Want to fall in love with football again - read on
Sunday 28th November 2010
Author Daniel Gray is determined that a new word is added to the lexicon of words that football fans across Britain use and explained, “I want the word ‘Stramash’ to become as well used in England, Ireland and Wales as it is in Scotland as it describes the passion involved in football.”
He said, “I have been living in Scotland since 2004 and had never heard stramash being used before.
"I had been told about the commentary from Arthur Montford and how stramash and other colourful phrases would be used by him and I loved conjuring up images of what a stramash would look like.”
There was a time however, a couple of years ago when there was little chance of the Middlesbrough fan seeing an actual real-life stramash as he has had fallen out of love with football.
Gray explained what happened: “I had been a season ticket holder at Middlesbrough from 1988 for 20 years and the fun had gone.
"I had moved up to Scotland in 2004 through work and was travelling down the road every second week to watch money orientated, overpaid players and I had become weary of it. It was soulless defensive play on offer and the magic of football had gone.
"I needed to find the reason why I had fallen in love with the game in the first place.”
The search for lost love took Gray back to his childhood as he explains: “I used to go to games with my dad and I remembered listening to the scores in his car on the way back at 5 o’clock on Sports Report with James Alexander Gordon.
"I would hear all these names from Scotland like Cowdenbeath, Raith Rovers, East Fife and Arbroath and to a young lad, they sounded like magical and romantic places. Even better there were names of teams from places that did not even exist like Queen of the South and Albion Rovers and I suppose the curiosity of wondering what these places were really like never left me.”
Gray, who had has his book on the impact Scots had made on the Spanish Civil War, 'Homage to Caledonia', published 18 months ago, turned his dreams into a trip of life in the SFL at the start of season 2009/10.
“I decided to write about what I discovered and put it to my publisher,” said Gray before adding: “They were pleased to go along with it as Luath Press are great believers in documenting Scottish life away from the mainstream view.”
The end result is a part travelogue, part history, part football view of life in 2010 and of course, it is called 'Stramash'.
It is not a look at the state of the game just now in borrowed tartan glasses or a shortbread tin view of an English tourist, it is more than that with Gray saying: “It was a life affirming project for me with some amusing moments and, of course, the humiliation of spilling ketchup down a young boys face at a game.
“Football is social history to me,” said Gray before adding, “and the book reflects that as I have written about what role the towns I visited played in the recent history of Scotland.
"A lot of what I looked at took place in the 1920s and that period has worldwide significance as Scots were emigrating in large numbers at that time to the likes of Canada and America and also it was amongst the best times some of these clubs had.
“Also, when I researched 'Homage to Caledonia', I discovered that people from small towns across Scotland went to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
"I came from a viewpoint that if they were politically enough astute to do that all those years ago, what else has happened in these towns that I had not heard about. Football was the backdrop to all my visits but not the sole reason.”
In total, Gray took in 12 games and saw 20 teams from the first game of the season at Ayr all the way to the final League Saturday at Elgin with the author saying: “I had wanted to see all the SFL teams once but with the joy of travelling by train, the bad winter and life getting in the way, I had to settle for the 12 games. I also saw a couple of teams twice which was not the plan but that is how things turned out.”
The book charts Gray’s visits to Ayr, Alloa, Cowdenbeath, Coatbridge, Montrose, Kirkcaldy, Greenock, Arbroath, Dingwall, Cumbernauld, Dumfries and Elgin and the chapters dedicated to each stop provide more than just a description of match action.
In the opening chapter set around Ayr United’s opening League match in the First Division against Partick Thistle, tales of Oscar Wilde appearing at the Town Hall give way to talk of the ball skill of Hyam Dimmer and all this before Mark Roberts netted from 45 yards.
On his visit to Alloa, Gray visits where lime trees were donated to the town by Dutch sailors before seeing The Wasps beat Stirling Albion.
Cowdenbeath’s 5-0 win over Peterhead in October 2009 was a highlight, with Gray saying: “That game was a real breath of fresh air. The attacking football was fantastic and on a par with anything I had seen in recent years at the Riverside. Middlesbrough were always so scared to drop out of the Premiership and lose the money that was there that they played defensive cagey stuff even at home. Cowdenbeath just kept on going for it.”
Gray was asked what his view was on the overall standard of football he had seen and he said: “The football I saw was patchy but everyone tried to play it in what I consider to be the Scottish way. I was brought up by a Dad who told me all about Scottish players being great with the ball and that is what I saw.
“Teams that wanted to get the ball down and pass it. Inverness were the most combative and direct but were certainly not long ball merchants."
After Fife, it was Lanarkshire’s Coatbridge for an Albion Rovers goalless draw with Annan and a chance for Gray to speak to the player that links Cliftonhill and his heroes at Middlesbrough – Bernie Slaven.
Next up was Montrose where a request for a replacement referee at half-time allows Gray to discuss between the halves’ entertainment involving Jet from Gladiators.
Chapter six sees Raith Rovers losing 4-0 at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle where Gray sees Terry Butcher for the first time since shouting at him in a Sunderland and Middlesbrough game at Ayresome Park.
A trip to Greenock where the front cover picture of 'Stramash' comes from is next with a jaunt to the Oak Mall Shopping Centre weaved into tales of the club’s history and the usual attention grabbing programme notes of Cappielow Chairman Douglas Rae.
Arbroath’s first and only ever Scotland cap Ned Doig gets more than a passing nod as the home side take on Stenhousemuir before Gray heads north for Ross County against Dundee. An elderly fan tells friends in the crowd at Victoria Park that he is not going to Glasgow to see County take on Celtic in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final as it ‘will cost a fortune and they will get beat.”
April brings a trip to Cumbernauld and a Clyde versus Stirling Albion game where the move from Glasgow of people and eventually the club are discussed before Iain Russell pops up with a winner.
The season begins to end as Dumfries and Queen of the South are visited with Gray’s notes passing by without a mention of Robert Burns although Norwegian soldiers do get a few lines as well as a visiting Airdrie United side.
Gray’s expedition ends at Elgin where some of the earliest football players George Purse, James McWatty and Alexander Fumester were fined 6s 8d for playing the game on the Sabbath back in July 1630.
The home side hit five to defeat Montrose 5-2 with Gray signing off by saying: “The towns have shaped their teams. Football has mirrored society. In truth, I am no clearer a year on how so many of these places and clubs survive. Perhaps that is the point. All I know is I am bloody glad they do.”
What was learnt on the journey Gray was asked? He responded by saying, “A lot of positives and a few negatives. I had hoped to see a real sense of community across these teams and I did. Volunteers turn up and help to keep clubs going. There is no cash in the game but there is a lot of goodwill.
“I got back in touch with what made me love football in the first place. The SFL’s website has the logo – Home of Real Football - and that is what I felt.
"Grounds like Somerset Park and Cappielow are remarkable football grounds and part of our history. They reminded me of my childhood before everything became sterile and flat.”
Gray added, “The SFL clubs still have characters in players and characters about their club. That connection has been lost in the Premiership and in some teams in the SPL.
"One thing I still cannot get my head round is the lack of support for local clubs. It is very different in England but everywhere I went, there were buses going away to support the Old Firm.
“Despite visiting the towns and clubs and looking at their history, I do not understand the connection between somewhere like Coatbridge and Glasgow. Why do people not support their local side?”
Despite 'Stramash' being published and launched on Saturday, Gray has carried on with his tour of SFL grounds this season as he explained, “I have now been to 16 grounds so I am more than half way.
"I still have a number of unfulfilled ambitions, one of which is to join the away supporters on a trip from Annan to Elgin or the other way round. That would probably be another book on its own.”