Sunshine On Station Park

From Perth to Forfar via Lucerne and Ballymena Gareth Rodger has not been afraid to travel to further his footballing ambitions. No doubt some of this wanderlust stems from a father who played professional football in Hong Kong and a mother born in Ghana. And although the latest voyage in Gareth's footballing odyssey has led him to the slightly less exotic climes of Station Park it is hopefully the start of an exciting new adventure for the twenty-two year old.

Gareth's footballing journey began in Edinburgh, where he is still based, when he signed for Hutchison Vale Boys' Club.  From the age of six Gareth went on to play in their community sports youth set-up for ten years and he knows first-hand how highly respected the Hutchie youth programme is for nurturing emerging talent. He is proud to be a ‘Hutchie laddie' and to be listed on the Famous Hutchie Players web page which reads as a veritable who's who of Scottish football including the likes of Leigh Griffiths, Kenny Miller, Jason Cummings, John Collins and fellow Forfar player Steven Craig. Not content with this flourishing youth development set-up the senior team, Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale, made headlines earlier this season when they reached the fourth round of the Scottish Cup before suffering defeat at the hands of East Kilbride and therefore missing out on a last-16 tie at home to Celtic.

Gareth started out as a striker at Hutchison Vale as well as playing for his primary school, Fox Covert. At around the age of 13 he moved to the left-back position and then into the centre-back role that he currently holds. His footballing talent was evident even back then winning trophies at his primary school and a Scottish Schools' Football Association ‘senior plate' while at St Augustine's High School.

A Hibs season ticket holder for 12 years, Gareth enjoyed watching matches from the Famous Five Stand at Easter Road with his older brother Mike, auntie Diane and cousin, Paul. While his own footballing commitments mean he can't make it to many games nowadays, his auntie and cousin are still season ticket holders. He joins them when he can including at the recent League Cup Final at Hampden, although Gareth's hopes for an emotional rendition of Sunshine on Leith did not come to pass with the Edinburgh side losing to Ross County.

The odd one out football wise in Gareth's family is father Paul, a season ticket holder at Celtic, who once wore the maroon of Hearts. He signed for the Tynecastle side in the 1970s aged 17 before spells at Alloa, Dunfermline, Bonnyrigg Rose and Arbroath as well as a stint with Happy Valley in Hong Kong. Serious injury in his late 20s led to an early retirement from the game and he is now an alarm engineer.  He tries to get along to see Gareth play whenever he can. The same cannot be said for Gareth's mum who is currently banned from the terraces by Gareth. Perpetua (Pepi for short), who was born in Ghana when her parents moved there to teach, is a nurse at Edinburgh's Western General.  He laughs “I have banned my mum from coming to watch me play because a few times she came to see me I played badly. I know it is a bit unfair but I'll get over it one day but for now she has to stay at home!”  Gareth's older sister, Caroline is also a nurse and brother Mike works at the High Court in Edinburgh. His girlfriend, Shannon, who studies Events Management at university in Edinburgh, has yet to see him play for Forfar.

Coming from a football mad family it was no surprise that Gareth decided at an early age that he wanted to be a professional footballer. This determination was strengthened, not only due to his footballing education at Hutchison Vale, but also from growing up watching the exciting Hibs youngsters of the 2000s. Many of that side had trodden the same path that the young Gareth was on at that time, with the likes of Kevin Thomson, Derek Riordan and Gary Caldwell all graduates of Hutchison Vale.  This shared footballing upbringing made their connection to the young Hibs fan even more personal. “I loved going to watch Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Steven Fletcher, Gary Caldwell and Derek Riordan. They were such a great team to watch and because they were young I felt I could be like them in a few years.  I always enjoyed the derbies at Tynecastle as it's a tight ground and with the rivalry between the fans it made for an intense atmosphere. It was watching games like that which made me want to play professionally so I could be part of something special like that.”

While playing for the U'16s at Hutchison Vale Gareth signed for St Johnstone in 2010 under Derek McInnes. After a year on the youth books at McDiarmid Park Gareth seized the opportunity to go full-time. As a junior member of the Perth side Gareth soon learned his place in the club hierarchy - cleaning the boots, sorting out the first team training kit and clearing up the dressing rooms.  Perhaps not the side of football the younger Gareth dreamt about back in his days watching his heroes in Leith but a necessary rite of passage undergone by members of Development squads up and down the country. 

Gareth's second manager at St Johnstone, and the one he credits with shaping his early career, was Tommy Wright.  “Tommy helped me develop as a player and as long as he was manager I was playing with the first team which was beneficial to me. He has done great things with the team including in Europe, winning the Scottish Cup and sustaining the Club's top six status. I improved as a player under his management.”

Although Gareth did not secure any senior competitive appearances he was regularly on the bench for St Johnstone including for UEFA Europa League matches in 2014 when St Johnstone beat FC Luzern on penalties in the second qualifying round. “It was a really tense evening but the crowd was brilliant and I am sure they pulled us through in the end”.  His European travels also took him to Norway when he was part of the squad for the win against Rosenborg BK, and he was fortunate to travel to places like Belarus, Slovakia and Armenia.

While at St Johnstone he trained alongside players such as Stevie May, Michael O'Halloran and James McFadden and he recognised the benefits in having an experienced professional such as James McFadden around the club.  “He was a joy to train with – great to watch and had lots of great pointers especially for the younger players. He was such a positive influence on me and the other lads.”

In order to gain valuable game time Gareth had brief loan spells at Brechin and Montrose in 2013 scoring his first senior goal while with the Links Park side.  During his time on loan at Brechin he played in the Division One play-off semi-final and, although the Angus side lost out to Alloa, it was beneficial to experience the pressure of that type of match. Unfortunately his loan spell at Montrose was cut short due to injury and he was disappointed to miss out on the rest of season.
One day which stands out for Gareth in his career to date is the 2014 Scottish Cup Final when St Johnstone beat Dundee United to lift the trophy for the first time in their history. Although he regrets not being in the playing squad – he was cup-tied from playing for Montrose earlier in the competition – Gareth enjoyed sharing the experience at Celtic Park with his teammates.  It is not difficult to believe from Gareth's easy-going manner that he was able to put his own disappointment at not featuring aside to appreciate the moment with his teammates and the fans. “It was one of the best days of my career even though I wasn't playing. I still look back on it and smile as it was a great day for the St Johnstone fans to see their team win their first Scottish Cup and also for the club and my teammates.”

Another highlight in Gareth's career came when he captained St Johnstone to Forfarshire Cup glory in 2013. He is quick to point out that any competition is there to be won.  “No matter what trophy it is or at what level you always want to win a bit of silverware. It was great to secure victory against Dundee United and to win on penalties really made the whole occasion even more exciting. I know it might not seem like much to many but lifting a cup as captain is a great feeling and I am proud of that achievement.”

At the start of the current season Gareth joined Ballymena United in Northern Ireland on loan, travelling from Edinburgh for games and some training sessions while also training as normal with his parent club in Perth. This proved to be a good learning process for Gareth and he felt that the standard in the Northern Ireland league compared favourably to Scottish football.   On return from Ballymena, Gareth realised he needed to make another move to get first-team experience. He does not display any rancour that it did not work out in Perth but instead remains philosophical about the crossroads he reached in his career in January of this year. “I am not really sure why it did not work out in the long-term but over the last few months at McDiarmid I wanted to play more games. I could see I wasn't going to get that chance and so I decided that at my age and at my stage in my career I needed to, wanted to, be playing every game in a season. So I knew I had to move elsewhere to kick-start my career. I was sad to leave because I made a lot of good friends at St Johnstone, friends for life, training with them every day and growing up with many of them through the youth team. So it was tough to leave but it was the right thing to do.”

Gareth's travels then brought him slightly further north to Forfar. He didn't know Gary Bollan before he joined the Loons but he had heard good things about him and the club. “I made up mind to come to Forfar after speaking to the manager. I was impressed by the way he talked about the game and by what he wanted to achieve. He said I could play an important role in helping to move Forfar up the league. He knew I was desperate to play first team football and I was convinced he would give me that chance so I signed on until the end of the season. I was told by people at St Johnstone and other people in the game that Forfar was a well-run club and this would be a good opportunity to me and so far that has been the case. I am enjoying my football again.”

A home game against Stranraer gave Gareth his first appearance for the Loons in February and his first goal came at Central Park against Cowdenbeath later that month. This was only his third senior goal and it came at a pivotal point in the match.  “It felt great to be back in competitive action and it was brilliant to get that goal against Cowdenbeath to put us 2-1 ahead at an important time in the game. This was a vital match and so I was delighted to score so quickly after joining the club.  The mood that evening was really good - there was a lot of relief and we followed it up with another win against Albion Rovers the following Saturday. I think anyone who was at those matches could see how much it means to the players when we win – all the lads want to celebrate with whoever scored which is important as we are all in it together including us new guys and even though we have only just joined we are keen to do well.”

When Gareth first spoke for this interview he had never been sent off and joked about jinxing himself. Gareth still believes his blemish-free record should be intact despite what happened in the final minutes at Glebe Park in March.  “That was my first sending off ever, and to be honest I didn't think it was a second yellow. I didn't actually try to tackle the player - he stood on my foot, and I ended up having to get a gash put back together, so that tells the story, I think!”   He was also unfortunate at Cowdenbeath when he emerged from a melee of players with a booking.  “I think I was mistaken for Scotty (Martin), apparently for being ‘over aggressive'. That's Scotty all over ha-ha, always getting involved but this time I had to take the rap!”

So what are Gareth's personal objectives for the rest of the season?  “Other than surviving the chat in the Edinburgh car-load?” he laughs. He shares journeys to training and matches with Michael (Travis), Danny, Omar and Gavin (Malin) and confesses these trips can be a bit intense especially when two of quintet tend to bicker like a married couple. Not being drawn into naming names he grins “let's just say they don't answer to Michael or Omar!  Seriously though I want to play well, get a good run of games and make an impression. Ideally I would like to get back into full-time football but that is in the future and the main aim right now is to help Forfar move up the table. We can't take any wins for granted and we need to stay focused and put a string of good performances together. I think we have the right group of lads here and I hope the Forfar fans stay positive because I am sure the league results will come to help move us in the right direction.” 

Away from football Gareth enjoys watching a good thriller, something intense like Making a Murderer he confirms.  This type of seriousness is at odds with his general friendly demeanour. Off the pitch Gareth believes others would describe him as ‘easy to get on with, having a positive outlook and someone who likes a laugh with his friends'.  This laid back happy attitude certainly comes across in chatting with him.  He punctuates many comments with a laugh and a smile. It is engaging rather than remotely murderous. There will be many happy and smiling Forfar fans on the terraces if Gareth can pop up with a few more game-changing goals similar to the one he scored against Cowdenbeath. Let's hope that is the case and the latest adventure in Gareth's journey leads to sunshine, not on Leith, but on Station Park.

Gareth Rodger was in conversation with Louise Huggan for the match day programme v Ayr United on 19 March 2016.