Aberdeenshire and District Football Association (ADFA) president Finlay Noble is looking forward to the 125th Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup final.
Banks o’ Dee face Formartine United in Friday’s anniversary showpiece at Inverurie’s Harlaw Park.
The competition is steeped in history with the first Shire Cup kicking off on December 3 1887.
Meanwhile, the trophy Banks o’ Dee and Formartine are playing for is the second oldest piece of silverware in world football to still be presented to the winners after the Scottish Cup trophy.
Association president Noble said: “The competition has a huge amount of history and the trophy itself is historic.
“When you see the trophy there’s not any human beings alive who would be able to make that now.
“It’s an amazing piece of work with all the little intricacies, it’s a stunning trophy.
“Everyone that is in the competition takes is seriously and the Aberdeenshire FA is the most active association in Scotland.
“We’ve got three competitions and every trophy is over 100 years old, the youngest trophy is 121 years old.
“All three competitions are treated seriously by everyone that enters it.”
New members adding to association
The ADFA is a progressive association and has been keen to encourage clubs to join.
Last season Dyce were granted membership, while this term fellow Junior sides Hermes and Stonehaven have joined.
Noble added: “Hopefully we get a good final, it’s a Junior club versus a Highland League club and that says a lot about the association.
“We’ve got senior clubs, including one in the top league in the country (Aberdeen), Highland League clubs and Junior clubs.
“Folk are telling me that football is going backwards as far as participation goes, but we are definitely bucking the trend.
“We’ve got Dyce, Stonehaven and Hermes who have come into it recently, there’s more clubs who want to join.
“That’s great for our area and shows how special the Aberdeenshire FA is to have that level of engagement.
“There’s a lot of hard work goes into it, particularly from Willie Young (the secretary) to get games played.
“Hopefully a decent crowd turn up for it. Last season’s tournament was disrupted by Covid.
“We wanted to get it played and didn’t want to break up the years of history and with the help of the clubs we got that done.
“Here we are in the 125th final and I hope it’s a great final.”