‘COMMUNITIES NEED SHOOT OF RECOVERY... WE GIVE THEM IT’

EXCLUSIVE: Reporter Jack Haugh speaks to men at helm of St Roch’s as club enters 100th birthday amid renewed health

IT’S nearly an hour into our chat with the men behind St Roch’s FC and we’ve touched on homework clubs, suicide awareness and the team’s 100th birthday when Andy Cameron jumps to his feet.

“I’m gonna show you something I think will be of interest,” the club’s secretary beams, marching past a mural of Candy Rock and Celtic legend Jimmy McGrory and into the heart of the green and white pavilion.

In his place, president Stevie Mullen brings the conversation back to the team’s latest community initiative, Roch Talk. Every Sunday morning, men come together to enjoy an open conversation.

“It’s a terrific avenue to talk,” Mullen says. “Some of them don’t talk and just listen, but that can make such a difference. A woman approached me recently to say how much she appreciated Roch Talk. I thought it was a bit strange as she’s never been but she explained her husband now understands her mental health because of the group.

“We’re never going to claim we’re experts. We had a psychiatrist in recently and we told her we were a wee bit worried about one of our boys. She told us we would need to ask him if he had made a plan.

“We didn’t know what she meant but she told us how serious it was. If they’ve made a plan, they are seriously considering suicide. Before she had told me that, I would have been scared to ask that question.”

Mullen and Cameron are talking to the Glasgow Times to mark the club’s centenary year. Formed in 1920 after religious authorities decided to run a football tournament called The Inter Parish Tournament, St Roch’s was born when local priest Father Lawton decided to enter.

In the 100 years since, the club produced McGrory – who went on to become Celtic’s top goalscorer and later played a crucial role in placing the building blocks for the Lisbon Lions – won the 1922 Scottish Junior Cup and claimed a host of league titles.

It’s a club which, especially in recent years, has meant so much to so many, and when Cameron returns he places one of the team’s centenary jerseys on the table, which he says shows better than anything else just how much of an impact St Roch’s has had.

“This will give you an idea of how things have come together, not just in the last six years but in the 100 years of St Roch’s,” Cameron says, running his finger along the names etched on the top. “We put out a message last season to say we were releasing a centenary kit which supporters could put their name on.

“We had the 1920 Club where you paid £19.20, got a certificate and a centenary badge. More than 540 people signed up to it. What we found out is that some of these are grandads who died in the 1940s. It’s people from America, Australia, Holland, Germany, who have a connection to the club.

“Within the five years we’ve been able to help get the spotlight back on the club for the right reasons. But, for the 95 years before that, this club has been really, really important to so many people.”

Unsurprisingly, it’s not the first time the changing face of the club has come up in the conversation.

In the six years since Mullen and Cameron arrived on Royston Road, St Roch’s has gone from a “committee of dinosaurs who didn’t understand why you had to open to the community”, to the envy of professional teams for their impact in the local area.

As well as Roch Talk, a homework club for local schoolkids earned plaudits from across the world, teenagers have been given a helping hand into the working world through employment schemes and hundreds of families have been supported by toybank and foodbank drives.

They even held an Easter club for kids after a widow came up to Mullen and offered the team £1000 following his wife’s sudden passing.

“The two of us have strong ties to the community and my way of looking at it is that it’s a socially deprived area but people are rich in spirit,” Mullen says, as he explains why they were so keen to help the local area. “They need just that wee shoot of recovery. We’re giving them that here.”

Having previously enjoyed success in using football as a gateway to the community, the pair knew they were well placed to do the same with St Roch’s. During his time with local amateur team Blochairn Star, Cameron helped to raise more than £30,000 in honour of Mark Cummings – who was only eight when he was murdered – and launched free football camps.

It might sound complicated, but he has no hesitation in saying it “was easy”.

“What I saw was how easy it was as a football team to help the community,” he says. “When we came to St Roch’s we knew, with the history and the name, there was no reason we couldn’t do it here.”

It might be some time before the club is finally able to get the