‘Now it will be a truly pan-Scottish competition’

Sports Journalist

Tuesday 5 April 2011

comment Limiting the World Cup to a closed shop of 10 is unsporting and unjust

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Neil Drysdale

Alex Duncan, the club coach, wasn’t able to celebrate his side’s win in person -- he was otherwise engaged with the national under-18 squad in Glasgow -- but, in the past 10 days, he has helped the Scots’ teenagers defeat England and guided Aberdeen into the highest echelon of the club circuit. It is Duncan’s belief that they can only improve in the years ahead.

Part of that springs from the fashion in which they were forced to dig deep during a season where they also flirted with failure."It’s very important that a club from the north-east is involved in Premiership 1, because whilst there is a lot of debate about the best structure for the future, we are now in the mix with representatives from Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Borders, Ayr, Stirling and Dundee, so it is going to be a truly pan-Scottish competition," said Duncan."The day we ignore the boys from the islands, and the more remote parts of the country, is the day we will be on a sticky wicket, so we have to keep promoting the sport outside the central belt."Duncan is surely justified in his conviction that "special things happen to special teams", not least because of the youth within his present Rubislaw collective. Eight of the side which clinched promotion were 22 or younger, with their outstanding captain, Murray Douglas, still just 21. Although they included some chiselled warriors in the guise of Sandy Warnock, Rab Barrie and Rob Aloe, the poise of the new kids was as important as anything else in Aberdeen’s success.The main task will be for Duncan to retain the services of such stars as Douglas, Nicki Fraser, Callum McConnachie and Tony McGuinness, whilst bolstering his resources in preparation for tackling Melrose, Ayr and Currie."We’re a university city and the challenge is to persuade the students to stay here once they finish their courses, but it should help that we are moving up to Premier 1, because the standard there is rising and good players want to test themselves at a higher level," said Duncan. "We have to use initiative to bring new guys into the club and there are different ways of doing that. There are a lot of Irish students in Aberdeen these days and we are looking to build up a relationship with their provincial clubs, which should benefit both parties and help us advance to the next stage. We also can’t hide our heads in the snow, so perhaps we have to look at the fixture schedule over December and January. But I thought that the mid-season split worked really well, it created plenty of interest in the club game, and even if the structure means losing out on a couple of home games, it is a price worth paying."Still, for the moment, it’s a time to congratulate the boys on doing a terrific job."Duncan has forged a potent alliance with assistant coach, Kevin Wyness, whose emotional delight in his side’s triumph was something to behold. "Their attitude, appetite and spirit were just tremendous," declared Wyness. These are qualities which will be required on the next stage of the journey for the Aberdeen aspirants

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‘Now it will be a truly pan-Scottish competition’

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