Bonnyrigg Rose 1-2 Fraserburgh

New Dundas Park, Bonnyrigg

Attendance: 1,000

The possibility of the introduction of pyramid type structure for Scottish league football has been kicking around for some time. The past 10 years have seen a number of Highland league clubs attain Scottish League status and these include Elgin City, Peterhead and Ross County. Probably the most successful former Highland league side has proved to be Inverness Caledonian Thistle whom until recently were an SPL team. All of these clubs received or attained league status not through progression through a league system but simply through former league clubs being liquidated or through league restructuring.   The infrastucture these clubs had also meant they were ripe for progression ahead of other clubs.  

The current Highland Football League (HFL) is a league of established football clubs operating in the Scottish Highlands and also in the north-east lowlands of Moray and Aberdeenshire.   The league is one of the three 'senior' non-leagues in Scotland that is a league that is not the SFL, the SPL or Scottish Junior Leagues. The HFL has full membership of the SFA but currently its member clubs have no way of automatic progression from its league to the SFL proper on a yearly basis. Should another Scottish Football League club go to the wall and disappear in the years ahead it is known and accepted that current Champions Cove Rangers will be one of the favourites to win admission.

Being a non-League team in Scottish Football, Fraserburgh are eligible to enter the Scottish Cup every year at the first round stage. A club located in the extreme and geographically inhospitable North east corner of Scotland past Peterhead and 40 miles north of Aberdeen, Fraserburgh as a town is one that is heavily dependent on the local fishing industry. Fish catches docked at Fraserburgh harbour travel onto some of the most prominent restaurants in the United Kingdom and France. Despite a decline in the catch the fishing industry is still said to provide up to 60% of employment for the towns populous. The famous BBC documentary series Trawlermen follows many fishing boats from the city as the manoeuvre the treacherous north east seas in search of a fresh catch. The clubs colours consist of black and white striped shirts and these were said to have been acquired from a local fish merchant who had links with Newcastle United. This tradition with respect to home kits has remained since the clubs foundation with the current away kit consisting of all red in the pattern of the famous Fraser clan tartan.

Fraserburgh's opponents in the Scottish FA Cup had a touch of the James Bonds about it. Bonnyrigg Rose most famous player was in fact Sean Connery, who in the early 1950's travelled out to Bonnyrigg from his Edinburgh home on a Rosewell bound bus twice a week for training and home games. The team gave him five shillings a week and paid his bus fare to the town.

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic are a Scottish junior football club from the town of Bonnyrigg in Midlothian some 9 miles from Edinburgh. Formed in 1890 and nicknamed the Rose, they play in Scottish Junior Football Associations Eastern Super league. The main league structure is organised on a geographical basis, with Bonnyrigg being one of the 158 member clubs which are split into three regions:

• West Region

• East Region

• North Region

Each region contains several divisions, the East and West regions also being split into further geographical sections in the lower divisions. Despite the strength of some teams at this level there still like the Highland League lacks the opportunity for regular admission to the SFL, despite the league being affiliated to the SFA and the constitution of the league outlining its commitment to developing the scope of its clubs, see article 2:

2. The objects of the Association shall be to foster and develop the game of Association Football among all Junior Football clubs in Scotland.

Nany of the clubs who play at junior level are possibly stronger and bigger clubs than some of those traditional clubs playing in the SFL. Its is also thought that many clubs at Junior level offer player contracts that are more lucrative than those on offer to Third division league players.

On paper it was a match up of two equally balanced sides, both playing at a level below league clubs but with the possibility of a second round match against another non league club Spartans in the 2nd Round.   Sunny yet blustery conditions awaited both teams as they came out to the greeting of a large and noisy local crowd on a pitch that was lush but had a massive north to south slope on it. With only one minute on the clock and fans still accessing the ground a pass back to Bonnyrigg goalkeeper Atai saw the keeper fail to clear the ball and it landed at the feet of Fraserburgh midfielder Main to finish clinically with his left foot from 20 yards.

As the first half progressed Bonnyrigg struggled to gain a foothold into the game with Fraserburgh being stronger in the tackle despite playing against the wind. Long kicks from the Bonnyrigg goalkeeper Atai were easily cleared by Fraserburgh defenders. Then a breakaway saw Atai spill a shot and a despite a follow up shot being crashed home, assistant referee George MacDonald flagged for offside.

A second goal came the way of Fraserburgh from another mistake by the goalkeeper Atai. A corner was swung in from Graham Johnston and the home keeper proved incapable of keeping the ball out direct from the corner and it was in the back of the net. Despite a goal being clawed back from a breakaway which was finished by Howatt, the home side could not find anyway past the Fraserburgh keeper who looked assured, confident and technically astute.

A good assessment of this tie cannot pass without word being made of the performance of the referee Neil McLennan. As a neutral at the game this will go down as one of the worst refereeing performances I have witnessed from a professional referee for some time. By the time the 90th minute had arrived he had booked countless players and sent off three Fraserburgh player. Two of the sending off's were for hard challenges that were worthy of a yellow card at most, whilst the third sending off came by virtue of a second yellow card.

But that was not all, corners were given for what was clearly goal kicks and goal kicks were awarded when keepers had made superb saves. In addition, every throw in was met with the gangly referee shouting at the taker to 'get on with it' and 'hurry up' whilst his imposing and fussy presence left a game already hindered by blustery weather struggling to find any flow.  There was no rapore with players; no smiling and no positive communication.   A truly horrific performance from a referee who surely will never reach the SPL level.