Scotland’s football Tartan Army unite to fundraise in memory of Aberdeen graduate

Football fans from around Scotland have come together to fundraise for Aberdeen graduate Mark Torrance.

By Cameron Roy

May 6 2023, 6:00 am

Mark Torrance was a well-known face in Scotland's football Tartan Army. Image: Ian Gillan.

Following Scotland around the world is not always a rewarding experience in the traditional sense.

Often trips are expensive, travelling exhausting and defeat more common than victory.

But Scotland’s diehard football fans, the world-famous Tartan Army, continue to follow their team near and far.

For many of the members, the bond they form over their football adventures last forever.

So when Mark Torrance died in 2015 from skin cancer at the age of 48, his loyal friends promised to do something in his memory.

Scotland’s Tartan Army at the 1998 World Cup in France with Mark Torrance (middle right). Image: Ian Gillan.

Tartan Army unites for Aberdeen friend

Now 17 of them have united from all over Scotland to fundraise for charity in his memory.

They have decided to walk a marathon from Hampden to Meadow Park to watch Irvine Meadow take on Auchinleck Talbot in celebration of his life.

The Tartan Army in Sweden in 1999 proudly flying a Granite City flag. Image: Ian Gillan

The group will be setting off at 5am to cover the 26 miles before the kick-off at 2pm.

Mr Torrance studied zoology then chemistry at Aberdeen University before working for Halliburton in the city for many years.

Travelled around Europe with friends

His journey with the Tartan Army gang started in the “glory years” of the 1990s which involved going to the 1996 Euros and the 1998 World Cup.

With the friends he made along the way he visited all the “obscure corners” of Eastern Europe as it opened up after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

During his travels, he spoke with a “weird dialect” of Ayrshire and Doric as he was originally from Ayrshire.

Mark Torrance, middle right, with his friends for Scotland versus the Faroe Islands in 2001. Image: Ian Gillan.

Throughout the long drinking sessions, Mr Torrance was renowned for his ability to sleep anywhere and was regularly found on bar floors. On one occasion he even crashed out overnight on a park bench in Helsinki – almost freezing to death.

He was a dedicated Kilmarnock fan, although he would tag along with his friends to Aberdeen games too.

‘We never forgot Mark’

Despite living with Crohn’s disease for many years, Mr Torrance never complained about his chronic condition to his friends.

His friend and memorial walk organiser Ian Gillan said: “He passed away a number of years ago, but we promised his wife we would do something.

Mark Torrance, middle, with friends at the Faroes in 2001. Image: Ian Gillan.

“We live all over the country so it has taken a while to organise it, but we never forgot Mark.

“The money will go towards the Ayrshire Hospice as that was the place that was most helpful to him.”

Wife pays tribute to Mr Torrance’s friends

In addition to Killie and Scotland, Mr Torrance had two other great loves, Iron Maiden and his family.

Mr Torrance and his wife Alison were childhood friends, knowing each other since they were nine, but it was only later in life that they came together. Daughters Eilidh and Annie completed the family.

Mark and Allie on their wedding day in 2014, three weeks after his terminal diagnosis, pictured with Eilidh and Annie. Image: Ian Gillan.

Mrs Torrance said: “It was a privilege to be his friend, his partner and then his wife. They say the mark of a man is in the friends he keeps.

“For Mark’s friends to want to do this eight years on, to honour his memory by doing this walk in his name, is an incredible testament to the impact he had.

The group has already raised £4,800 for the Ayrshire Hospice. To get involved in the fundraiser, visit the JustGiving page.