Legends past and present enjoy a special day in honour of Coco and David
Fort William Football Club paid homage to two late stalwarts in the best way possible on Saturday as legends past and present took to Claggan Park for the Coco Neilson Memorial Tournament.
Former players, volunteers and members joined the future generations of Fort William players for a special celebration of two Fort greats, former chairman Colin Neilson and former committee member David Macdonald, who both passed away in recent years.
To commemorate and remember the contributions of these two stalwarts to the Fort, the current committee decided to combining an inter-club tournament with a family-friendly fun day.
A team of club legends relived their playing days as they dusted off their boots and lined up at the Claggan Park pitch to take on the under-17s and the current first team in a round robin tournament.
Although youth may not have been on their side, the wily old team of legends used all of their battle-hardened experience to secure a victory over the under-17s.
However, their valiant efforts in the final weren’t enough to overturn the first team, who edged the tie with a 2-0 win.
The Neilson family were in attendance at Claggan Park to enjoy the spectacle, while Colin’s wife Grace was on hand to present trophies to the winning team and the player of the tournament, former manager Paul MacLellan.
Dozens of local organisations and businesses supported the fun day and donated a great selection of prizes to the raffle.
New Fort William FC committee member Mikey MacKinnon said: ‘The club would like to say what an honour it was to have the Neilson family there for the whole day and Grace presenting the shield to the winning team.’
Mr MacKinnon also thanked Serena for helping with getting sponsors and raffle prizes, her efforts were amazing and very much appreciated and he gave a big thanks to the day’s sponsors, Gary Boyd Heating Services and John Maclellan Funeral Services.
He continued: ‘I would just like to thank all the players and coaches from all the teams who participated and, of course, my favourites, the legends. It truly was great to see you all play with a smile on your face, for the most part until the injuries started mounting up!
‘All in all, the day was a proud moment for the club and I think Coco and David would have both been proud of a social and fun day like that at Claggan. Thank you everyone who attended, we hope you enjoyed it.’
The club would like to thank all the volunteers, including Lynne Quigg McQuillan, Fiona MacLean, Susan Campbell, Gabbie Roy and Amanda Hay who helped make the day possible.