For most people of my age and upwards, the number 57 is usually associated with the food company Heinz and their oft-publicised ‘57 Varieties’.
However, for Broughty United AFC legend Ally Martin, that is also the number of years he has served the Ferry-based club.
With not a little help from his daughter Jill, BwB has put together Ally’s time at Broughty.
Ally joined Broughty United in 1958 as a fresh-faced 16-year-old and is still a very active member with the club.
He served as secretary of the club from 1965 until 1980 when he succeeded Doug Jolly as president.
He served as president from 1980 to 2003 when he stepped down and was made an honorary life president of the club in recognition of his service.
Ally still helps behind the scenes and can be seen on a Saturday on the touchline of Broughty and at times before the game still putting the nets up.
This year is also massive for Ally on the family front as he celebrates his golden wedding.
Ally married his wife Margaret in 1965 and if she thought tying the knot would calm her football-obsessed husband, she was very wrong.
What follows now is several examples of that obsession.
In 1969, the arrival of their second child Donald saw Ally arrive early at the hospital to visit his new-born son dressed in his football gear as he had a match that day and couldn’t miss it! The nurses let him in as they thought he was a ‘prestigious’ player for one of the Dundee senior teams.
Ally was to be an usher at his brother-in-law’s wedding in 1973.
As promised, he did his duty at the church in tailcoat, then went off to play for Broughty, getting back in time for the first dance!
Margaret, perhaps, breathed a big sigh of relief in 1987 when Ally announced that he “officially no longer played”.
However, a few weeks after that announcement, he had to bribe one of his sons with 50p and a poke of sweets to confirm to his mum how he tripped on the steps of the
Broughty YMCA and twisted his ankle. The reality was he injured his ankle while playing for Broughty!
In 2003, Ally was caught out again but this time by a write-up in The Courier about “the 61-year-old veteran playing in the goal for Broughty”.
Ally joined the committee of the Midlands AFA in 1989 and was treasurer until 1996. He became secretary in 1996 and still holds that position to this day. He became a MAFA life member in 2010. On the regional and national front, Ally has been involved with the North of Tay since the mid-1990s.
He has been on the National Disciplinary Committee from early 2000 and joined the General Purposes Committee two years ago.
Ally has written information and history books for both the SFA and MAFA.
These include ‘Midlands: The last 80 years’ in 2007 and the ‘SFA Centenary Book’ two years later.
This year, Ally was awarded the Scottish Amateur Football Association Life Membership in recognition of exceptional and outstanding services to football.
A measure of the man is that it was an award he was even shocked to have received but an award he should be very proud of.
On a personal front, I first came across Ally when I was with Broughty Athletic juniors in the early 1970s.
Whenever The Fed had a goalkeeping problem with injuries and suspensions, it was always Ally they turned to help out.
Although football was his life, Ally is also very much a family man, devoted to his four children — Gwen, Donald, Jill and Colin.
He has quite a few grandchildren — Rory, Hamish, Chelsea, Stewart, Jorja, Liam, Camden, Evan and Sam.
Two are currently playing in goal for their football teams. Stewart is with Ferry Athletic U/16s and Jorja is beyween the sticks for Broughty United Girls U/11s.
It must be in the genes!
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