I first visited Claggan Park on Hogmanay 1988 and….yes….it was raining! And it was cold!! Inverness Thistle had just scraped a 1-0 win over a stuffy Fort side. As my late father and I left the ground we bumped into a drookit and shivering Thistle Chairman, the late Jock McDonald, staring up at Ben Nevis muttering: “Why on earth did we let them in?”
We readily understood his sentiments on that particular day, but years later Inverurie Locos’ manager John Gardiner expressed a more measured view and stated that he felt that the long journeys to both Fort William and Wick were an integral part of the league challenge for all clubs. To deprive these far-flung places of a high level of football competition would not be right. I agree.
Wick Academy have proven Mr Gardiner right as, over recent years, they have developed into an exciting team who like to play a passing game with the ball mainly on the ground.
This season, with Callum McLean back in charge, Fort William have suddenly come alive and have strung together a good sequence of winning results. It is not easy for Fort. Apart from being relatively isolated in an area of low population, they have to compete with the appeal of shinty, which is equally if not more popular with young sportsmen. I know from contacts in the town that the football club also now suffers from that other Friday night alternative attraction – the pub.
Fort William’s recent performances, therefore, are all the more laudable and I was very disappointed that Locos’ match on Saturday was cancelled for the second time. It was shaping up to be an interesting game and, although I think Locos would still have started favourites, it would not have been the first time that it could well have been a long drive home!
The only consolation is that, hopefully, the match will be re-arranged for a fine Spring day. Fort William have not played a home match since 22nd November. Having continually to play catch-up with so many games crammed into the end of the season cannot help their cause either. There is no easy solution to their weather problems, but I think that the Highland League is right to support it’s only west coast club.