‘An excellent idea’: Nucleus session kicks off Caithness football reminiscence group
The first steps have been taken towards forming a reminiscence group devoted to Caithness football.
Staff at Nucleus got the ball rolling by hosting an informal get-together this week, with football photos and documents from the Caithness Archive collections on display along with old trophies.
Twenty-four people attended the event on Wednesday evening, spending more than two hours sharing memories about local football and in many cases putting names to faces in team line-ups from years gone by.
It is hoped there will be enough interest to organise monthly or quarterly reminiscence meetings at the archive centre in Wick.
Former player and referee Malcolm Clasper said: “This is something that’s long overdue because there’s a lot of history that is not recorded, and getting the older players together lends an understanding of how the game was played by others.”
In his playing days Malcolm turned out Thurso Swifts, Dounreay Workshops, Dounreay Athletic, Wick Academy and Bunillidh Thistle as well as Ross County. He served as a referee for 23 years, from 1983 to 2006, and is now honorary president of Caithness United.
Malcolm recalled playing against Alan Turner, the former Caithness United chairman, as far back as 1963 in a Thurso High School versus Wick High School encounter.
Richard “Tichie” Hughes was a key player for Wick Academy when they joined the Highland League in 1994 and went on to manage the team. He shared the Highland League manager of the year award in 2009 with co-boss Ian Munro, who was also at the Nucleus event.
Richard hopes there can be regular reminiscence sessions.
“It’s an excellent idea – I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll have it again.
“It’s good for mixing too, and meeting people that you used to play football with.
“My wife is always saying, ‘I can’t go anywhere with you without meeting somebody you played against, or we’ve got to go and visit a football ground!’”
Donald Eyers, who played for Lybster, Brora Rangers and Wick Academy, brought along some of his own football memorabilia.
“I think it’s a great idea, particularly for guys of my age [72], and some of the younger ones are interested too,” he said.
Donald showed a medal from 1971 when he was part of a Caithness youth club select that won the Scottish Association of Youth Clubs’ national cup competition.
“We played Fife in the final, I think it was, and it was at Clach’s ground in Inverness,” he said. “We had a good team.”
Caithness archivist Jamie McCaffrey explained: “I think getting people together to reminisce can be great, just as a social situation. But also you find that the photographs and things like that really get the memories going and the stories come out.
“It’s really giving people a forum to do that.
“We do something similar with a Dounreay reminiscence group which is for ex-Dounreay workers. We run that six months a year.
“It’s good for the people who attend but it’s also very beneficial for the archive because we’re gathering information for future generations.”
Ken Wood, a long-serving secretary of Caithness Amateur Football Association (CAFA) who was also part of the Highland executive of the Scottish Amateur Football Association, praised the Nucleus team for facilitating the meeting.
“What a pleasure to come and see so many things from around the time I was first involved, and obviously going back much further – plus the opportunity to meet so many people who were involved in football from the 1970s,” Ken said.
“It’s a great asset to the town, having a set-up like this, and then to be able to organise events like that is a bonus.”
Anyone wishing to find out more can email north.highlandarchive@highlifehighland.com
Archive assistant Valerie Amin pointed out that over the past year or so a few football-themed collections have been deposited at Nucleus.
These include Wick Academy papers from 1994-2007, match reports, programmes and photographs dating from the team’s entry to the Highland League. The family of Dom Mulraine gifted his collection of photographs of Caithness football teams.
Former CAFA secretary Angus Mackay deposited his research project on the history of Wick Football Association after carrying out research in the archive. He also contributed an updated version of Norman Glass’s History of Caithness Football: The First Eighty Years, 1886-1966, with many new and colourised photographs.
The Sinclair Mackay collection, deposited in 2019, contains minute books, accounts and general correspondence from several local football organisations.