Down Memory Lane – The Globe Trotting ‘Loons’
For those who made the trip and are still surviving to tell the tale and thankfully there are many in that category, it seems almost unbelievable that it is 40 years ago this weekend that a party of seventy Forfar Athletic officials, players, some accompanied by their wives and partners and supporters headed off from Prestwick Airport on a two week trip to Ontario in Canada.
Many Scottish senior sides to this day have not ventured out with the United Kingdom to play a fixture, but for the ‘Loons’ who only some five years before had been ridiculed quite rightly as the worst team in the country, this was in fact to be the first of two trips in the eighties across the Atlantic. Their base on both occasions the university city of Guelph population 71,000 at the time, some 40 miles from Toronto. Heady days indeed!
The connection, of course, was the then Chairman Sam Smith’s son Graham who was heavily involved with the Guelph Oaks soccer teams, part of a very progressive multi-sport club in the Ontario province.
The Oaks had in fact visited Scotland and Station Park only twelve months before.
A very pleasant flight was undertaken on a Canadian Pacific DC8 to Toronto on Sunday, May 18th 1980, where the party was met on arrival by manager Archie Knox who had spent the previous ten days running coaching schools on behalf of our hosts.
Glorious weather greeted the party on the Monday morning and this was to remain the case for most of the trip.
Monday saw many explore the local area, some headed for the golf course while the players had a late afternoon training session to look forward to. This all before a welcome social in the evening at the quaintly named 2/4 Club Eramossa, which was hosted by the ebullient and very welcoming president and founder of the host club Bob Oaks himself.
Tuesday saw all head for that must-see location when in Ontario, Niagara Falls a truly amazing spectacle, the thrill of visiting never diminishing. Niagara is also as many will know at the centre of the Canadian Wine Industry and an afternoon visit to Jordan Wines on the way back to Guelph was the ‘icing on the cake.’
Wednesday was match day and a visit to the cosmopolitan city of London for a match against the local league champions of the time the London German/Canadian Select. A crowd of 1,200 turned out for the game on the Wednesday evening with many Scottish exiles there to support the ‘Loons’ a few who by the way who had not lost their ‘Farfar’ accent.
Only thirteen players including the Player-Manager had been able to make the trip and the team that took the field that late spring evening for the Athies first game on foreign soil preceded by the national anthems was;- Ian Boardley, Billy Bennett, Jim Cameron, Archie Knox, Alex Brash, Ian McPhee, Raymond Farningham, Billy Gallacher, John Clark, John Mitchell, Davie Ross. Ian Simpson and Atholl Henderson were the subs.
The home side were by far and away the best opposition that the ‘Loons’ met on the trip, but the visitors thrilled the crowd with an excellent display which culminated in a 5-2 victory.
John Mitchell scored Forfar’s first-ever overseas counter, Alex Brash the scorer of the other early goal which set the scene for the evening. Second-half strikes to cement the victory came courtesy of John Clark, Atholl Henderson and Archie himself from the spot, this after Alex Brash had missed a penalty late in the first period.
After the match all the members of the visiting party, supporters included enjoyed a sumptuous meal in the host’s well-appointed clubhouse, it being the ‘wee sma’ hours before base camp in Guelph was reached.
The Thursday saw the players head for the golf course before a light training session, the remainder of the party set ‘sail’ for Kitchener where the female group enjoyed the delights of a newly opened shopping mall, the largest in Canada at the time, the male members enjoying and that is an understatement, a never to be forgotten tour of the Seagrams Distillery in the suburb of Waterloo. It has to be said that a few did, however, struggle to remember it the next morning!
Friday was the biggest day or evening in the history of the Guelph Oaks club, the visit of Scottish League opponents to the Alumni Stadium in the city. There were even huge banners on a couple of the bridges over the freeway in the city which heralded an ‘International Soccer Match’ on Friday 23rd May with an 8 p.m. kick-off. In fact, the kick-off had to be delayed in temperatures still in the high sixties for thirty minutes to allow a crowd in excess of 2,000 into the ground, a pop music band of the time, model aircraft displays all part of the pre-match entertainment. That crowd figure was all the more remarkable when set alongside the fact that the Oaks at the time were lucky to attract 100 spectators to a home league fixture.
When the action did get underway Forfar fielded the same starting line-up as 48 hours before. They did not quite however emulate much to the disappointment of their manager the performance level of their previous encounter.
They still proved too strong for the all amateur home side, winning 3-0. John Clark had actually given the ‘Loons’ a first-minute lead, Ian McPhee and Atholl Henderson the other scorers.
There was no rest for the players however as it had been agreed that they would play an exhibition fixture the next day at the end of big Under 21 tournament in the city. This was to be against a select side drawn from the best players chosen from the participating teams.
Thankfully with mid-afternoon temperatures reaching the low eighties, it was agreed that the game would be played over two 35 minute periods.
The visitors delighted those present nevertheless recording a convincing 7-1 victory over opposition officially titled the Ontario Association Development League Under 21 Select, quite a mouthful.
Alex Brash netted a brace, the other scorers Atholl Henderson, Ian McPhee, Archie Knox, Billy Gallacher and coach Kenny Dick who made a late cameo appearance and duly netted a last-minute penalty.
A Dinner was held in the evening which heralded the end of the official part of the tour with speeches, presentations aplenty prior to dancing and socialising well into the night in the company of our hosts and in many cases new found friends.
The second week of the trip saw many remain in their Guelph base enjoying the local tourist attractions including a terrific selection of eating houses all at the time reasonably priced, the city of Toronto itself, the golf courses, even taking in a horse racing meeting, a baseball fixture and a match between Toronto Blizzard and AS Roma. The home side of the time featured in their ranks that evening Scottish stalwarts Jimmy Bone and Drew Busby and went on to a record a 1-0 victory over their Italian visitors in as bruising a friendly as ever met the eye.
Others in the party headed for venues as far apart as New York and Vancouver to meet up with friends or relations.
However most returned to Guelph on the Friday evening for a tearful farewell social before the overnight flight home on the Saturday.
All admitted it had indeed been a trip to remember, in fact at the time the trip of a lifetime for many.
Ian Boardley
Billy Bennett
Jim Cameron
Archie Knox
Alex Brash
Ian McPhee
Ray Farningham
Billy Gallacher
John Clark
John Mitchell
Davie Ross
Ian Simpson
Atholl Henderson
Loons Lucky Lotto
