A United States-based Dons fan has pedalled the length of Britain – 50 years on from his first gruelling cycling feat – and gifted money to the Aberdeen FC Community Trust to mark the moment.
Bill Forbes cycled the 874 miles from Land’s End to John o’Groats, finishing on Saturday.
The 67-year-old American had wanted to bike from the British mainland’s most southerly to most northerly point since cycling 1,800 miles around Scotland as part of a football pilgrimage in 1973, when he was aged just 17.
On Tuesday, after finishing his fresh endurance feat in Caithness, Bill travelled back down to Aberdeen and visited Pittodrie, the home of the football team he has supported from afar since his teenage years.
Bill was greeted by AFCCT chief executive Liz Bowie and Dons legend Drew Jarvie as he was given a behind-the-scenes tour of the famous old ground and handed over £500 of his own money to the Reds’ charitable wing as a way to celebrate his cycling achievement.
Detailing his “very difficult” effort on two wheels, Bill said: “It took 12 days. About 75 miles a day.
“June 17 was the day we finished in John O’Groats.
“The last section of 105 miles took 13 hours – the other cyclists in the group were already eating dinner when I arrived!”
Bill had previously donated to the AFC Community Trust’s “Still Standing Free” campaign during the Covid pandemic, and the Land’s End to John O’Groats cycle trek offered an opportunity to do so again.
He said: “I just read about the trust’s good work during Covid and a lot other people in the group were raising money for various causes like cancer and other very good causes.
“So I thought of a charity and the first thing which came to me was the community trust.”
American Bill’s life-long love affair with Aberdeen FC
Aberdeen goal hero Jarvie, 74, being at Pittodrie to greet Bill was fitting.
Although New York-raised Bill’s family roots are in the north-east, specifically Stonehaven – with his maternal grandmother emigrating to the US in 1920 – his own love affair with Aberdeen FC began with the Green Final in 1971 and was solidified by the Dons’ summer tour across the Atlantic in 1972.
It was a tour Jarvie played in.
Bill said: “I’ve always been a huge Aberdeen supporter, since 1971.
“We didn’t have a lot of football to follow in the States back then, and my family is from the north-east, so I started following Aberdeen.
“I had the Green Final sent to me (in the US) every week.
“I grew up near New York, and Aberdeen came over and played at Randall’s Island (Stadium, Manhattan) against Barcelona of Ecuador, so I went down.
“This is 1972, in a stadium where Pele played. I went to the game and sat right next to the team as they watched the pre-game.
“I got autographs from the whole team, and my dad and I held up a team as the bus left, saying: ‘We love you Dons’.”
Jarvie scored Aberdeen’s fifth as Bill and the rest of those in attendance were treated to a 5-1 win over the Ecuadorians in New York, with Davie Robb (twice), Jim Forrest and Joe Harper also on the scoresheet.
In the years since the game, Bill has travelled to Scotland to take in several more Dons matches – estimating his trip count at “six or seven times”.
This included his earlier 1973 cycling odyssey around the country, which was covered in the pages of Evening Express and saw him plan his travel so he could watch multiple matches – including Scotland and Brazil at Hampden, and another friendly between the Reds and Aberdonian superstar Denis Law’s Manchester City in the Granite City.
Bill added: “I came for Super Cup match in ’83 against Hamburg (home leg). That was a great game.
“One I saw in ’73 I remember, because Denis Law was playing for Manchester City in a friendly, and that was exciting seeing him play.
“I’ve seen St Mirren a couple of times here as well.”
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