Rossvale Women 4 Kilmarnock Women 1
The perennial high-flyers of the RAF soar to the motto of per ardua ad astra. This determination to transcend adversity and aim for the stars is replicated by Rossvale Women.
Indeed, Rossvale FC — 1,000 players, 200 volunteers — could be summed up by invoking per ardua ad ash park.
‘It all started on the red blaes in 1976,’ says Ian Grey, who was there at the birth of a club and is now present as the women’s team makes its debut on a sunny Sunday in SWPL 2.
It is appropriate that his story weaves together recycled shirts that will be seen on the backs of the natives of Pakistan and India and references a link to an American multi-national that makes fuel tanks for the space shuttle. Ad astra in action.
But he takes a moment to reflect on the inexorable rise of Rossvale, a journey that passed a significant milestone for the women’s team yesterday in Kirkintilloch.
‘It all started because there was simply no place for kids to play organised football in Bishopbriggs,’ says Grey. ‘My dad, John, was a youth worker and he just decided to start a team. I was eight years old and went down to Huntershill with about eight or nine others and that was the beginning.’
The Rossvale players take to the pitch for their first match in the second tier of the SWPL
All the mascots, large and small, line up for a piece of history for the Bishopbriggs outfit
Meghan Whiteford takes the acclaim after scoring Rossvale’s third goal of the afternoon
Rossvale now has teams that stretch from the cradle to uncomfortably close to the grave, with walking football an increasingly popular pastime and four-year-olds encouraged to come down to play.
Its under-age teams had an enormously successful season last year and the women’s team started brightly yesterday, but Rossvale is about more than just the round ball. ‘Yes, we have to remember that we are a football club,’ says Grey, ‘but we must focus too on what we do in the community.’
There is a metric that guages a club’s worth to the community in terms of saving on policing, NHS treatment and addressing social matters. ‘We have been estimated at putting £3.5million back into the community on that basis,’ says Grey. This is highly commendable because the club has a turnover of £300,000 and a sizeable chunk of that goes on hiring facilities.
‘We need a bit of support on this,’ says Grey, standing in the lodgings for the women’s team at Kirkintilloch Community hub. ‘If we had our own facility, we would be able to generate some income.’
His views are echoed by Billy Stevenson, head of operations at the club, whose journey in life has led him to advise such as UEFA and FIFA on logistical matters, most conspicuously transport arrangements at the Qatar World Cup.
‘We are deemed by some a small-time club. We are a million miles from that,’ says Stevenson, whose upbringing in the East End of Glasgow reinforces his belief in the game as a benevolent force. ‘We aim here to produce good people who will do good things,’ he says.
A fine 4-1 win over Kilmarnock was a start few involved with Rossvale could have dreamed of
He accepts these are merely words but knows Rossvale have backed them with considerable action. ‘This is a train moving at considerable speed,’ he says of the club. ‘My job is to maintain that momentum but keep it all on the tracks.’
Rossvale steam on. ‘We have a multi-national company, Howden, that is our sponsor,’ says Stevenson. ‘They are astounded at what we do.’ His unspoken desire is to make authorities in Scotland similarly star-struck.
‘I worked with another organisation who were involved with dancing for kids,’ he says. ‘There was £100,000 of funding.’
Grey becomes almost misty-eyed when he considers what the club could do with such a sum. Both men are certainly not in it for personal gain. ‘I would say that 99.99 percent of the work here is voluntary and unpaid,’ says Stevenson.
Lynsey Grey, Ian’s sister, is a personification of that statement. ‘I suppose you could say I have been with the club since I was two,’ she says. ‘I came to games when it started in 1976 and played in the sand pit.’ She later became a coach and now helps with the catering.
The bond with Rossvale is unbreakable. ‘I recall my dad doing so much and my mum pitching in as secretary, treasurer, strip washer, everything.’ Sandra Grey had a hotline to Hoover. The blaes pitches of those days had a tendency to chew up both strips and washing machines.
Meghan Whiteford’s first goal of the afternoon sails beyond the reach of the Killie goalkeeper
‘John and I have no kids, so I suppose this is our family,’ says Lyndsey. ‘There is no better feeling than walking through Bishopbriggs and seeing kids with the strips on.’
These strips may soon be seen on the streets of Pakistan and India. But, first, the kids. ‘I came here because I had four-year-old daughters and they wanted to play. I ended up staying.’ Twins Katie and Louise Docherty are now approaching 19 and playing for Rossvale development team. Their dad, Michael, is head of women’s and girls’ football at the club.
‘I was coaching eight or 10 girls back then,’ says Michael Docherty of his early days at the club 15 years ago. Now there are almost 300 girls and women players at Rossvale.
The surge by the women’s team has been astounding. Formed four years ago, it is now an SWPL2 team and one capable of beating Kilmarnock with some ease.
‘Back when I started here, I immediately wanted to form an academy but I sometimes wake up and think I have been dreaming when I see the progress,’ adds Docherty. ‘I always say that we should enjoy the day. It is all about making memories.’
Last season Docherty coached his daughters to a league and cup double. ‘Of course, I enjoyed that,’ he says. ‘But this is a club that is about community. We need to develop and be stronger. Every team down the girls’ age groups has a woman coach. This will help make the game grow.’
The sunny conditions in Kirkintilloch, where the match was staged, were a delight for fans
Amy Callaghan, former MP for East Dunbartonshire, has been a powerful advocate for women’s football for many years. ‘It needs investment, certainly,’ she says. ‘But it also needs big voices supporting it. We have to go to women’s football and support it but we have to shout about it too, encourage people to play.’
Megan Whiteford, 22, has been playing since she was five. She scored two goals for Rossvale in a lively performance yesterday and is an example of how to come back and make an impact. ‘I stopped playing for a few years after I left Glasgow City,’ she says. ‘But I came to Rossvale three years ago and it has been amazing. I can’t quite believe where we are now and how we have started the season. To win like that…’
She sits in a room just yards from a pitch baking in the sun. One of the most unusual aspects of the day is that this may be the first game in Kirkintilloch history when a water break was required for players in each half.
There is, too, an oddity about the strips that were soaked in perspiration. Rossvale has a collaboration with manufacturers VSN that means all strips will be fully recyclable: made from recycled yarn and then taken back to Pakistan for recycling again.
Rossvale’s step into SWPL2 certainly won’t be the last giant leap made by the remarkable club
Drew Campbell of VSN says: ‘We have been manufacturing the strips in Pakistan for 15 years. It is all done on the pillars of social and economic principles, no child labour. It is all ethical. We visit the plant at least once a year for an inspection. We want it all done in the proper way.’
The Rossvale strips will be sent back to Pakistan for recycling and the process starts again.
There is a further twist. Howden has a plant in India and the company is organising a competition among its worldwide workforce to design a third strip for Rossvale. The winning design will be announced next week.
Some club strips are already finding their way to Indian villages because of the connection. ‘It’s funny to think of children there wearing a Rossvale top,’ says Stevenson.
It’s certainly a long way from the red blaes of seventies Bishopbriggs.
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