Earlier this week our Queen of the South Walking Football team took part in the Alan Little Memorial Festival at Galabank in Annan.
The tournament was held in memory of Alan from Carlisle, who was a regular walking footballer at Annan. He had previously played for Gretna and Carlisle and was frequently involved in Cumberland League competitions; involving teams from Workington Reds and Queen of the South. Alan had Parkinson’s Disease which had a significant impact on his ability to stay on his feet but it didn’t deter him from trying.
Alan is remembered with great respect, his condition sometime made playing problematic but on a good day, he was a fine finisher and always a goal threat.
event was co-ordinated by Annan WF Chairman, Gerry Baxter, with teams from Gretna, Carlisle, Workington and Queen of the South invited to take part. Some of the teams struggled to provide numbers but with a significant player pool from Annan the teams were balanced out to ensure each were properly represented.
The matches took place over eight rounds and whilst it was not a competition and the scores didn’t count for anything the fixture list provided the facility to record them.
helps to encourage some of our other players to get involved; and a good benchmark for ourselves in terms of improvement. Without our regular dynamo, Iain Mitchell and prolific goal machines, Neil McQuiston and Peter Heath, it was an opportunity for some of our other players to contribute and it was pretty much business as usual with some good performances. With seven-a-side on small pitches it was important to move the ball quickly and accurately and this was undoubtedly a strength which was re-enforced with the introduction of Mark Wilson.
With the usual pairing of Tom Gordon in goals and Rob Clark in defence, Stevie Smith, Wilson, Chris O’Toole and Mike McCaughey working the midfield it was down to Ally Rankine, playing up front, with his back to goal, to receive and hold the ball then lay it off to the advancing midfield. Despite his 70+ years, Ally did a brilliant job and had a significant part to play in the overall success of the day, scoring himself in our final game.
Queens scores for the day were:
Gretna 0 Queen of the South 1 (Scored by Chris O’Toole)
Annan Athletic Red 0 Queen of the South 1 (Scored by Mike McCaughey)
Queen of the South 0 Workington 2
Annan Athletic Gold 0 Queen of the South 0
Carlisle 0 Queen of the South 2 (Chris O’Toole & Ally Rankine)
With three wins, a draw and only one defeat; four goals scored and two conceded, it was a successful outing; and most importantly all games were played in the spirit of what was intended on the day.
Alan's wife and family were in attendance and were presented with flowers and a piece of glassware with the Annan Logo and a special tribute to Alan - in recognition of his contribution to the Galabank Walking Football team. They remained throughout the event, watched the matches (even in the rain), joined some of the players at the buffet within the Clubhouse at the end of the event, and expressed their appreciation for the acknowledgement of Alan.