Campbeltown Pupils Youth 2005s’ prize-giving
Campbeltown Pupils Youth 2005s 11-a-side football team’s prize-giving awards ceremony was held on Friday June 21 in the Ardshiel Hotel.
The evening was opened by head coach Davie Paterson who thanked everyone for attending and introduced and thanked special guests.
He paid tribute to: Alex McKinven and Campbell Robertson, the president of the Pupils Amateur Football Club and the chairman of Campbeltown and District Community Football Club respectively, both of whom were unable to attend; Archie Mitchell, who refereed most of the home games this season and who is a great supporter; Campbeltown and District Juvenile Football Association (CDJFA) committee members Willie, Darren and Liam Renton for their hard work for the association over the years; CDJFA chairperson Rhys Blair who took over as chairman last year and, with the committee members, has done a wonderful job of running children’s and youth football; Claire Mitchell for all her efforts over the year; Davie’s fellow coaches, Stewart Campbell and Chris McLellan, for their work and support over the year; and Ian McGeachy who still comes along and helps with the children’s football.
Davie introduced three special guests: Malcolm Robertson, Chris Ruthven and ex-professional footballer and presenter/pundit Michael Stewart, who presented the prize-winners with their awards.
Davie talked about the team and their achievements over the last year, complimenting the young players for their spirit and commending them for being a credit to their parents and to the community.
Davie asked the players to stand up, introduce themselves and say what the highlight of the season was for each of them.
This ranged from scoring winning goals and attending professional football games to meeting Neil Lennon when he came to Campbeltown with his son’s football team and some of the lads even thought meeting Susan Boyle was the highlight.
Davie gave a review of the season, saying it was a difficult year being in the top Glasgow league and although they suffered some sore defeats there were a lot of highlights.
Michael Stewart gave a talk to the players and told them that the most important thing at their age was to enjoy playing football and not to get to hung up on technical things too much as this was only the start of their football journey.
Michael took part in a question and answer session, answering questions about his career and how he got to the top of his game which was of great interest to the boys in the team.
Main prize-winners: game attendance: Andrew Semple and Lorne Paterson; goal of the season: Stuart Phillips and Kyle Paterson; commitment/travel: Michael Campbell, Stuart Phillips and Cameron McMillan; referee award: Scott Graham and Michael Campbell; save of the season: Scott Oman and Lorne Paterson; top goal scorer: Calum Ellis; trainer of the year: Andrew Semple and Stuart Phillips; players’ player of the year: Scott Graham; club player of the year: Ryan Shields.
Special thanks were given to parents and helpers Callum Semple and John Shields for driving minibus; Susan McMillan for dealing with player registrations; Claire McAllister for organising hospitality and the kit; Helen Phillips for photography over the season; Jean and the Ardshiel Hotel staff for sponsorship, venue for prize-giving, etc; Gilbert McKillop for helping with photographs at the prize-giving.
Davie presented a bouquet of flowers to his wife Jean for putting up with all the time he spends at football.
Coaches were thanked by Neil McAllister, who spoke on behalf of the players and parents and Neil’s wife Claire presented them with bottles of Springbank whisky with thanks for all their hard work and time and commitment.
Michael Stewart finished the evening with another chat to the players, giving them some advice and encouragement, before being presented with a bottle of Springbank whisky by one of the players.