Camelon Juniors 4 Lochore Welfare 0
There is a feast of tales at Camelon. They must be sampled before the meat and bones of how and why the club is targeting SPFL football is investigated.
There is serious purpose in the club and there are curiosities surrounding it. As hospitality staff hand out ice cream cones to various punters, one takes a wee survey of the Moore Equipment Hire Stadium (the new regime at the club are energetic in attracting sponsorship) and digs up a few stories.
There is the former player who plied his trade on three different continents. There is the invitation to sample a Buckfast pie, politely declined. There is the volunteer whose duties include fetching the ball from the nearby canal. He once did with the aid of a canoe but now simply dives in as his vessel was vandalised. And there is the fan who has erected a stand in his back garden that looks directly on to the park.
The most immediate story, of course, is Camelon’s rise to the East of Scotland Premier Division. All the volunteers wear T-shirts proclaiming this achievement. The league is not quite won but this facile victory over Lochore leaves the Mariners one win short of the title.
It has all come about with hard work allied to a strategy. Finance is provided by the executive board. Director of football Steve Allison explains: ‘I came in two years ago. I had been successful with Pennies Amateurs and Syngenta and Camelon came for me. I had conditions, though.
James Findlay watches the action from a purpose-built garden stand which overlooks the pitch
Camelon have been promoted to the East of Scotland Premier Division and have big ambitions
Director of football Steve Allison with his mum Margaret and her granddaughter Errin
‘We had to have an executive board that made decisions on structure and finance. This facility was in disarray, it was tired. It needed a bit of money.’
The executive board agreed that, as individuals, they would put in a sum monthly for five years. The changes were immediate. Allison sits in a shipping container that has been refurbished to provide a hospitality area. The work was done by his son, Steven, a joiner, and volunteers. Allison senior was one of them.
As punters enjoy a drink and sandwiches, the identity of the hospitality staff is revealed as a family concern. Allison’s mother, Margaret, is the experienced and friendly host. She is joined by her granddaughter, Errin, who takes the half-time order for pies. The Buckfast option has gone viral, she says.
The director of football surveys it all. Progress has been quick but ambitions are far from satisfied.
‘We have a five-year plan and a 10-year plan. The timeframe may change because of changes to the Lowland League. But our final aim is league football. This is dream stuff but I believe it can happen.’
Allison has two businesses away from football. He owns a pool hall and has the lease at the Plough Hotel just up the road from the ground.
Camelon celebrate another goal in what turned out to be a routine win over Lochore Welfare
The menu at Angie’s Cafe offers a few interesting alternatives to the match-day staples
And here, in all its glory, is the famous Camelon ‘Buckfast pie’, an acquired taste for some
‘It’s 24/7 at the moment,’ he admits. ‘But this is my passion. I love football. We appointed a new manager in Tam Scobbie five weeks ago. That was a big decision but it was the right decision.’
Scobbie, 37, was at Berwick Rangers as manager but the opportunity at Camelon was too good to turn down for the local boy made good. He had a fine career, most notably as part of the Scottish Cup-winning squad at St Johnstone in 2014 and before that at Falkirk, where he played in the losing Scottish Cup final team of 2009.
‘My greatest day in football was my debut with Falkirk,’ he says. ‘My granda, who wasn’t too great at the time, got along to that. So that was memorable.’ Of his switch to Camelon from Berwick, Scobbie says: ‘It’s a progressive club. It matches my ambitions. I spoke to Steve and the board and they had a clear idea of where they wanted to go. This aligned with my thoughts. It felt right.’
Results have been good. Even a defeat in the Scottish Junior Cup to Tranent of the Lowland League was encouraging. The Mariners lost on penalties but Scobbie points out: ‘The performance was excellent and we had four players out cup-tied.’
Scobbie played with elite players in Patrick Cregg, Kasper Schmeichel and Anthony Stokes at Falkirk and with the cup heroes of St Johnstone. How is coaching players at a lower level?
New Camelon manager Tam Scobbie is a Falkirk boy and played for the Bairns for six years
‘There is no frustration,’ he says. ‘I made a conscious decision not to hold players to the standards I was at. I was very demanding as a player, screaming and shouting. As a coach, I take a step back, trying to be more encouraging, wanting to improve a player. There has to be foundations, though. The attitude must be at a really high standard.’
The attitude of Steven Thicot was always positive. ‘I am a man of the world,’ he says quietly on the terracing.
Born in a suburb of Paris 38 years ago to parents from Guadeloupe, Thicot patiently lists his clubs: Nantes, Sedan, both in France; Hibernian; Naval, Tondela and Belenenses in Portugal; Dinamo Bucharest in Romania; Larissa in Greece; Melaka in Malaysia; Charlotte Independence in the USL; Kauno Zalgiris in Lithuania; and finally Clyde. Oh, and one last season at Camelon.
‘I wanted to see the group,’ he says of his visit to the ground. ‘This was the last team I played for. I enjoyed last season here. A lot of my team-mates are on the pitch and I am delighted for them and everyone in the community. Promotion is a big step.
‘I live 10 minutes away from here,’ he adds. ‘I am a delivery driver now and I have a few other things on the go. My wife is from here and my two children were born in Scotland so this is where we want to set up home.’
Former Hibs and Nantes defender Steven Thicot played for Camelon until retiring last year
Home is also the theme for many of the volunteers. Stephen MacGowan tends the club shop, takes photographs for the club and generally welcomes visitors. ‘You work with good people. It’s a happy place,’ he says.
Alan Horne’s history with the club goes back to just after Camelon won the Scottish Junior Cup in 1995. ‘My dad, though, was here long before that,’ he says. ‘He and my uncle were in the resident band in the social club in the early sixties, playing hits by the Beatles and the Searchers.’
He welcomed the new regime. ‘We had a bit of downturn and the new guys have sparked the club,’ he says, before taking to the field as linesman.
A more recent recruit is Robert Sim, 80 next month, who is the club chaplain. ‘I came in a few months ago and I just see my duty as being someone the players can talk to in complete confidence,’ he says.
This leaves the two more unusual supporters. Craig Stirling is the Mariner who rescues the ball from the nearby canal. ‘I do a lot of volunteering for community projects and I was once given two kayaks,’ he says. ‘These were great and I just paddled about to retrieve the balls. But one day I saw I was sinking and realised that vandals had slashed the bottom of the kayak.’
Mariners diehard Craig Stirling used to fetch balls from the canal in a kayak. Now he swims
Stirling has a more straightforward job on this occasion as he fetches the ball from the road
He now takes the plunge. ‘I am a good swimmer,’ he says succinctly.
The West End of the ground has an unusual feature. There sits a stand in the garden of James Findlay. ‘I built this with my neighbour, Graham Morton, and there is a dispute over whether it was seven years ago or 10 years ago. So I will say eight,’ he says of the structure that includes Mariners’ paraphernalia, lights and a heater. ‘For warming up pies,’ he says.
‘I watch every home game,’ he says. ‘I once watched from a ladder but we built this out of waste wood.’
He is accompanied on Saturday by his dog, Benji. ‘Graham is on holiday and the laddie is away doing something. But the team is doing well. It’s a good watch.’
He may one day be watching SPFL games from his little garden stand. It may be the combination of a searing sun and the Buckfast pies but there is a feeling on the terraces that it could just happen.
