ONE village. Two Scottish Cups. There is warm reflection on an invigorating Saturday as the sun bears down on Blair Park.
The park is nestled in the heart of Hurlford, a village of some 4,000 souls that has an extraordinary, almost certainly unique, sporting history. In the summer of 2014, the Thistle Bar had two cups above the gantry: the Scottish Junior Cup and the Scottish Amateur Cup. Both had been won by local teams. The first by Hurlford United, the latter by Hurlford Thistle. Survivors of both victories were at Blair Park on Saturday as United face tribulation rather than triumph.
Thistle no longer exist, sharing the fate of so many amateur clubs. United battle on in the West of Scotland League Premier Division, aware that success may be to survive the storm rather than win trophies in the short term with so many better funded opponents.
Hurlford United take on Troon in the serene surroundings of Blair Park
Hurlford United supporters enjoy a half-time refreshment in Maggie's bar
Ross Robertson bundles home a late consolation for Hurlford United
Wullie Hamilton stands behind the goals. He looks unprepossessing, he does not shout to declare his presence. But his actions speak louder than any words. He and his wife, Morean, own Hamilton Tarmac. They both, too, own the Thistle Bar where the trophies once graced the gantry. Their sponsorship was vital to Thistle and now sustains United. There are stories in the clubhouse of how it is difficult to go to a sporting event in the area and find no evidence of Hamilton’s largesse.
He shrugs this off quietly. His only venture into the realms of sporting glamour is to tell the tale of how he watched that Thistle victory in the final of the 2014 Scottish Amateur Cup.
‘I am a big F1 fan,’ he says. ‘So I was in Monaco. I got cameras set up at Rugby Park and they streamed the action to me there.’
A week later he was at Rugby Park to see United defeat Glenafton 3-0 to win the Scottish Junior Cup. ‘Aye, it was back to the bar and the two cups were on display,’ he says. ‘That will never be beaten for a night, at least what I remember of it.’
At 60 years of age, he explains his motivation for his generosity: ‘I am Hurlford born and bred. This is where I come from. If you are in a fortunate position then you give back to the village.’
His importance to the village extends beyond playing fields or the gyms of various sports that he sponsors, including weightlifting.
‘We employ quite a lot of people, 90 plus. But at least 20 to 30 are from the village. I like the fact that you can get a boy from the village and 20 years on he is still with you.’
His next adventure will be to turn the village library into a community hub. ‘I always have something on the go,’ he says.
DOWN on the sidelines, Darren Henderson has much on the go. The Hurlford manager is simply a local hero. In the 2013-14 season, he joined the club from Glenafton and ended the season beating his erstwhile employers in the Scottish Cup final.
‘The first year was crazy,’ he admits. ‘But it has been a bit of a rollercoaster since then.’ Hurlford subsequently reached another Scottish final, being beaten by Auchinleck Talbot in 2018, and have been in six semis of the national competition under Hendersons reign.
But the pyramid system has been accompanied by an influx of money into what was once called the Juniors. ‘It has been a wee bit difficult the last couple of years,’ Henderson concedes. ‘This job was once purely about getting a team together to win leagues and cups. It is now about trying to survive at the top level. I have lost a few players. I don’t blame the boys. What some Junior boys are getting now I didn’t get when I was playing.’
Hurlford manager Darren Henderson in his office before kick-off
Danielle (left) and Roberta enjoy a moment of calm before the storm in the Blair Park pie stall
Maggie Minford behind the supporters bar at Blair Park, Hurlford
Henderson, who won titles with both Ayr United and Stranraer as a player, adds: ‘When a boy can go away and earn two or three hundred a week, you just have to wish them well.’
He points out that there are players in the Premier Division of the WoFL who could play in the SPFL Championship. He does not shy away from the challenge and admits he still loves the job.
‘When I came here at first I thought it could take 10 or 12 years to get a side that could win the Scottish. We won it straight away. I hope it can change as quickly again.’
His father was at that cup final. ‘He said it was the best day of his life,’ says Henderson who points out that Jay, his son who is now at Ayr United, was also at Rugby Park. ‘That kind of day stays with you,’ he says. But he is not content to bask in the past.
‘I loved a battle as a player,’ he says. ‘This year will be the biggest battle since I came here but there is still fire in my belly.’
THE passion burns on for others, too. Maggie and Billy Minford are two volunteers who are crucial to the running of the club. Maggie pokes her head out of the trailer that doubles as a bar and graciously affords a few minutes for chat.
‘Nine years ago I was asked to help out at the pie hut and here I am,’ she says. At 66, she arrives at the ground on matchday at 8.30am and leaves about 6pm. ‘I do the bar, a bit of cleaning, I have done a bit of painting and I sometimes do the strips,’ she says. ‘I do everything bar pick the team.’
Her husband, Billy, is the groundsman. ‘There were once about six of us but I am the last man standing,’ he says. He took up the job in the Scottish Cup-winning season and, at 69, he is at the park at least five days at week.
The pitch is a credit to him and his labors. ‘It gives me a lot of satisfaction,’ he says. He was an engineer and says everything he has learned about keeping a pitch has come through advice from others or through searches on the internet.
His motivation is simple. ‘I am a Hurlford man, my dad was on the committee, my brother played for Hurlford. I used to come here as a boy to watch games before I started playing myself.
Clark Nicol also first came to the ground as a boy. He is now club secretary and treasurer. ‘I was about six or seven when I first came down here,’ he says. ‘These were simpler times when young boys could simply leave their houses on a Saturday and come to the football alone where they would meet up with pals.’
Nicol moved away from the village at 17 to study and then to work in Germany. At 62, he is now retired after a career in IT and devotes much of his time to Hurlford United.
The committee is small, consisting of four men. ‘You can ask and ask and ask but you can’t force people to help you. If you persuade someone, then they only last a year because they didn’t really want to do it in the first place.’
One of his fellow committee members is John Bracki who previously had a history with Thistle. ‘Willie Hamilton asked me to help out with Thistle in 2007 and we won the Scottish Cup twice,’ he says. ‘I remember 2014 vividly. One week the village was blue and yellow for the Thistle and then it was red and white for United. You just never forget that.’
It is fresh, too, for John Garroch. He was assistant to Henderson when United won the Scottish but has now taken a step back. ‘You need new blood and they are doing a smashing job,’ he says of the coaching set-up. ‘But I remember the great days very well.’
He now does a bit of scouting for the club but is content on matchdays to help out serving teas and coffee. He is emblematic of the lifeblood of football in the village. Heroes sometimes do not score the dramatic winners but come with sponsorship, a mower, a paint brush or a kettle and a plate of sandwiches.