The shock news received on the afternoon of Friday 13th March that all Scottish Amateur football has been suspended due to the coronavirus has sidelined Oban Saints push for the Central Scottish Amateur Football League Division 1B title.
Despite the fact that amateur football matches are rarely, if ever, attended by crowds of five hundred or more people, the Scottish Football Association, under whose jurisdiction all grassroots football falls, made their decision based on "public health, the commitments of emergency and medical services, and also on the safety of those involved in the game, which applies from senior professional football to the lowest grassroots ages." Scottish Football's governing body further affirmed "the decision is also designed to protect the volunteer network that supports the grassroots game, in line with UK Chief Medical Officer's advice".
The first Saints fixture to fall foul of the Scottish Football Association's moratorium was last Saturday's scheduled trip to Glebe Park, one of the league's finest grass playing surfaces, to face promotion rivals Lesmahagow. A win for Saints on their longest away league trip would have been another massive step on the march to promotion however Lesmahagow are a formidable outfit on their own turf and were desperate to inflict a first league defeat of the season on Saints.
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| The Glebe, Lesmahagow |
The South Lanarkshire men were impressive in the reverse fixture at Glencruitten back in August where centre forward James McGill's fifty ninth minute reply for the visitors set up a nervy closing third of the match after David Beaton and Lewis Cameron had put Saints two goals to the good.
Fifth placed Lesmahagow's four games in hand on league leaders Saints, and six on second placed Blantyre RGM, puts last season's Scottish Amateur Football Association Sunday Trophy runners up right in the mix for promotion to the Premier Division at the first time of asking.
With no decision yet made on exactly how long football's self isolation will actually last, a curtailed fixture list upon resumption remains one of many possibilities currently being pondered by the Central Scottish Amateur Football League hierachy. Abandoning the eight additional fixtures, originally designed to extend the season for clubs not involved in cup competitions, in favour of a return to a more conventional sixteen game card would see Saints already home and hosed as Division 1B winners. There is, however, much for the Executive Committee to consider and the season being completely written off cannot be ruled out.
Club elder statesman David Buchanan continues to employ his own tried and tested precautionary measures against the spread coronavirus by self medicating with a popular elixir produced by Messrs Whyte and Mackay of Glasgow.
Going into the enforced break Saints sit top of Division 1B having won all of their fourteen games finding amassing fifty four goals and conceding just nine. Overall top goal scorer Craig MacEwan also leads the way in the league where fourteen of his nineteen goals have come. Just one league goal behind on thirteen is last season's top marksman Lewis Cameron whose outstanding contribution from midfield has earned him a recall to the Scottish Amateur Football Association Select set-up.
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| Craig MacEwan |
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| Lewis Cameron |
Joining Lewis in receiving international recognition from Select Manager Colin MacLeod is left-back Scott Maitland, a vital part of the league's meanest defence. Maitland's regular partners in front of Saints number one Graham Douglas are young right-back Ruaridh Horne, old war horse Steven MacLeod and Skipper Dene Cassells who only lost his omnipresent tag in Saints last fixture the Cinema Cup victory away at St Patrick's FP. Regular keeper Graham Douglas has so far shared the number one jersey with Murdo MacKenzie, Jamie Strachan, Thomas MacCulloch and, for a twenty minute spell against Blantyre RGM, Steven MacLeod.
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| Graham Douglas |
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| Steven MacLeod |
International pair Cameron and Maitland also grace the Central Scottish Amateur Football League Select where midfield dynamo Matty Kelly has also caught the eye of Manager Colin Hamilton. The Saints triumvirate have helped the league select to a convincing Friendship Trophy win over the Ayrshire Amateur Football Association. Colin Hamilton has also masterminded wins over the Aberdeenshire Amateur Football Association and the Scottish Amateur Football League to progress to the final of the Inter League Trophy where the Kingdom of Fife Amateur Football Association lie in wait.
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| Scott Maitland |
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| Matty Kelly |
Matty Kelly's sterling performances have come in a Saints midfield where competition for places is at it's highest. Fourteen players, from teenagers Aaron McKay and Gavin Forgrieve all the way through to evergreen Ross Maitland regularly battle it out for five starting places. Maitland's early season exploits for Saints second string earned him a return to the first team squad where, on Saints return from the Christmas and New Year break, he was able to complete the remarkable feat of representing Saints in four separate decades.
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| Gavin Forgrieve |
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| Aaron McKay |
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| Ross Maitland |
Co-Manager Donald Campbell's work sojourns in Birmingham have left colleague Willie Gemmell with limited options for the central striker role. Top marksman Craig MacEwan remains the man in possession however teenager Cammy Hill with six goals continues to push him hard for the number nine shirt.
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| Donald Campbell |
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| Willie Gemmell |
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| Cammy Hill |
Perhaps the only positive that can be taken from enforced shutdown is that it gives a well earned rest to Saints overworked minibus. The battle weary bus, gifted to the club in by the Scottish Football Association West Region and the Scottish Football Partnership, has carried Saints adult and youth teams the length and breadth of the country since 2011 but is rapidly approaching the end of it's working life. The club were due to embark on some major fundraising initiatives this year with a view to replacing the bus however the current public health emergency has also put those on hold.
In a club statement on the current situation Secretary David Buchanan said "The first thing to say is that football is just a small part of a much bigger picture and you only have to look at what is unfolding in other countries to see the dangers. The safety of our players, officials, supporters and indeed the wider community is the most important thing. I get regular updates from the Scottish Football Association and the Central Scottish Amateur Football League which I pass on to our team members. We can only hope the pandemic passes quickly but in the meantime - everybody stay safe".
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