St Patrick’s FP 1 Shortlees 3
School’s out. This jaunty opening holds serious undertones.
The first is that St Pat’s exited the Scottish Amateur Cup at the semi-final stage to Shortlees at New Douglas Park on Friday. The second is something of a graduation. St Pat’s are joining the big boys.
They will have a side in the West of Scotland Football League next season. The amateurs are embracing professionalism.
It is a move with meaning. Yes, St Pat’s will continue to have amateur sides but the main team will play in the fourth division of the WoSFL. They will do so at their new ground in Levengrove Park, Dumbarton. It is a blow to amateur circles as St Pat’s were aristocrats of that level.
The club has won four Central League titles, eight Scottish Amateur championships, two West of Scotland titles, three West of Scotland Cups, one West of Scotland Cup and, gloriously, three Scottish Cups. There is a chance of adding to that haul this season, The club is in the West of Scotland Cup semi-final.
As fans trooped off the supporters’ bus from Dumbarton on Friday, there was a sense of excitement about the game tinged with uncertainty about the future.
St Patrick’s players shake hands with their Shortlees opponents prior to kick-off in Hamilton
This a brave, new world for St Pat’s and some followers have doubts. This apprehension is understandable but may dissipate on contact with the coming reality.
There will be a continuing amateur presence and the entrance to the pyramid is a natural move for a club with ambitions. The alumni of the school, after all, contains two players who turned out in European Cup finals: Evan Williams of Celtic and John O’Hare of Nottingham Forest.
The present team also has Dave Beasant, the penalty-saving hero of Wimbledon in the FA Cup final of 1988, as a member.
‘He joined when we had a fund-raising event in London,’ says Tommy Graham, match secretary. ‘A couple of lads did a presentation to a London Irish society and came back with a lot of support. Dave Beasant signed up.’
Graham has played for and managed the club. As a coach he led the team to one Scottish Cup and as a player took part in two victories in the premier trophy. ‘I let the present players know that,’ he says with a smile. ‘I went to school at St Pat’s so it has always been a big part of my life.’
He adds: ‘I joined the club in 1989 and we won the Scottish Cup the next year. I thought it was always going to be like that.’
Shortlees’ Jack McWilliam sends in a cross despite the best intentions of St Pat’s Liam Rowan
St Pat’s did win the Scottish Cup in 1996 and 2002. The dream of a further Scottish Cup died on Friday but St Pat’s will have a side in the Caledonian League and one in the Glasgow District League next season, so there is a chance of adding to their amateur laurels in the future.
The main focus, though, will be the West of Scotland Football League. ‘It is daunting,’ admits Graham. ‘It is a big job. We have 17 on the committee at the moment and we are looking to increase that. But we have done most things in the amateur game and we felt it was worth giving this a crack.’
Money matters are eased by a long-term lease from the council of their new ground. Players will not be paid. ‘They may get a wee bonus at the end of the season,’ says Graham. ’We have pushed hard for sponsorship and done well and will continue to do that.’
The support on Friday’s evidence looks strong. Hundreds, bedecked in green and white, came up from Dumbarton.
This cadre included John Rodgers, 81. ‘I am the honorary chairman,’ he says. ‘I took no well and the young bucks took over.’
His grin suggests he put up little resistance. He has been involved with the club for more than 60 years. ‘I first came along to see my mates play,’ he says.
A former pupil of St Pat’s, he says his main attraction to the team in the early days was that he owned a car. ‘I was never really a player — rubbish, in fact — but I had a motor and so that was useful as we would pile six players in it for away games.’
John Rodgers calls himself St Pat’s honorary chairman after ill health saw him take a back seat
His long tenure at the club has brought him satisfaction. ‘It has been a great pleasure to focus on something like this. You look forward to a Saturday. I was a gas engineer and I always made sure I was off on a Saturday,
‘Yes, there’s a lot of work in it but there is also a lot of fun. I was also secretary of the national association so I was all in at one point.’
He recalls the good days with relish. ‘The best? The first Scottish Cup is always memorable and we won it at Hampden, so that never leaves you. We beat Stanley by a single goal and then it was back to Dumbarton. The council put on a function but we seemed to troop through the town from one do to another.’
He looks to the future. ‘This will be another adventure,’ he says.
It will also be hard work. It will consume much of the time of John O’Brien during the summer. The head of football at the club, O’Brien has managed and played for the team. He was part of the teams who won the Scottish in 1999 and 2006.
‘It’s exciting but it is a lot of work,’ he admits of the preparations for the coming season. He has to find players for three sides. Some of the amateurs do not want to move into semi-professional football so there is much for him to do,
‘Sustaining three teams will be a challenge,’ he admits. ‘We are used to being successful, too, so that’s a challenge. We want to continue to win and we will want to work our way up the leagues.
St Pat’s players appeal in vain as Jay McManus bundles home Shortlees’ crucial third goal
‘We are all looking forward to it and I’m sure it will be great but we are just starting to put things in motion.
‘My hopes? Long-term, I would love to be in the Premier Division of the WoSFL. But I look at Kelty Hearts and Bonnyrigg Rose as examples of what could be. Wouldn’t it be great to leave a legacy? Wouldn’t it be great if in 2050 people here were saying look what has been achieved in the last couple of decades?
‘You have to start somewhere and we will put in the work.’
Jim Currie, long-time fan, looks at the future with interest. ‘I am not sure about it,’ he says of the transition. ‘But that is understandable and a lot of fans on the bus felt the same. We will be there to see how it all turns out.’
He was also there at Hampden in 1990. He and a couple of fellow fans got off the supporters’ bus in Oatlands for what could politely be termed a comfort break.
‘When we got back, the bus had left. We had to race to the ground. But we made it. Whenever we all meet up, that is the staple story. It has been told down the years.’
There are new tales to be told. They will unfold on a new park in a new league. The school of semi-pros awaits the former pupils.
