Dundee club East Craigie lay claim — along with a couple of other junior clubs from the west coast — to be Scotland’s oldest junior club.
The team is currently doing well but, off the park, they are a club in crisis.
Massive renovations have to be undertaken at the Craigie Park ground and, of course, this costs money.
Many of the club’s former personnel have rallied round to help with the fund-raising campaign, and also some ‘outsiders’.
One such is Along Came Kirsty, who, according to their Facebook page, “is a Community Interest Company that supports individuals, projects, groups, small/medium sized charities and social enterprises.
“We take your time and stress away carrying out the following services — fund-raising, searches and producing reports, writing grant applications, monitoring projects, developing and completing evaluations and consultations.”
Even then, fund-raising is a hard job and ACK’s Fiona Kennedy Harper contacted BwB.
She said: “We (Along Came Kirsty) are working with East Craigie JFC on a crowdfunding campaign to raise the money necessary to renovate their clubhouse, which has major water damage after recent storms and is partially condemned as a result.
“The club have been operating out of portacabins since December last year and need to get back in their clubhouse for the sake of the players and supporters.
“Other reasons they are desperate to get back quickly is also so they can move forward with plans to start a women’s football team, walking football and more community use of their facilities.”
A hefty sum is required to be raised, and Fiona continued: “The target on the crowdfunding platform is £40,000 and, although the campaign has been running for a couple of weeks, we are nowhere near to achieving the target.
“The crowdfunding launch has had a lot of media coverage and we have shared it far and wide on the internet.
“However, we suspect there is a whole host of potential donators who are simply not on the internet and do not use Twitter and Facebook.
“We do, however, believe they are reading your column and listening to local radio.
“I thought, if you can highlight the club address — East Craigie JFC, Craigie Park, Old Craigie Road, Dundee. DD4 7HX — it might be useful if someone wants to donate on a match day or, perhaps, by post.”
Fiona went on: “There are some unique rewards for fans and locals alike, and also for businesses including sponsorship and hospitality offers.
“You can even name the new clubhouse for £3,000!”
Fiona sent in some images of the damage to the clubhouse and a couple of others, including the present clubhouse and pitch.
Staying with East Craigie — and their claim to be Scotland’s oldest Junior club — Linlathen’s Tom Regan attempted to take me to task.
“East Craigie ARE the oldest club in Scotland and you, as the local paper, should be supporting that claim,” he phoned to say.
I say Tom ‘attempted’ because in my many articles on the subject, I have never disputed the Shipbuilders’ claim.
What I have done is print the many replies I have received from representatives and fans of other junior clubs in Scotland, who are giving out information and ‘proof’ that their particular club is the oldest.
As far as I am concerned, the jury is still out. Unless some other BwB reader can enlighten us.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.