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West Park United 1 Benburb 2 By Hugh MacDonald In the olden days of Junior football, the purpose of the wire mesh surrounding the pitch at Huntershill Sports Hub would have been to protect supporters from belligerent centre halves, marauding full backs and chastised No 9s bent on revenge. Now, in modern football, the Juniors have transitioned into semi-professionals, their anger issues have largely been addressed and the talk is of low blocks rather than criminal blocks. The romance of the cup, though, has survived this revolution. It may have been hard to discern as the West of Scotland second-round tie was played out in the sort of conditions that persuaded Napoleon to retreat from Moscow. The wind howled through the mesh, stripping the enamel from my last remaining tooth. My reward was a watery sun, a splendid rainbow and a decent game of football. There were also warming stories, not least the revelation that Benburb’s trip to Wick in the Scottish Cup the previous weekend was helped by Fergie time. The former Manchester United manager and eternal Scottish football legend paid for the Chooky Hens to stay overnight at a hotel and have a proper pre-match meal. ‘He is simply the best person I have met in football,’ says Frank Lovering, a stalwart at Benburb, who has been at the club for 40 years and its driving force for 20. ‘He’s a Govan man and he has never forgotten those roots. He just called and asked how we were getting to Wick. We told him it was a seven-hour bus journey there. He told us to book a hotel on him. ‘After the match, I received a call with a No ID displaying. It was Fergie wanting to know the result.’ Benburb prevailed on penalties in the Scottish Cup and will face Montrose in the third round. The West of Scotland cup tie in Bishopbriggs on Saturday, meanwhile, testified to the reality that overnight stays and pre-match meals are far from the norm at this level. Yet football continues to defy all that is thrown at it. West Park are a wonderful microcosm of this splendidly durable culture. They only became semi-professional four years ago after seeing young players abandon the club for opportunities elsewhere as they became 18 or 19. They now have 526 players and 132 coaches - and one driving force in the shape of Andy Burns, who became secretary and president in 2010. ‘My predecessor handed me a bit of paper and said: “Here’s everything you have to know”. So I just got on with it.’ The Huntershill site is shared with Rossvale and the halls ring to the clatter of boots as players of all age groups wander in and out. ‘We turned over £200,000 last year so it’s a big operation,’ says Burns, who works in the construction business. The Scottish FA have decided to abandon elite schools to bring through players, and the coaches around Huntershill have a variety of opinions on what is going wrong in youth development. There is consensus, though, on certain core failings. Kids tend to only play football at organised sessions, the game can be too expensive for some and professional scouts can ignore certain clubs. Burns says: ‘I’m not here to make them better football players at five or six. That’ll happen when they are 14, 15, or 16, if they’re following a pathway. But we have four-year-olds coming here, so it has to be fun. They have to want to come back.’ He acknowledges that the game can be too expensive for some. The initial fee of £15 is a bargain because children immediately get kit worth £40. Even that can be too much for some. West Park, though, quietly help out when the club spot someone in need. Burns glances out towards the road running past the sports hub. ‘On this side it is Bishopbriggs and on the other it is Springburn. We honestly have had a dad dropping his kid off in a Bugatti and we regularly have boys cycling up from Roystonhill. So that is the contrast, but we do our best and help when we can.’ He first arrived at West Park as a parent. ‘I’m a football man,’ says Burns succinctly. He had played amateur and coached teams, His present post is an extraordinary commitment, though. He is helped by his wife, Caroline, who makes tea and coffee, takes the admission money and generally addresses the myriad problems of match day. Burns uses the operational skills that he has practised for decades in his work in construction. ‘I can clear most of the paperwork pretty quickly,’ he adds. Matchdays are a blur. ‘I get a long lie. I am up at eight and out the door about 45 minutes later. I usually get up the back of six on workdays.’ He has to be at under-age matches that start at 9.30. Then he heads to Huntershill where he brings out the biscuits, sets up the signs welcoming visitors and pointing the route to the pitch. ‘I was a bit busier than normal today because I left work late last night and could not pick up the strips from the laundry. So that had to be done this morning.’ It is almost a relief when kick-off comes and the match can attract his focus. ‘We’re a charity and we survive on subscriptions and whatever bits and bobs we can attract in funding or sponsorship,’ he says. Approaching 60, he has one personal ambition. ‘My grandson is three and I would love to stick around to see him play here.’ There is a routine answer when people like Burns are asked why they do it. It always concerns a love for the game. But he elaborates: ‘I was in the BB (The Boys’ Brigade) when I was younger, and there were people there who gave up their time and helped me. My attitude is a legacy from that. I learned from them to volunteer, put a bit back in. ‘I don’t claim to be the best coach - and most of the players I have coached will agree with that – but I am passionate about all of this. So I do it.’ Lovering holds the same principle. ‘It’s tough at the moment,’ he says, before reflecting that it always has been. He can smile, though, at the intervention of Sir Alex. ‘I just shake my head when I think about what he does for us. He was down visiting us the other week and it was a great morning with football folk.’ Sir Alex was part of a Benburb under-age squad that was disbanded, leaving the Govan boy to go find a football future elsewhere. He did not do too badly. The winds of change batter Scottish football but Fergie’s instinctive generosity and the hardy resilience and drive of such as Lovering and Burns give hope that it will survive any storm
