Kilsyth Rangers beat Kirkintilloch Rob Roy 1-0 in a friendly at Duncansfield Park on Saturday, a result club secretary William Dunbar called a bright harbinger as the side chases promotion to the West of Scotland Premier Division this year.
The ground has changed since the days when spectators watched from two spoil heaps behind the enclosure, known to fans as the Big Bing and the Little Bing. "The lads stood on them and watched the game," says Russell McKay, recalling old times at Duncansfield. On Saturday, under sunshine, players instead paused mid-match for water breaks.
A tunnel running from the dressing rooms to the pitch has been renovated by supporters and covered with images of past players and teams. One sign inside reads: "The Team Found in the Mines Rises."
The groundsman keeping Duncansfield running
William Dunbar, 50, is club secretary and groundsman. He was mowing the grass beyond the pitch ahead of the friendly. "I have been coming here since I was a wee boy," says Dunbar, who was first brought to games by his father. His brother, Stewart, is a major club sponsor.
"This club runs in the blood of the Dunbars," he says. "It has always been a fixture of my life." His daughter helps run the club lottery, and his wife serves behind the bar. Dunbar works 12-hour shifts in his day job, four days on and six days off, which he says gives him time to do what is necessary at the club.
He is too young to remember Kilsyth's Scottish Junior Cup victories of 1955 and 1967, but recalls league titles won since. "We have had a tough couple of seasons," he says, "but we have a good management team and the side went on an unbeaten run from Christmas that raised our spirits."
The 1955 Scottish Junior Cup final
The clubhouse lounge walls are covered in photographs and cuttings from 1955, when Kilsyth Rangers drew 0-0 with Duntocher Hibs in front of 65,000 spectators at Hampden Park in the Scottish Junior Cup final. Kilsyth won the replay 4-1, with Alex Querrie scoring all four of the winning side's goals.
Wattie Hamilton, 84, and Russell McKay, 85, were both there. "The crowds then, they were massive," says McKay. "There were even lads on the bings overlooking the stand. I suppose there was little to do in those days. There were not even bookie shops then. Everything was about the football."
McKay, a retired joiner, was a ball boy at the club, and his greatest moment came after that final replay. "I got flung in the bath," he says of the team's return to the dressing room. "Elation, nothing but elation."
Hamilton remembers the journey home. "We came in through Queenzieburn first and then onto Kilsyth," he says. "The streets of the town were lined with spectators. I will never forget that night."
The 1967 Scottish Junior Cup win
Kilsyth Rangers won the Scottish Junior Cup again in 1967, beating Rutherglen Glencairn 3-1 in a replayed final. Robert McArthur, 74, was hamper boy for the semi-final at Firhill. "By the time I had left the dressing room we were 2-0 down to Carluke Rovers," he says. Kilsyth were ahead by half-time and went on to win.
"We dominated the final, though. We had some side then. Only one of our forwards did not go senior," says McArthur. Nine players from the 1967 squad went on to play professional football. Drew Jarvie missed the final through injury but went on to a senior career with Airdrie and Aberdeen. Pat McMahon, who later played for Celtic and Aston Villa, was flown up from London, where he worked as a civil servant, for games and training sessions before the final. "That was the strength of Junior football in those days," McArthur says. "There would be thousands out there."
Preserving the club's history
Robert's brother, Davie McArthur, 73, a retired HR manager, gives tours of the ground. He has helped put on roofs, update the dressing rooms and decorate the tunnel. He has served on the committee in the past but stepped back because of illness, though he still attends every game. His past is rooted in tales of the miners' rows in Queenzieburn.
"The tunnel was upgraded during Covid," he says. "We put up panels and decorated them. They tell a great story."
In the window of the dressing room building sits the John Ferguson Memorial Trophy, contested between Kilsyth Rangers and Kilsyth Athletic, which Kilsyth Rangers won recently. "John was a great supporter of the club and our dedicated historian," McArthur says. "He passed a few years ago but he is remembered fondly here."
Dunbar produced a history of the club written by Ferguson, recording every season from 1945 to 1995. It notes that Lisbon Lion Willie Wallace played for Kilsyth Rangers, that Frank McGarvey turned out for the club for one season before signing for St Mirren, and that Jack Steedman, who later ran Clydebank, also played at Duncansfield.
McArthur led the way down the tunnel and onto the pitch. "Look at it, it's wonderful," he says. "The things I have seen here."
