THERE are those who think Scotland’s junior football teams are just an excuse for a kickabout by those who never made it to the professional grade.
Others know that the clubs, players and their fans take their football very seriously indeed, and considering that some of the clubs date back to the 19th century – Vale of Leven with its illustrious early history and Petershill spring to mind – they could show some of the modern SPFL clubs a thing or two about keeping up traditions.
The juniors also do some pretty modern stuff very well. A reader recently brought a website to my attention, and the Kicker is pleased to pass on the recommendation about one of the best, if not the best, websites in Scottish football bar none.
Called thejuniors.info, this is a website that shows the dedication of its volunteers. It has match reports, interviews with managers, players and fans, and all sorts of information about the junior game, including a twitter account with up to date scores and incidents, descriptions of clubs and grounds, and best of all – it ain’t biased.
It really should have more from Tam McManus, the former professional whose tales of his career are very different from the run-of-the-mill stuff you usually get from ex-pros.
Tam is now doing his stuff regularly on Radio Scotland but he has written a few pieces for thejuniors.info and this is an excerpt from one. “He appears on team-sheets across the country every year – often adding spice to a pre-season friendly.
“A mystery figure Jeff and the boys on Soccer Saturday will have a right old giggle about, at least a couple of times a year. But who is he? That’s what supporters ask.
“’Please, please let it be an exotic name who has played in France or Spain, who can be immediately Googled, and not an ageing Scottish journeyman who has bounced around the SPFL’.
“The kind who you know will have fans of his previous Scottish clubs slaughtering him on fan forums.
“That covers it for me as I’ve been there, done it and got the t-shirt (or training gear in this case).
“What does it feel like to be a triallist? To be out of contract at any sort of level? In short, absolutely excruciating and I’ll explain why…Rochdale. Yeovil. Grimsby. Exeter. Bournemouth. Colorado Rapids. Falkirk.
“No, it’s not an Ian Black accumulator, but a list of the clubs whose team-sheets I’ve appeared on as A Trialist. From that list I’ve had more knock-backs than Derek Riordan on an Edinburgh pub crawl.”
Methinks Tam should do some more writing, because he clearly has the knack for a phrase.
It is difficult to keep such a website going, and clearly there are a few of the features which have run out of steam – contributors, actually – but whoever is behind thejuniors.info should know that they are appreciated in many quarters and that they do a very good job.
For that matter, so do very many people in the junior game generally, something of which Scottish football should be justifiably proud.
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