The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Stags ‘roaring’ to go in battle for top trophy
Agroup of Forfar 40-somethings who reunited for a “one-off” football match while a pal battled cancer are now fighting it out for a national trophy.
Forfar Stags organised a reunion match in 2020 in aid of Maggie’s cancer care.
They had played for the town’s Stag Hotel in the 1990s.
When former team-mate Gordon Samson was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, they decided to get back together to show support.
Thankfully, Gordon recovered and is now a key part of the side’s midfield.
But that reunion 4-4 draw against a Dunfermline Athletic over-35s side kickstarted an unlikely journey on the park.
And it has seen the team progress to the latter stages of a national competition.
Having enjoyed being back together again, the team decided to reform in full.
So they joined the national Ffit-seniors
Cup competition last term. Sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic meant the competition had to be halted.
But the Stags showed they had lost none of their touch by coming within a win of the knockout stages.
Now, the side have gone one better and – following a 4-0 weekend victory over Livingston at Almondvale – are in this season’s quarter-final draw as group champions.
Paul Robertson, John Mackie, Jimmy Hendry and Danny Smith all found the net.
The route to the latter stages included a 14-0 Station Park demolition of Denny Warriors.
The Angus men then drew 2-2 with Celtic Seniors in a hard-fought Glasgow clash in testing conditions.
They are now pinning their hopes on a home tie in the January draw.
“It’s been an amazing journey so far,” said leftback and team organiser Scott Fenton.
“It was great to head into Christmas as group champions, knowing we have big games to look forward to in 2022.
“Most of us are in our late 40s, never mind over35s, but we’ve looked after ourselves reasonably well.
“And we’ve got a really strong squad of lads, mostly boys who went to school in Forfar and Kirriemuir.”
Captain Kenny Stephen said: “If you’d asked us whether we would still be doing this at our age, we would have said no.
“But you never say never in life.
“One of our players, Brian ‘Flash’ Fleming, has played a part in all our group games at 67 – that’s pretty good going.”
Since reforming, the team have only lost twice and are grateful to Forfar Athletic FC for support in allowing them to use their facilities.
The team, who are hopeful of landing a shirt sponsor, could face Celtic, Aberdeen, Raith, Morton, Glasgow Titans, Coldstream or Scottish Borders Seniors in the last eight.