FOOTBALL MEMORIES: How the late Ross-shire raised journalist and author Bill McAllister stamped his storytelling mark on a century of the Highland League
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The Inverness Football Memories project has added to a flurry of tributes paid to a titan of Highland journalism.
Bill McAllister was laid to rest this week at Kilvean Cemetery in Inverness after a poignant, celebratory and often humorous service at St Mary’s Church, reflecting on his life and work.
The highly-respected reporter, author and media relations officer held a particular passion for sport and his love of north football led him to research and write a landmark tome, The Highland Hundred – The History of the Highland Football League 1893-1993, to mark the association’s centenary.
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The football memories project, supported by the Highland history and culture organisation Am Baile, seeks to catalogue north football heritage and revive memories of the game’s highs and lows for the benefit of local people.
Former Caledonian player and journalist Gordon Fyfe, joint chairman of ICTFC Community Trust which is promoting the project, here below recounts former Courier columnist Mr McAllister’s part in the centenary celebrations:
The Inverness Football Memories Project has been reminded of a double-header organised in 1993 to mark the centenary of the Highland League.
On 15 May, a Highland League Select played an English FA XI at Borough Briggs, Elgin, and the following Saturday the Select, managed by Ross County manager Bobby Wilson, played a Scotland Under 21 XI at Telford Street Park, Inverness.
The centenary was also marked by the publication of a book called The Highland Hundred, researched and written by the late Inverness-based journalist Bill McAllister.
Bill was an obvious choice to write the book, having reported on the game in the Highlands
since the early 1960s. His passion for the game and humour is demonstrated in his 205-page record of the League, which was formed following a meeting “of footballers and gentlemen” in the Workmen’s Club in Bridge Street, Inverness, on 4 August 1893.
Bill recalled: “The game had been played in the North for a decade before that, to varying rules.
“Railwaymen laying the tracks for progress sowed the soccer seeds in the North among people whose grandfathers and great uncles had fought at Culloden, suffering what might be called a ‘shock home defeat’ from that master of the professional foul, the Duke of Cumberland.”
To provide some historical context, Bill reminded readers that in 1893 the Massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee was only three years before the Highland League was born! He also drew attention to the “invention” at that time of the first modern breakfast cereal, Shredded Wheat!
A Mr J. Allison of Caledonian chaired the first meeting with Mr Hugh Dallas of Union as interim secretary and the clubs represented were Caledonian, Citadel, Clachnacuddin, Camerons, Thistle and Union.
Colour Sergeant MacPherson of the Cameron Highlanders presented a motion that they form the Highland League. Mr Colin MacRae of Union seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.
An invitation was extended to teams in Forres, Elgin and Dingwall to join along with the Seaforth Highlanders, stationed at Fort George.
At the first general meeting of the League management committee, it was reported that teams from Forres and Dingwall wished to join the league, “giving the fledgling venture a legitimacy beyond the environs of Inverness”.
An annual levy of £1 per team was agreed to pay for a championship flag, plus 11 badges for the champions.
The first league programme was played on 9 September with the following two fixtures played that day: Thistle v Union; Dingwall v Caledonian. A week later, the card was Forres v Thistle, Dingwall v Union, Clach v Citadel, Caledonian v Camerons.
Bill records that it was not long before the first notes of controversy crept into the discussion.
There was wrath over the fact that Thistle and Citadel had played each other in a friendly in
direct opposition to a league game in Inverness between Union and Forres.
On the playing front, a Clach goalkeeper, called MacGregor, became the first Highland League player to be disciplined – for punching the referee twice in the face.
A ban of two months followed with a warning to clubs that any subsequent assault on a referee would result in a suspension for life.
The first league championship was reduced to 12 games through the resignation of Dingwall,
who became known as Ross County, and was won by the most skilful team, Thistle with a four-point advantage over Caledonian.
Thistle also won the North Cup that same season.
Writing in a commemorative programme to mark the centenary of the Highland League, Bill, then-editor of Highland Football and Sport, wrote: “Inverness Thistle were the first champions and the infant league had many financial and practical problems, but it took root and flourished and over the decades it has forged new frontiers, becoming the focus for a commendable quality of semi-professional football.
“The league management committee has had to tackle a vast array of controversies down the decades – such as whether to pay for a referee’s new dentures – but there has been a
community, common interest and common passion for the game, which has provided the
bedrock for its expansion and success.
“It has been very much a century with honour as the Highland League has generated
sportsmanship, skill, excitement and entertainment in its own unique and unrivalled way. It has become part of the Scottish football scene yet retained its own individuality with pride and distinction.
“These challenge games are meant to celebrate this record of achievement and be the
launchpad for the game in the North and North-East to flourish. Colour Sergeant MacPherson did not realise that his dream of a league would march on for a hundred years, with many stirring tunes of glory.”
