I HAVE a new hero.
His name is Logan Mowatt, a young kid currently being treated at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children for acute -lymphoblastic leukaemia, the wee soul.
Who knows how the little fella puts up with the jags, jabs and all the rest he has to go through, and where his family find the strength simply to be there for him is something I can only guess.
However, for all that he is poorly right now, it seems that Logan remains a cheeky lad who loves a wind-up.
Logan, you see, is a Rangers fan and so when he heard the Celtic players were due to visit him and his fellow patients on the hospital’s Schiehallion Ward, well there was only one way he was going to say hello.
The wee man made sure he was in his team’s colours and the image of Moussa Dembele’s superb expression as Logan, bold as brass, went to say hello to the Celtic player in a Rangers strip is one which gladdens the heart and brings a wee lump to the throat.
Logan’s mum Susan revealed: “Logan is a joker. Knowing that the Celtic team were coming for their visit, he made sure he had his Rangers top packed and waited patiently on them visiting his room.” Brilliant.
There is another picture of a group of Celtic players surrounding the wee man in his bed and, while his allegiances may live over Ibrox way, I bet their visit certainly made his day and perhaps even his Christmas.
Indeed, the afternoon before he got to meet his real heroes because that’s when Rangers made their annual Christmas visit.
Both sets of players stayed for hours. They made sure that anyone who could be seen got their attention for however long they wanted, as presents were handed out to kids who are seriously ill. Autographs were signed, pictures taken and memories made forever.
Celtic and Rangers each handed over a cheque for £10,000 which will go to the treatment of children with cancer. Good on them.
Many years ago, my young cousin was in the Schiehallion and while not a football fan, loved the attention given to her when the Celtic and Rangers teams of then visited for the day.
I have seen for myself how much the players put into these visits. Setting aside a couple of hours one day a year might not sound like much; however, take it from me, they make a world of difference to the kids and their parents.
I have watched the most hardened pro struggle to keep their emotions in check.
Of course, it’s not only Celtic and Rangers. Just about every club at this time of the year makes a hospital visit – oh, and plenty do so throughout the year without the need of publicity – and this is hardly the only charity work which goes on.
Here are a few examples.
Aberdeen’s community trust runs indoor football centres for kids. Hearts have a walking football scheme, it does exactly what it says
on the tin, which is designed to get people of a certain age back into a healthier lifestyle. They are currently 50 registered players.
Hibernian run all sorts of community projects on the go including raising money for disability sport. Indeed, both Edinburgh clubs are working together this Christmas to provide support for those less fortunate and Easter Road and Tynecastle will be open on Christmas Day itself where lunch will be served.
Even supporters of Cowdenbeath, ranked bottom of all 42 senior clubs over the four leagues, sponsor season tickets for residents in the local Care Homes. Forgive me for leaving out your club.
Last month, the SPFL revealed that 770,000 local people have taken part in community initiatives over all 42 clubs. That’s an annual increase of over 60,000.
Around 86% of all clubs provide free tickets to matches for community groups, charities and other causes. The number of clubs offering free admission to children has risen to 62%, up 5% on last year’s figure.
Scottish football has many, many faults but do you want to know something; its heart is in the right place.
It is only right that we acknowledge that.
Anyway, back to sniping and insult hurling next week.
AND ANOTHER THING
MOTHERWELL were right to keep hold of Louis Moult in the summer but will they sell their prize asset next month?
While things are done properly at Fir Park, many on the outside would think it to be insane for them not to cash in on their star striker if indeed he is on his way to Preston.
What could be argued is that they keep Moult and his goals, when he returns from injury, will be enough to put them into the top six and just maybe another final.
On top of that, a fair chunk of Motherwell’s incoming transfer cash goes towards repaying soft loans, so the immediate cash injection – which wouldn’t be substantial for someone with just six months to run on his deal – may not stack up for the board.
Moult is only looking after himself and a pre-contract with Preston would bolster his bank account by quite a few grand. Whatever he does, Moult has been a revelation and has earned his big move.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here