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Shortlees vs Hurlford Ams


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There must be something about Shortlees.  In the late 80s they had a really good team.   I think it was either 1986/7 or 1987/8 when they formed and obviously they had to start in the bottom tier of Ayrshire amateur but as they had. A team packed through with good players they stormed through the leagues.

At the time Stewarton Thistle had a decent team and we're playing in the top league - @killiefaetheferry might remember this - and we had a good run in the West of Scotland Cup and we got drawn at home to Shortlees in - I think - the last 16.

A couple of weeks before the game, our match was postponed so a few of us decided to go over to Shortlees to see what it was all about.   We'd heard that they were getting big crowds - at Strandhead Park, Stewarton would regularly get about a hundred which we thought was good and better than most in the division - but when we got there, there must have been about 6 or 700 there.  Not as much as last week but bearing mind it was a pretty dreich Saturday in late feb/early March.

It was the responsibility of the home team to arrange the referees at that time - may still be.  Thistle were worried that a big crowd might intimidate an Ayrshire Amateur referee.  Someone came up with a master stroke.  

Older folks might remember Brian McGinley who was the top referee in Scotland in the 1980s and was on the FIFA list.  He'd been forced to resign due to the Evening Times printing a - libellous - story about him picking up rent boys and had gone out to the Middle East.   However, someone at the club knew that he was back in Scotland and was still a registered referee so they got him to referee the match.  I'm guessing that Jim McCluskey who was one of Scotland's leading refs at the time had something to do with it as he lived in Stewarton.

The game went by without any incident, never seen a set of amateur players so respectful of a ref, Stewarton won but got beat in the quarters by Bannockburn.

I see Shortlees will be in the Scottish Cup next season, it'll be interesting to see how they do. 

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Aye, Shortlees won the Scottish so they go into the proper Scottish Cup next season.

They are a team of mates, proper scheme team but it works. They have some cracking players who could play at a higher level but they are happier playing with their pals.

My dad's from Shortlees and my gran still stays there. There is a real community togetherness there.

 

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