A squad of Caithness footballers have flown out to Spain to play the country’s oldest professional team – formed in the 19th century by a Highland GP.
Lybster FC will pit their wits agains Recreativo de Huelva, whose roots were laid by a Dr Alexander Mackay who was from the Caithness village.
The visiting players, officials and camp-followers are spending four days as guests of the former La Liga side at their base in Andalusia in south-west Spain.
A series of events has been lined up to commemorate the link between the areas forged by Dr Mackay after he left his native Caithness to become a medical officer for Rio Tinto Mining Company in Huelva.
Along with a colleague, he formed the club in 1889, with its first match taking place just after Christmas that year against a side made up of Brits who had docked at the port.
Dr Mackay remains revered in Huelva, with a street named after him.
Tomorrow match will be the latest annual memorial to mark the anniversary of his death on July 12.
The 30-strong party from the Caithness AFA first division side yesterday flew from Edinburgh to Faro before travelling by coach to Huelva.
Chairman Donald Henderson is delighted the historic link is finally being marked by a match between the two sides.
Mr Henderson, who runs the village store, said the match in the 20,000-seater Nuevo Columbino stadium against the Segunda B outfit represents a sizeable challenge for the village side.
He said: “They play in the third tier of Spanish football and we are going to be facing temperatures in the low/mid 30s.
“At least, we’re going out on the back of a bit of a heat wave here so the boys are a bit more acclimatised to the temperature than normal.”
Lybster warmed up for the match with a local cup win over Halkirk on Monday, winning in a penalty shoot-out after a 4-4 draw.
Their hosts’ last spell in La Liga in 2006 featured the club’s best ever win when they scored a 3-0 away win over Real Madrid, who had the Brazilian maestro Ronaldo and David Beckham in their ranks.
Their stock has since fallen with a financial crisis almost seeing them go bust earlier this year before the city council cleared a 6.7 million euro debt to pave the way for a company to buy the club for one euro.
During their spell in Spain, the Lybster contingent are due to meet Charlotte Mackay, Dr Mackay’s great great grand-daughter, who is Recre’s ambassador.
