Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Football’s a family affair
THE first rule about having a column here (if you don’t want alienate half your readership) is: Don’t out yourself as a Dee.
The second rule (for the same reason) is: Don’t start shaking your tangerine pom-poms either.
But I’m throwing caution to the wind to tell you about our trip to Dens for Saturday’s Dundee game against St Mirren when, despite the 1-3 result, it was the best of family days out.
I’ve spoken before about how our family is split down the middle. My husband supports United and my eldest son is leaning that way too.
We try not to talk about our middle boy’s decision to support Rangers. We don’t know where it came from and hope for a change of heart.
Going back further, my grandad supported Dundee until the 1960s when they sold their good players, kept the money and didn’t reinvest.
He changed allegiances to United but the reality was he loved both. As a young man, along with almost everyone else, he’d go game about – Dens one week, followed by Tannadice the next.
He told me we should always support anything with Dundee in the name. We’re too small a place not to be proud of either team.
I thought of my grandad, or Papa, as we entered Dens – how much he’d have loved to join the great-grandsons he never met.
A few months ago, we won hospitality for four at a fundraiser for my eldest boys’ old club Dundee West.
And so, I took the oldest two, Monty and Chester, to their first big football game, with my Uncle Dave.
Uncle Dave knows everyone – including Dundee legend Bobby Glennie, who was a year below him at St John’s.
He played for Aberdeen before moving to Dundee where he was a defender for 12 years in the ’70s and ’80s.
One of the things I love about football for kids is it gives them a respect not just for the men of the moment in their 20s who are playing, but generations before.
Take Steve Murray who played for Celtic, Dundee, Aberdeen and Scotland. At 79, he’s still coaching kids and making a huge difference.
My eldest Monty loves one-onone sessions with him as do so many others, including his own grandchildren.
Then we met Barry Smith, who spent most of his career as a defender for Dundee. He gave a pre-match interview in our lounge and was full of humility regarding his ability – though my uncle whispered “he was a brilliant player”.
Post-match, some players came for a chat and happily posed for pictures with adults and kids.
Everyone was having a ball. Everyone was lovely. As it has for generations before, football is bringing friends and families together in our city.
That United have been promoted fills me with joy – like my Papa, I’m delighted for the success of both teams – and finally, we’ll get a derby, great for fans and the local economy from employment to pubs, hotels, restaurants and shops.
The only people who looked to be having more fun than us was the St Mirren away support – a merry band who didn’t stop singing and dancing, even before a goal had been scored.
The score might not have been ideal but Dundee, we’ll forgive you. You’ve given fans much to sing and dance about over the season and we can’t wait for more.