Largs Thistle 1 Auchinleck Talbot 2
Any talk of romance in Junior football is best restricted to a surreptitious whisper. The men sipping their pints in hostelries in Cumbernauld yesterday would not be open to describing the love of their life in such flighty terms. The women would be worse.
Junior fitba’ is not for the faint of heart. Broadwood was a place for serious business yesterday. It adhered to the eternal rule of heartbreak and triumph. Largs, the underdogs, bared their teeth early, taking the lead in the sixth minute. Auchinleck Talbot won with two late goals.
‘Long before Fergie time, there was Talbot time,’ a seasoned observer of the Junior game told me as the medals were presented.
It was, of course, more than a game, more than a final. The Scottish Junior Cup may now be renamed the 3 Pillars Financial Planning Scottish Communities Cup. It is still the symbol or profound substance that has survived for 140 years.
The old trophy is priceless. Its significance is beyond measure to those who pursue it. It is tied up in a bouquet of Lilies, Primroses, Roses, Violets and Thistles. It is deeply associated with the name Talbot.
Auchinleck Talbot celebrate their Junior Cup win after beating Largs Thistle 2-1
The Ayrshire club has now won it 15 times. This is 10 more than a clutch of clubs in second place. The legend that is Tommy ‘Tucker’ Sloan, Talbot manager, now has 10 winning medals, nine as a coach and one as a player with Kilwinning.
The communal appetite for success has not waned despite the regular helpings of triumph. ‘It is known as the Holy Grail in the village,’ one supporter muttered as he climbed the stairs of Broadwood. ‘This what it is all about.’
There is thus a history that has to be investigated but there is also the future to be considered. In a growling, mewling Broadwood, the present, of course, captured everyone’s attention.
Sloan skirted on the edges of the celebration but he knew what the victory meant. ‘It never fades no matter how many times you do it,’ he said. ‘I feel sorry for Largs as I know the lads well and I have been on the other side too.’
This satisfaction in victory owed much to a shared history. These are clubs with distinguished pasts. These are not recorded in dusty tomes but in the words and lives of those who strode with hope into Broadwood yesterday.
‘ I am here in a dual capacity,’ said Claire Leitch, provost of East Ayrshire. ’I am representing the council but I was born and raised in Auchinleck. I am a huge Talbot supporter.
Cameron Crooks celebrates after scoring Auchinleck Talbot’s winning goal
‘The one that brings everybody together is the Talbot. We all come together to support the Talbot. We are very proud of the team.
‘My greatest memory is being at a Talbot game, sitting on the shoulders of my grandpa, with a cup of Bovril in my hand. I was so wee I remember that the Bovril, thankfully cool, seemed to be in a huge cup.
‘Going to Talbot games was one of the best things when I was young. It was time of happiness and fun.’
It was for her yesterday, but not everybody. She was heading home to a night in with her husband, a Largs supporter.
The history of the Juniors is fascinating. Modern football at this level is consumed with pyramids, semi-professionals and SFA licences. It was once the working-man’s ballet. This was no more evident than in the Juniors.
‘The social history of football at this level has always intrigued me,‘ said David Gorman, who has spent a chunk of the last 10 years researching lower league football. ‘I call it a misspent retirement,’ said the former accountant.
His Worcester accent disguises Scottish lineage. Both parents were from Ayrshire and a love of Scottish football was passed down to him.
Junior football is a particular interest. The Scottish Cup was first contested in 1886-87, winners Fairfield incidentally. The record entry was in 1922-23 when 412 clubs set out on the trail to the final at Tynecastle, won by Musselburgh Burntonians.
The record attendance for the final was in 1951 when 77,650 watched Petershill beat Irvine Meadow at Hampden. There were 3461 at the final yesterday.
Auchlinleck fans bring a bit of colour to the Junior Cup final at Broadwood
‘The big surge came in the twenties when legislation forced the mine owners to contribute to the welfare of their employees. Money went into miners’ welfare and consequently they started football teams,’ said Gorman. ‘Alternatively, the demise of the big Junior teams in Glasgow started with the de-industrialisation of cities and the movement of people from the tenements to new schemes.’
Talbot were formed in 1909 but their glory years did not start until 1986 when they won their first Scottish. The Theesel were formed in 1889.
Gorman’s research led him from amateur football to Juniors. ‘I became interested in players who had represented Scotland after a Junior career.’ He found many of them including Jimmy Johnstone, Pat Crerand, and Stevie Chalmers.
‘Newspapers of those times are a great resource,’ he said. ‘So many names crop up.’
But he is enthralled by the culture around the Junior game. ‘This is real football, there is a magic here,’ he said.
Cameron Keays scores the equaliser for Talbot against Largs Thistle
Gordon Law and George Rose stand nearby. Both past presidents of the junior association, they have lived and breathed decades of football at this level. ‘This is the 45th cup final I have attended,’ said Law. He presented the cup to Talbot in 1986, he watched them lift No.15 yesterday. He accepted that the SFA had become ‘obsessed’ with the pyramid but insisted there was a future for the cup. ‘It means so much to people and there is no sign of that enthusiasm waning.’
The president is in the house. The future is under discussion. Bobby Macnamara, president of the Scottish Community Football Association, knows the landscape of football in the country is changing but knows too that the clubs in his association have strong foundations.
‘They are all based in their local communities, serve their local communities,’ he said. Talbot and The Theesel are prime examples. Both are moving on to the Lowland League West next season
Talbot boss Tommy Sloan shouts from the sidelines during the Junior Cup final
‘This is a big, transitional year. But the clubs all hold this cup dear to their hearts and have told the Lowland League that they want to continue to participate in it. They value the competition.’
The prize money for the cup is the best outside the SPFL. But there are other considerations. It means so much to the clubs and their fans.
‘I went to my first ever Junior cup final in 1977. Kilbirnie won 3-1. I haven’t missed that many since,’ said Macnamara. He started as a supporter at five, a committee member at Ardrossan Winton Rovers at 15, and now is president of the association.
‘I am standing today with my chains of office that are worth about 60 grand but the other week I was at Nairn and a committee member spotted me with a brush in my hand cleaning up the dressing room. There are no airs and graces at this level.’
There is, though, so much more.
