forecast weather of squally rain and gusting wind, I made a slight detour of my way to the ground by seeking out the house on Burnbank Road occupied in the 1860s by David Livingstone, the celebrated explorer and missionary, who had been born in neighbouring Blantyre. There was not much to see: a solid two-storey building with a white-washed facade directly in front of which a transit van was parked. It looked as if some renovation was taking place. There was a small plaque by the front door. I was glad to make my fleeting visit, however. I have a clear recollection of reading the Ladybird Books volume on David Livingstone in its children’s “Adventures in History” series when I was aged about 8 or 9. And how could I forget the name of the book’s author: L. du Garde Peach?
The damp, blustery conditions were sustained throughout most of the match – broken only by occasional heavier showers – the first half-hour of which was evenly fought on New Douglas Park’s artificial pitch. However, from my excellent vantage point at the top of the Main Stand, I sensed that Raith were beginning to get on top: sharper in the mid-field tackle, more co-ordinated in their passing and with the combative Finlay Pollock leading the forward line with energy and skill. The Hamilton goal was under threat when Dylan Easton cut in from the right-hand side and curled a left-footed shot just past the post.
If this served as a warning to the Hamilton defence, it was not heeded. Two minutes before half-time, Easton repeated the manoeuvre by cutting in from the right along the edge of the penalty area and, this time, striking the ball precisely inside goalkeeper Dean Lyness’s right-hand post. Cue celebration by the Raith supporters – a couple of hundred or so – who had journeyed from Kirkcaldy to take their position at the top of the stand behind the goal.
The play during most of the second half seemed to confirm that the teams’ respective standings in the league table were a fair reflection of their relative strengths. The Raith side – anchored in defence by Paul Hanlon and Callum Fordyce – took full control through further goals by Fordyce (an unchallenged header from a free kick) and Josh Mullin. The 3-0 scoreline reached in the 75th minute turned out to be the final result.
For the home supporters – all of whom were in the Main Stand in the crowd of just over 1,000 – it would have been a hard watch. I had detected some dissatisfaction in the first half when a promising attacking position was compromised by two long passes backwards that were accompanied by a general groan. Later, as the Raith goal tally mounted, most of the fans near to me seemed to deal with the impending defeat with a silent resignation and a communal shrug of the shoulders.
Over to my left, a minority were much more vocal in expressing their views about the team and, especially, its manager, John Hankin. Crudely vocal would be putting it mildly. Hankin – standing outside the manager’s dug-out and, no doubt, attempting to concentrate on the job at hand – could not have missed the vitriolic abuse that was being shouted at him from behind. It was not the first time that I had seen this type of public opprobrium directed at a football manager during a match. It is not pleasant to observe.
The sun came out for the last 10 minutes. Two of John Hankin’s substitutions – Jamie Barjonas and Kyle MacDonald – seemed to energise their side and, belatedly, Hamilton made their most threatening attacks of the match. The Raith goalkeeper, Josh Rae, was obliged to make three outstanding saves in quick succession, two of them from goal attempts – a powerful shot and a header – by MacDonald. The referee – Dan McFarlane, who had a sound match – blew the final whistle to a chorus of booing. My neighbour – an elderly Accies supporter, who had been silent throughout the proceedings – vocalised the very thought that I was having: “It could have been 3-3”.
At the close of play, the relative positions in the Championship league table were left largely unchanged. A victory for Partick Thistle at Greenock Morton meant that they remained in 4th place, six points above Raith Rovers. Likewise, Dunfermline’s defeat at Ayr United left them two points behind Hamilton, though still with a game in hand. Hamilton’s next match is on Saturday – away to Dunfermline.
As for my personal score, that’s now 27 football clubs I’ve now seen in action of those currently in the SPFL. The estimated time until the project completion has been reduced to 18 years.
Back in Milngavie on Saturday evening, walking home down a suburban street, I came across a young couple attired in water-proof clothing and hi-viz jackets. They were carrying buckets. We said “Good evening” to each other. I knew (from a recent local magazine report) that they were part of a volunteer group seeking to safeguard the passage of the toads that migrate at this time of year across that particular road from some woodland towards a nearby loch
So that was my day: recollecting a book I had read at primary school; watching professional football in Lanarkshire; observing the attempts to protect some local wildlife. Life can be nicely varied sometimes.
Postscript
Hamilton Academical FC were effectively relegated from the Championship 5 days after the Raith Rovers match when they received a 15-point deduction (and a fine) after the club was found to have breached multiple Scottish Professional Football League rules by an independent SPFL disciplinary tribunal. The breaches included the failure to notify the SPFL in respect of the default of wage payments to 6 players and the provision of incorrect information regarding the stadium ownership. The club’s subsequent appeal to the Scottish Football Association was rejected.
Separately, it was announced that Hamilton had rejected a plan to continue leasing New Douglas Park and would relocate to the Broadwood ground in Cumbernauld next season as plans were taken forward to build a new stadium. Meanwhile, the Glasgow-based Clyde FC – the former tenants at Broadwood – would continue to play at New Douglas Park.
Raith Rovers finished 5th in the final Championship table, just missing out on a play-off place.
An Ordinary Spectator 