The ‘Loons’ v the Rest of the World!!!

The fact that the visit of New Saints, the Welsh Premier League Champions to Station park this Saturday is without doubt the first time that the ‘Loons’ have played a competitive fixture with a club from out with the Scottish footballing ‘family’ had the writer puzzling his brains, no easy task, as to how many teams from beyond the boundaries of our ‘sma’ country had we in fact crossed swords with albeit in friendly fixtures.

Certainly the most recent was the visit of a strong Everton reserve team in 2010 to celebrate our 125th Anniversary.

We also had Plymouth Argyle as welcome visitors on two occasions just after the Millenium when Paul Sturrock was in charge at Home Park for pre-season jousts.

Then back in April of 1998 we had a midweek visit from F.C. Akranes of Iceland who were in the area preparing for the start of their own season.

A strong Middlesbrough side were here in the summer of 1993 winning 4-1, Craig Hignett netting a brace for the visitors who were then in the second tier of the English game.

The previous season we amazingly had a visit from Sheffield United’s first team who were preparing for the inaugural season of the Premier League down south at St. Andrews.  Managed by the legendary Dave Bassett they won a hard fought encounter 2-1, their scorers Carl Bradshaw and Brian Deane, prior to going on to finish 14th out of 22 starters in their league campaign.   The big story of that game however came when the ‘Blades’ skipper Brian Gayle was sent off midway through the second half by local referee Garry Mitchell for head butting Stewart Petrie and he subsequently missed their opening three games of the Premiership season through suspension!

Other English teams to have visited Station Park from memory are certainly Preston North End, Port Vale who had Chris Kamara in their ranks and Kidderminster Harriers, as well as Canadian guests Guelph Oaks and Dundas United.

Those last two sides were also opponents on Forfar’s two historic Canadian trips, Guelph in both 1980 and 1985, Dundas in 1985.   Other sides we met on those never to be forgotten two week jaunts were London Germans, London Marconi and an Ontario Development Select X1.

We have also had a few pre-season trips ourselves south of the border.   In fact I have a programme in my collection from a 1963 clash at South Shields.

In 1979 the club were based at Salford University for three nights, playing Rochdale and Port Vale, this game in fact coming twelve months after the Staffordshire outfit had visited Forfar.

Blyth Spartans and Hartlepool provided the opposition in 1987, the Spartans again and Whitley Bay on this occasion the opponents over a weekend in the early nineties.

In 1994 it was off to Kendal based Netherfield for a Friday night fixture before tackling Morecambe still at the time in the Conference on the Saturday.

The North East of England was again the destination under Ian McPhee’s management in 1999, the opponents this time round, Easington Colliery who played on the edge of a cliff looking over towards Redcar and Spennymoor United, the match at Spennymoor being played on a pitch that resembled concrete and in temperatures of well into the high seventies.

A few beers were needed that night!

That is as many cross border/country fixtures I can recall, but I am sure there may be one or two more that I have forgotten.

Answers on a postcard please.

Footnote;- There have of course been a couple of International fixtures involving Wales played at Station Park.

Back in 2001 we played host to a Wales v Norway UEFA Under 16 tournament fixture when all four Angus clubs were involved in hosting a triangular tournament which also involved Scotland.

Then in the spring of 2012 we hosted the Scotland v Wales Under 18 Schoolboys International in the Centenary Shield competition.