New era for Kinrossie
Team wants to be at heart of the village
The new amateur football season signals the beginning of a fresh chapter in the history of an east Perthshire side.
Kinrossie Caledonian AFC will line up at home against Vale of Atholl for their first fixture of the delayed 2020/21 campaign on Saturday.
The hosts go into the match off the back of a 7-3 friendly defeat against Breadalbane last weekend.
Despite the setback so close to the start of the new season, coach Wayne Ferguson said he thought a growing sense of camaraderie within the ranks would stand the Division Two outfit in good stead.
And he underlined the sense of there being a new era at the club by explaining a new badge has been created to emphasise Kin rossi e Caledonia nAFC’ s desire to be at the heart of village life once again.
Pupils at the local primary school were asked to design potential new badges.
A total of 14 creative entries received.
Players were then asked to vote for their favourite and young Charlie Mailer’s entry – which features a mercat cross and a football against the backdrop of a saltire – was declared the winner.
Both Charlie and runner-up Flynn Marsh were presented with prizes by the club in recognition of their efforts and the winning badge has been turned into a professional design by skilled
staff at iHTTP.
Wayne, who works at Glen almond College and is about to start his first season at the helm, said: “When the time is right we want to encourage the local community to become as involved with the club as they can.
“We thought a new badge would be a good way to mark the start of what is a new era for the club.
“All the entries were great and it was difficult to chose a winner, but well done to Charlie – it looks great and it’ll give us a boost going into the new season.
“Using them er cat cross is great because it shows that the village is at the heart of the club and that’s the message we want to get across.”
Kinrossie Caledonian currently train on Tuesdays and Thursdays on the village’ s park and are always on the lookout for new players.
Wayne, who thanked main sponsor t he Camper Bar Company for continued support, said spirits were high in the camp and all those involved were keen to make a good impression.
He added: “We’ve got a happy bunch of lads and there’s good camaraderie in the squad.
“We’ve been doing militarystyle boot camps in pre-season and you can see the difference.
“The situation with the virus hasn’t been ideal but we’ve just been doing what we can and taking everything as it comes. “The camaraderie is great. “I was in the army for five years and it’s the closest thing to the army in terms of team spirit I’ve felt since I left.
“We’ re looking forward to getting started.”
• Fixtures for the opening day on October 24 are as follows:
A& B Taxi Division OneBurr elton RoversvCraigie; Luncarty ASC v Kettins; Letham CCvB ridge tonUtd;Va le of Earnv St Johns; Balmoral Utd v Letham.
Smart Fixings Division Two - Kinrossie Caledonian v Vale of Atholl; Ballinluig v Rattray; Pitfour vS cone Thistle; Wolf hillv Stanley; Fair City v Breadalbane.
Some teams will need to wait until the following week to get their season started.