Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Boyhood Dunfermline fan Chris Hamilton on banter with girlfriend’s Raith-supporting family ahead of cup derby

The Pars are preparing to host Rovers in the Scottish Cup on Friday.

Chris Hamilton in celebration mode for Dunfermline Athletic FC.
Dunfermline vice-captain Chris Hamilton. Image: SNS.

Chris Hamilton may be a boyhood Dunfermline Athletic fan but his choice of partner means there is the chance of a family feud this week.

His girlfriend’s family supports Raith Rovers, with the Pars vice-captain preparing to lead his side into the fourth Fife derby of the season on Friday night.

The bragging rights, for the meantime, belong to the Rovers after two 1-0 victories in the Championship to follow up Dunfermline’s penalty-shootout victory in the Viaplay Cup.

On Friday they will face each other in a third competition this season, the Scottish Cup, and Hamilton is enjoying the back-and-forth he’s having in the build-up.

Raith Rovers and Dunfermline Athletic have faced each other three times already this season. Goalmouth action from one of their meetings. Image: Craig Brown/DAFC.
Raith Rovers and Dunfermline Athletic have faced each other three times already this season. Image: Craig Brown/DAFC.

“You just take it, have a laugh with it and then come Friday night someone will have the bragging rights,” he said.

“Hopefully it is us this time.

“You get a bit of banter, which all adds to it.

“It takes a bit of the seriousness away from it but like I say, the only focus is trying to get through to the next round of the cup.”

Dunfermline Athletic fan Chris Hamilton ‘focusing on the football’

Hamilton fulfilled a childhood dream last season when he lifted silverware with Dunfermline and has captained the side recently, from the centre of the back three, in the absence of Kyle Benedictus.

Despite being a Dunfermline supporter, the 22-year-old sees Friday’s Fife derby as any other game, but will enjoy it more if his side are victorious.

“I try and take that out of it, I just focus on the football in the game that’s in front of me instead of the two teams that are playing,” he said.

“Obviously after it you celebrate and it does feel a wee bit better.

“Before the game and leading up to the game I just try and focus on: it’s another game and it’s another big game that obviously all the boys are looking forward to, all the fans are looking forward to – so that’s the focus.

Dunfermline Athletic vice-captain Chris Hamilton applauds the fans. Image: SNS.
Dunfermline Athletic vice-captain Chris Hamilton. Image: SNS.

“There is a slightly different feel about it when it is a cup tie. It is that one-off game, it doesn’t really matter how you play – it is all about getting the win and getting through to the next round.

“It does add that wee bit of edge, that wee bit something different that the league doesn’t have.

“It’s always good, no matter who you are playing in the Scottish Cup, to go and try and get a good run. That is what we are looking to do.”

Conversation