Saturday 4th November 2023 – Scottish League Two – Stair Park, Stranraer

It’s always good to discover a piece of football trivia that you can bring out on the terraces.  These aren’t the facts that are regurgitated by commentators and the media, but those which are so strange or irrelevant that you can only question their validity, or your own sanity.

So, here’s today’s.  Which club has the longest running, continuous shirt sponsorship deal in World football?  Arsenal and Emirates?  Nope, Inter and Pirelli?  Good guess, but no?  VW and Wolfsburg?  Close, but no cigar. At 32 consecutive years you’d think so….but you’d be wrong.  The answer, as I am sure you can guess by my destination today, is Stranraer.

Back in 1988, Sealink became the shirt sponsor for the Blues.  Not much of a surprise considering at the time they run the ferry route from the town to Belfast and Larne across the Irish Sea.  In 1996, the company rebranded as Stena Line, the name that still adorns the front of the shirts today.  That, my friends, is a bone-fide football world record.  But that wasn’t the reason why I had travelled by car, plane, bus, train, ferry, taxi and finally on foot to reach one of the further outposts in British football.

In 1998 I took the opportunity whilst on a long weekend in Edinburgh with the Current Mrs Fuller to get tickets for Hibs versus Greenock Morton at a partly redeveloped Easter Road, and see my first ever Scottish league game.  Twenty-five years later and by walking through the gates of Stair Park, I would complete my mission to visit all of the current 42 Scottish League teams.  It is no surprise that Stranraer was number 42 (or 46 if you count four of the most recent clubs who have dropped out of the SFL) based on its location. At the best of times it was a two and a bit hour, infrequent train ride from Glasgow, and one of the few grounds in Scotland that almost certainly required one, if not two overnight stays.

To make matters worse the recent floods in and around the West Coast of Scotland, and a subsequent building fire has led to the closure of the railway line south of Ayr, meaning my original travel plans were scuppered.  Not to be beaten by the elements, I headed to Northern Ireland for the Friday night blockbuster between Larne and Cliftonville, then caught the early doors ferry to Cainryan, some five miles up the coast from Stranraer.

It was with some relief that the crossing was fairly calm.  I’m much more at ease with the land and sky rather than the sea.  The combined might of storm’s Agnes, Babet and Ciarán had me worried that my trip would be in vain.  I’d lost games due to wind, rain and snow in my question to complete the 42, but here I was on the deck of the boat with Northern Ireland disappearing on the horizon, poised to complete the list.  

Travel tip if you follow my footsteps.  Don’t.  Craigryan has two ferry terminals, a holiday park and a creepy hotel that I think was closed, but could be a film set for a Halloween film. It has a bus stop, with a service to Stranraer every two hours at best.  You’d think that the bus departure would coincidence with the arrivals of the ferries.  It didn’t by almost 90 minutes, nor were there any taxis waiting.  So I called the local taxi firm,, who had the monopoly on the local area but they said they were too busy to come and collect me, suggesting I ring back in a couple of hours.

I started the 5 mile walk towards Stranraer around the edge of Loch Ryan, and for the first mile it was all good, then the pavement turned into a path that then required Wellies and some kind of machete to cut down the thick vegetation.  So I turned back, reluctantly having to wait for the bus in the warmth of the ferry terminal.

I’d been there 10 mins before a taxi pulled up and let out a passenger.  I took a chance and got lucky.  The driver was returning to Stranraer to clock off and he was happy to take me as it meant he’d be home earlier than anticipated.  His first question was “why?”.  Why was I coming to Stranraer.  I told him and he repeated his question.  Even better, on the way we discovered a mutual love of West Ham.  Fifteen minutes later we’d sorted the problem of Moyes out and the fare was on him.  

It was too early to grab a pint so I had a wander to Stair Park to see the ground before the thousands descended later.  I’d barely had time to look over the fence when one of the club officials beckoned me in, offered me a cup of tea and allowed me to have a wander around the tidy little ground. Stranraer quickly became my third favourite club.

Stair Park is a decent ground for steps 3 or 4 in the Scottish Leagues, which is perfect for Stranraer who hasn’t played at a higher level than that for near twenty years.  Despite being one of the oldest clubs in Scotland (formed in 1870), they didn’t move into the Earl of Stair’s gardens until 1907.  Today, a smart Main Stand provides comfort for 1,500, with a small stand opposite.  At the Town End there’s covered hard standing, with the walls adored with photos from the history of the club, whilst the opposite end is open, ready for the brand new stand that will be built when the club get to the Premier League.

With the nearest rivals being nearly 100 miles away (currently Clyde who share with Hamilton Academical), any non-Stranraer fan attending a game or going for a beer in the club bar is greeted with a sense of wonder and appreciation as I found out during my afternoon.  Everyone was so friendly.

I’d enjoyed a decent lunch at Henry’s Bay House, Stranraer’s top table then completed the sightseeing tour at the town’s 26th best attraction, according to Tripadvisor, the Fitba’ Bar (Stair Park is 13th, just ahead of the Memorial Drinking Fountain) before the walk through the park to reach the ground. “Follow the crowd to find the ground”, my taxi driver friend had told me earlier, and that what I did, the old saying being “three’s a crowd”.

The game was between the two most geographically distant teams in Scotland at 268 miles apart (narrowly beating Peterhead at 267 miles) and the away fans would either have a 11 hour round trip in the car or setting off at 3:39am and getting back to Elgin at 11:18am on Sunday if coming via public transport, but that hadn’t stopped half a dozen of them, including a couple who had come down last night. It’s fair to say there was no need for any segregation today.

Both sides flirted with relegation last season and this year Elgin City arrived propping up the table with The Blues a bit more comfortable in sixth, although they were looking to avoid a sixth consecutive league defeat and put together a run of results that would see them looking at the stars rather than the gutter.

An absolute impeccably respected Remembrance celebration, complete with the teams led onto the pitch by a bagpiper, a lone trumpeter signalling the last post, then the bagpiper slowly playing himself off the pitch and down the tunnel.  Spine tingling.

The home side took just 4 minutes to draw first blood, Sean McIntosh being brought down in the area and Dylan Forrest converted.  A string of corners at both end kept the crowd entertained but there was always a feeling Stranraer held the upper hand, and unsurprisingly doubled their lead in the 27th minute when Matty Grant turned a loose ball home from 5 yards.

The home side made the game safe two minutes after the restart when James Dolan scored from 12 yards, although a Rob Jones header from a corner in the 76th minute sent the six travelling fans wild, giving them hope.  But that hope soon faded as quickly as the daylight.

Full time and the home side were back to winning ways.  Stranraer had been impeccable hosts and I couldn’t have wished for a better club to complete the 42 at.  The long journey to Glasgow started with the first rail replacement bus from Stranraer station. I was the only passenger, a surreal 2 1/2 hour trip in the biggest chauffeured limousine I’d ever been in.  By 8.15pm I was enjoying a beer in the Two Towns Taproom in the backstreets of Paisley. A day that started badly, ended in nothing but great memories of a little, remote town in a stunning part of Scotland.