No, I'm not joking.  How bad can Fort William be?

I saw Thistle get into double figures once or twice in the late 60s, when they were coming to their peak. I think I remember 11 against Huntly. Can't remember who the others were (though Brora might have been candidates back then.)

But 16?  When did a Highland League team last score 16?

The Highland League record score is 17-0 for Peterhead against...... Fort William in April 1998! Quite a few HL teams have been absolutely rank at times over the years and indeed the recent influx of money into Rothes has just extricated them from that fate. Clach were awful in the late 80s/1990, just before they all but imploded and Strathspey, Lossiemouth and indeed Brora have all been there as well. However I don't think any club has been quite as consistently bad as Fort William who probably have more seasons at the bottom than anyone else. I'm not sure what the record goals conceded figure is for a season (remember with 28-34 games depending on league size) but it's around 150 and it stands either to Fort or Rothes, having previously been held by Clach after their catastrophic 1989-90 season. I think the ONLY team to have scored "nul points" in the HL may be Elgin City (they've done it twice). In Caley's last season they beat Golspie 15-0 in the North Cup.

My understanding is they're really struggling for players these days.  They've lost a lot of players to other clubs (Scott Davidson went to Rothes for example) and have resorted to playing kids and trialists.  It's a shame and I hope they survive.

27 minutes ago, Renegade said:

My understanding is they're really struggling for players these days.  They've lost a lot of players to other clubs (Scott Davidson went to Rothes for example) and have resorted to playing kids and trialists.  It's a shame and I hope they survive.

I think even at the best of times player recruitment has been difficult for Fort William FC. They face huge competition from shinty, which is an integral part of society down there, and to a lesser extent from mountain sports and hill running. Then add in that the nearest Highland League club is 66 miles away on a poor road and the disadvantages mount up.

Even if there were better players around that area, there's three shinty clubs in the area meaning that's 90 guys already unavailable.  It was explained to me once that usually the best football players around there are also good shinty players and usually pick the latter sport.

There was an article in one of the previous issues of Nutmeg about the club that is worth reading.

Edited December 3, 20178 yr by Renegade

On 02/12/2017 at 6:18 PM, snorbens_caleyman said:

No, I'm not joking.  How bad can Fort William be?

I saw Thistle get into double figures once or twice in the late 60s, when they were coming to their peak. I think I remember 11 against Huntly. Can't remember who the others were (though Brora might have been candidates back then.)

But 16?  When did a Highland League team last score 16?

I recall the Jags beating Wick Academy eleven nil in the North of Scotland Cup when the Caithness team were non league, probably sometime in the mid 70s. Even as a Thistle fan, I remember that being quite painful to watch.

18 minutes ago, Kingsmills said:

I recall the Jags beating Wick Academy eleven nil in the North of Scotland Cup when the Caithness team were non league, probably sometime in the mid 70s. Even as a Thistle fan, I remember that being quite painful to watch.

Are you sure that wasn't during your afternoon nap today Kingsmills? 

No during my afternoon nap today I imagined us coming from 2-0 down to beat Celtic in this season's Scottish Cup final shortly after we had secured promotion on the last day of the league campaign ?

2 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

No during my afternoon nap today I imagined us coming from 2-0 down to beat Celtic in this season's Scottish Cup final shortly after we had secured promotion on the last day of the league campaign ?

You never know! A chemist called August Kekule claimed to have seen what turned out to be the correct structure for benzene molecules in a dream!!

On ‎03‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 12:23 PM, Charles Bannerman said:

My understanding is they're really struggling for players these days

Yet FW has good connections to Glasgow, isn't far away from Sneck and can draw on another big-for-the-Highlands town (Oban) that disnae have an HL team. They're better placed for recruitment than some HL teams.

Fort William also has a thriving Rugby Club which no doubt competes with the Football Club ("Soccer" is not in my vocabulary!) for accounts for potential players.

Fort William FC's moment of glory was when as a non-league team, shortly before they entered the Highland League, they were drawn against Caley in a cup competition (North of Scotland Cup? Scottish Cup?)

They humped us at Telford Street, putting us out of the competition. I think the score was something like 1-4.

Can anyone verify that with something more reliable than my ageing memory?

5 hours ago, buckett said:

Fort William also has a thriving Rugby Club which no doubt competes with the Football Club ("Soccer" is not in my vocabulary!) for accounts for potential players.

Fort William FC's moment of glory was when as a non-league team, shortly before they entered the Highland League, they were drawn against Caley in a cup competition (North of Scotland Cup? Scottish Cup?)

They humped us at Telford Street, putting us out of the competition. I think the score was something like 1-4.

Can anyone verify that with something more reliable than my ageing memory?

I seem to remember Fort putting Thistle (or was it Clach?) out of the Q-cup back in the 80s, but that's as far as I can go. Lochaber Rugby Club have actually been in decline in recent years and now play down in West Division 3. On the other hand, this is very much shinty country, with hill running and mountain sports also big counter-attractions.

7 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

I seem to remember Fort putting Thistle (or was it Clach?) out of the Q-cup back in the 80s, but that's as far as I can go. 

Fort William joined the Highland League in 1985 so that would be about right.

Pretty sure it was Caley they put out though, in Inverness.

Looks like Caley didn't show their non-league opponents "respect"!!!

2 hours ago, buckett said:

Pretty sure it was Caley they put out though, in Inverness. 

That may very well be right. All that I remember from Fort's earliest days is a 1-0 home win over I think Clach in their very first Highland League game in August 1985 and a similar scoreline over Thistle, or maybe Clach again? in the Qualifying Cup. There could have been something against Caley as well.

Pretty sure Caley went out of the Q Cup in 90-91 on pens after a 3-3 draw. Seem to remember it being the Fort. It was somebody rubbish anyway 

Edited February 1, 20188 yr by TheMantis

One of the main characters behind the scenes at Fort William died last year and they seemed to have struggled since.  Sometimes when one person goes, two or three together can't replace them.  I hope Fort pull through.

21 hours ago, TheMantis said:

Pretty sure Caley went out of the Q Cup in 90-91 on pens after a 3-3 draw. Seem to remember it being the Fort. It was somebody rubbish anyway 

Edit - I started to suspect it was Cove rather than Fort - it was actually Cove after a replay, 2-2 followed by 1-1. Couldn't check at the time as last night was the very night our 20-month old granddaughter was staying over and sleeping in the room where I have all my Caley stuff. 

She's voting against the merger though.

Edited February 1, 20188 yr by TheMantis

35 minutes ago, TheMantis said:

Edit - I started to suspect it was Cove rather than Fort - it was actually Cove after a replay, 2-2 followed by 1-1.

That would have been back in the days when Cove were indeed pretty duff..... before somebody started throwing silly money at them.

17 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

That would have been back in the days when Cove were indeed pretty duff..... before somebody started throwing silly money at them.

A bit like Ross County 

I was brought up in Fort William, but before they joined the Highland League and enjoyed home cup games.

As an aside, they have doubled their points total for the season today with a 1-1 home draw with Clach.

As Claggan Park is regularly waterlogged, how ironic that it was playable and our pitch was not. We seem to be having far more issues with water this season than in recent years.