I predict a riot

Oh the hours, nae years, we spent at this venue.

In Boy's day it was Shoot soccer...

It was our port of call on Monday Nights, or Thursday nights and Saturdays and the occasional Sunday.

It was a nice wee bunch of lads... and mums and dads. (In the most). There were also some very choice people who it can only be described as an experience to meet.

There were the families whose whole life revolved around the team; family holidays, school events, weddings... and god help you if you didn't feel as inclined to play as often / frequently with as much belief and dedication.

These families saw soccer as 'their out'. Their boy was amazing, he was gonna be signed up, make a million and you lot can awae and .....

For Boy it was an outlet for some Of that energy... he was a good player, a steady player.. a Stevie Gerrard.. he wasn't prone to mad dashes with the ball from one end of the pitch to the other ; he held the ball, moved it on, and if the chance presented (and more than often it did) he'd take the Shot, from the halfway line and hammer it in - bending it like beckham.

In one tournament the goalie collapsed with injury (after letting in 5 goals in 5 minutes) and the team coached looked aghast. What would they do.. they only had one goalie.

I shouted - Boy - jump in....

And he did. He was like that. If he was on the pitch he was happy. First touch as a goalie ; he gave away a penalty... he didnt know he couldn't pick up outside the goal box.

But he stood firm to face the penalty; glanced over to me - i did the fingers to eyes to ball and grinned.

The whistle blew.... the striker struck... Boy jumped, grabbed ball and I screamed

'STEEEEEEVVVVVIIIIEEEEE MA BOY'

And everyone cheered.

He was an exceptional goalie - but he liked to play Shearer, or Gerrard.

And i tell you something, when I deigned to shout "go on my son" to any of the other lads; that brought a bigger smile to their faces than any promises from their ma's and pa's that a Celtic or Rangers scout was in the crowd.

Parental appreciation and enthusiasm is worth more than promises of a dream that very rarely comes true.