I have been asked to contribute to the Wick Academy match programme versus Lochee United soon, and this is the first of two tales regarding my Wickense viewings over the years in the famous old Scottish Cup. The second might have to wait until next season, depending on how they get on, but hopefully they’ll put in more of a shift than the 0-8 home loss to Banks o’Dee at the weekend. (Wick won the tie 5-1, and part 2 of my recollections has been added to the end of this tale).
Living in Edinburgh, and being a full time carer for my elderly mother for these last five years now, getting to see Wick, or indeed any team that is more than an hour and a half from home is a challenge. When my sister covers for me, with those weekend escapes or longer, I tend to find myself searching for flights, as despite my restrictions, I have written more than eighty articles for Football Weekends magazine. These are mostly on my specialist subject of Italy, but in the summer of 2018 I did manage to write about Wick and Harmsworth Park, as part of a proper North East tale featuring Golspie and Brora too. Wick also featured late last year in a tale about Brechin, Fraserburgh and Rothes, who were playing Academy.
My surname Rendall will doubtlessly immediately flag up Orcadian connections for those from the north, with both sides of the family from these islands, and more especially my mother’s family being Stroma folk. I still have relatives living in the Wick area. It only seemed natural that if I was going to pin my tail to a Highland League outfit, the Scorries were the perfect choice.
I would always keep an eye on the results from afar, not so easy back in the day, but one autumnal day in October 2009, whilst driving to Ayr to watch Inverness CT, I realised that Wick were playing just a little further down the coast in Girvan, and I decided to abort plan A and finally see the Academy play. It should also be noted that I am a huge Racing Club fan from Argentina, and to this day, I have still seen them more times than Wick, but the gap is closing, 13 to 10 now! They are known as La Academia, and this was doubtlessly another reason for being drawn to the club. That said, my Italian side is Ancona, who are more Brora in colours, and their fierce rivals Ascoli play in the same colours as Wick, so it took a little time to get used to the idea of black and white stripe cheering!
It was blowing a hoolie that day in Girvan, with the wind sweeping right down the pitch, giving one team an advantage, or perhaps a disadvantage as is the case sometimes, but on this occasion both clubs used it well. Girvan led at the break 1-0 and a morsel of fretting was detected in the long travelled, healthy away support. However, the game completely turned on its head and Wick eased away to a 4-1 win. At some point once relaxation had crept in, an astute Scorrie fan noted a lack of stewards and before you knew it, a bottle of Old Pulteney was plucked from a sports bag and doing the rounds!
In 2012 the Scorries were playing The Spartans just along the road from me, and I had the pleasure of walking to the game. In those days ahead of the avalanche of Non League sides that now compete, The Spartans had a fearsome reputation for claiming scalps in the Scottish Cup, but on this particular September day, Wick were imperious and dominated proceedings largely, winning 2-0. The ease of watching the game from behind the glass in the social club became a second half thing, with a number of the Scorries viewing the action from the warmth with a pint in hand, occasionally banging on the windows in delight as Wick caused an “upset” in many people’s eyes. It should be noted that no fans have ever been allowed to watch from inside the social club since!
That win took us to England for the next round, where Berwick Rangers lay in wait, as did the Scottish Cup, down south of the border for a visit. It would be the first of two occasions that I would get my hands on the old trophy, well okay, we know it’s a replica that does the circuit, but still, a nice moment, especially with a Wick scarf round my neck! Academy competed well, the game was tight, and a replay seemed inevitable, but during the second half, as the Wick directors came amongst the Scorrie fans to thank them for their support, I found myself regaling a tale that might just have put the words “did I curse it” out there?!
When ICT needed to ground share with Aberdeen for half a season, I was just driving through the city limits when Richard Gordon brought news on the radio that the game versus Dundee United was cancelled that day as it seemed the responsibility of sweeping the snow off the Pittodrie pitch had fallen between stones! I had a look at the fixture card nearby, and as luck would have it, Inverurie Loco Works were playing Keith in the Scottish Cup First Round. I headed inland, and was even more surprised to see an ex- work colleague and ex-team mate at FC Pomona. (An Edinburgh amateur side, now long defunct, named after Orkney in honour of our trips there). Anyway, for the first and only time in my life I was chatting with the referee during his warm up. He was a long way from home, and I joked about the prospect of a replay. He half suggested it wouldn’t be, and sure enough, it wasn’t. The game was tied going into the last minute, where a dubious penalty to Inverurie was awarded and duly dispatched. The majority got to go home happy, with no need for an Edinburgh based ref to journey to Keith the following weekend either, but it was a sore one from a brave Keith effort.
This was the basis of my chat at Shielfield to the director, when soon after, close to the end, it all happened again. A potentially ridiculously soft penalty award to the home team, and we were all heading north, some a heck of a lot further north than me, with the feeling we had been done. That said, Wick missed an early penalty that might have put a different slant on the outcome. I believe latterly the same referee didn’t necessarily do the replay, but all water under the bridge as it’s settled on the day now. All good and well as long as the referee doesn’t want extra-time before his journey home, watch out!
The footnote to the Spartans and Berwick games is, two years later I was at two cup ties between the sides for a place in the Scottish Cup Quarter-Final stage! Spartans had just knocked out Morton, but found Berwick a tougher nut to crack, and they eventually went down in front an extraordinarily healthy away support 1-0 to Berwick in the replay, but this time it wasn’t a spot kick.
Let’s call this article part one of my Wick Scottish Cup recollections as I have already exceeded the number of words I was asked to write and we haven’t touched upon Rosewell, Linlithgow, Borrowstounness etc, something to save for the next round. Good luck this afternoon, “away the Scorries”. I will be thinking about the action at Harmsworth Park as I head along the road to watch Fraserburgh at the CSS in Edinburgh.
Part 2
Wick got by Lochee easier than I thought with a fantastic 5-1 romp. They now host Benburb and my second part of the recollections will be published in that edition of the Scorries programme, and this is my contribution.
Following the magnificent win against Lochee United in the last round, a Southern Scorrie brings you my recollections and reflections on the few other Scottish Cup ties I have managed to get too, or not as the case maybe in more recent times when Wick have been in and around the Central belt.
Wick have had a few jousts with Whitehill Welfare in the Scottish Cup, and curiously, I haven’t been to either of the games played at Ferguson Park in Rosewell, which is just outside Edinburgh, quite close to Rosslyn Chapel. I did try in late September 2010, and I was driving out to the game when a friend alerted me to the fact it was off due to a waterlogged pitch (no bus breakdown this time!). He even suggested a relatively nearby alternative, and so I spun around and headed for Prestonpans, where Preston Athletic were hosting Annan Athletic. It was a poor substitute for a game, I don’t enjoy games where I have absolutely no interest in either team, even more especially when it ended 0-0, but that was quite a result for Preston. Curiously, the Whitehill game was the only postponement that day, it was so unlucky, but it is a bog of a pitch and very susceptible to the vagaries of the sky. Goodness knows how they will get on hosting East of Scotland First Division games (Whitehill have fallen into the 7th tier now), as well as Lowland League action this season (with Hearts B goundsharing- one of three controversial second sides that clog up that league with glorified friendlies essentially) when winter really kicks in. I have no idea how far down the road Wick got before they were told it was off, they might have made it all the way down the road.The tie was re-scheduled for the following weekend, and 999 times out of a thousand I would have been there, but it was a special family celebration that day, so I couldn’t make it, and a 4-3 classic cup tie was missed, with Wick coming out on the wrong end of a seven goal thriller, sadly.
There are a few names in the Scottish Cup hat from the non league world that always get people muttering about potential shock troops, and in West Lothian, you’ll find two of those clubs, Linlithgow Rose and Bo’ness United. I have seen both Fraserburgh and Elgin put to the sword, while Buckie escaped with a rare win. Wick perhaps rather uniquely have played them both, and in losing the two matches, it keeps up the notion that Highland black and white stripes don’t do well in West Lothian.
In 2015, having negotiated a revenge replay with Whitehill at Rosewell (I must have been away), then Nairn County, Linlithgow headed to Harmsworth Park in the Third Round. For the third round on the trot, a Wick were involved in a 2-2, draw, this time courtesy of a late, late Scorrie equaliser, that sent the two teams down the road to Prestonfield, Linlithgow’s well appointed ground. Just days before Christmas, an extremely healthy crowd were on hand to watch a rousing cup replay, but a game not without controversy. Wick took the lead very early on, but were immediately pushed back by a home side roared on by the majority of the big crowd. They did equalise, but the pivotal moment, part 1 came with a straight red card for Wick at the midway point of the half. It seemed harsh, but then I would say that, and I have never seen the incident again! Rose took full advantage of the disarray and went up the tunnel 3-1 to the good at the break.
Despite the man less, Wick started the second half on the front foot, and might, with a little more composure have brought the game closer, but while the cavalier style was commendable, Linlithgow picked them off and it was 4. Frustration boiled over, and a card-happy ref was all too willing to punish any infringement from Wick, and a second yellow led to us being down to nine. They scored a fifth and we all trudged out feeling what might have been. It had been a magnificent cup run, and for sure 22nd December in the modern era is the latest the Scorries have still been involved in the competition. Linlithgow would go on to beat Forfar in the next round, before coming unstuck in the 5th round 4-2 up in Dingwall versus Ross County. They would have other magnificent cup runs, and one memorable occasion I was privileged to get a ticket for, was when they hosted near rivals Falkirk, a game shown live on TV, but unfortunately they froze on the night and were easily beaten.
The last Cup programme covered brilliantly the matches with Bo’ness, there isn’t much to add. Newtown Park, Borrowstouness is a curious place, presumably the stand burned down at one time, and it’s never been replaced. In the first of the two games there, just around the time of the unfortunate incident that led to the abandonment, there was just a whiff of a comeback from Wick, but alas we will never know. They waited a good while before calling the game off, and ironically as I drove out of the town, the ambulance whizzed by. The amicable atmosphere turned a little blue as I filed out and walked to my car sporting my Wick scarf. It’s both bizarre and ridiculous how one unfortunate incident can turn an atmosphere to one of hostility, it was a sad end to a good cup tie. This was only my second abandoned game in nearly 50 years of watching the beautiful game, the first being an ICT cup tie in Kilmarnock, when Dougie MacDonald called time on 27 minutes of treacherous play on a very obviously frozen pitch. It later transpired Killie were in the habit of turning the undersoil heating off so as not to annoy the neighbours?!! The nice wee conclusion to that anecdote was, Dougie came into my Mortgage Shop soon after and introduced himself, but as I said to him then, “I know exactly who you are”, ICT fans don’t forget that particular episode!
The re-run at Bo’ness wasn’t really a proper Wick effort, the midweek journeying and the end of the abandoned game had left a quietly smouldering local populace. It felt best to let them win and get out of there.
One curious last anecdote regarding Bo’ness, I was there shortly after the pandemic allowed fans to come back, and I merely took a selfie of myself in a Chacarita Juniors shirt (Argentine club), whose colours were vaguely the same as the visitors that day Dalbeattie Star. I posted it on Instagram, and before too long the numbers liking it had started to go mad. Someone from Chacarita had tagged it to the club website or something like that. I never did find out how it all happened, but before I knew it, and online Futbol website in Argentina wanted an interview, and that then led to Clarin, the main Argentine newspaper interviewing me, with “Chaca photo” appearing on the front cover of the Zona Norte edition of the paper (they do regional variations), as well as a half page feature. That then led to a TV company asking me to go on a show via Skype, but enough was enough, the narrative had been hijacked, and even my words had been twisted by the newspaper to fit the idea of a Chacarita fan in Scotland, and that isn’t the case at all. I am a Racing Club man, and my chums in Argentina were beginning to lose their humour to this bizarre tale, and thankfully it all stopped.
Good luck this afternoon versus Benburb. With no tasty ties involving Highland sides in the Central Belt today, and after my Broomhill v Brora and CSS v Fraserburgh double in the last round, I am trading in Scottish football for most likely Foggia v Fidelis Andria this afternoon on duty for Football Weekends magazine!
Football Adventures with James Rendall 