For a few years now, Grant Hamilton has taken on the role of Chaplain at the Club. As part of his role he attends our training session at least once a week. And as we aim to give the fans a bit more “behind the scenes” look at the club Grant has kindly agreed to provide an insightful look at some of the squad in his “Chaplain’s Corner”.

First under the spotlight is Captain, Stephen Dobbie.

Welcome Stephen. This will probably not be your bog standard football interview. As you know, I have a chaplaincy role in the club so I’m going to bring some of that into these questions. If you don’t want to answer something then you don’t need too but hopefully I won’t get too personal.

So my first question is a bit of an icebreaker that I use sometimes if I’m working with groups. I want you to imagine you are a chat show host. You can interview three people, living or dead, so who would your guests be?

“In a football sense, I would probably pick George Best because of the simple fact of just how good he was and how his mentality was in that era. Of course he had problems off the field but he managed to counteract that with his football for a long time.

The second would be a musical one, Michael Jackson. Just to see how his life changed as he became more famous. I know about all the allegations and stuff surrounding him but I watched a documentary about his life and his upbringing and just thought he was really interesting.

And the final one would probably be someone like Mike Tyson, for the simple fact that I’d like to ask about the training as well as the boxing. He obviously had problems as well and I am interested in people, especially in sport, who have problems and overcome them to become champions in their own field”.

It’s funny you say that because you’re leading me into one of the questions I was going to ask you nearer the end. This question actually came from my wife, believe it or not. How do you stay so resilient? (Her words) What keeps you maturing like a fine wine? (My words)

“I think that anyone who knows me knows that I hate to lose; even a wee shooting competition or wee games in training. I’m still at a stage in my career where I love to win every game. To have a longer career you need to have that; losing has got to matter to you.

Also when you get to my age, you are in a position to set an example for other people, especially on the training field for the younger ones coming through like Connor and young Gary. I have the chance to show them how, even when they aren’t in the first 11, there are things they have to do, day in and day out, to get to where they want to be and change the manager’s mind.  

There are many times in football when you get knocked down but the important thing is how you react to it. Believe me, I’ve had a lot of days in my career when I’ve gone home from training thinking ‘what can I do to try and get in this team?’ You can be playing amazing in training and still be on the bench for the next game so it’s just a matter of continually doing it and taking the chance when it comes”.

I do find it interesting that all your talk show guests are people that have experienced adversity. Do you think that’s something you have had in your career?

“Yes. Definitely. There are always doubters in your life and especially in football, because it’s all about opinions. Obviously the road I took, with not being as fit as I could have been and being overweight; I had to change my whole lifestyle to make sure I proved people wrong. When I did it and I had the success it made it all the sweeter. It wasn’t that I wanted to prove the critics wrong, it was much more that I could say to myself, I’ve done it”.

This next question is definitely a Chaplain type question. With me being a minister and a Chaplain, my faith is a big motivator for me. How do you feel when you get given religious type names and titles like Messiah or even god? Even the unofficial Facebook page has your head in a halo (both laugh).

“It’s been amazing because the thing for me, coming back to Queens, wasn’t to try and get anywhere near the status some people see me at. Now, when people say all the kind of things you mentioned, I just want to be an ambassador for the club I love. When I came back, the plan was just to do well for the club where I had been successful before. Now with this other stuff it is just an honour that people respect the work you put in for something they love as well”.

As a sub-question to the last one, does that level of expectation put any extra pressure on you or does it just motivate you?

“It doesn’t put any extra pressure on me because I am the one who puts most pressure on myself. I’ll give you an example – Last season when we played Alloa at home we were 3-0 down after 25 minutes. I ended up scoring a hat trick but after the game I was still angry because even though I got a hat trick we never won the game. So the expectation from other people doesn’t get to me but the expectation from myself for myself to do the right thing for the team is what drives me on”.

One of the core values of Sports Chaplaincy is ‘presence.’ Do you think it is useful to have someone like a chaplain around as an independent person to talk to if needed?

“Yes, definitely, nowadays probably more so. I mean when I was younger, players’ emotions didn’t really matter then. It was all ‘come on’ ‘get stuck in’ ‘work hard’ ‘blah blah.’ You didn’t really have anyone, if you were feeling down or you had a problem that you could go and talk to. I think in this day and age when there is more emphasis on sport psychology and that kind of stuff it is a big thing, having someone who’s not involved with the actual football to go and say ‘I’m a bit low on confidence, what do you think?’ ‘How can I get out of this wee rut I’m in?’ or whatever else is on your mind. I kind of do that role a bit myself, especially with younger players because whatever they come to me or you with is obviously private. They are able to watch me and see that I’ve had a long career and played at a good level and there aren’t many things I haven’t seen in football. If I, or the likes of yourself can help them in that way, without them having to go to the manager or assistant then that’s a brilliant tool”.  

I have another sub question, and I kind of know the answer, but I’ll let you explain to me why it is difficult for some players to share difficult things with team mates or coaches.

“I think as far as coaches are concerned, it is because they are the ones responsible for picking the team and they have a lot of authority. It is probably better to go to the captain or someone like yourself, the Chaplain; someone who isn’t directly involved in the day to day business of picking the team and organising training. Personally, if I had a problem I would go home to my wife. She is my sounding board but the younger ones who aren’t married might go home and speak to their dad or someone else”.

Part of the chaplaincy training involves looking at issues like gambling, addiction and mental health. Which of these do you think is the biggest issue for footballers today and has it changed over the duration of your career?

“I think the drinking culture has changed a lot. When I was younger, drinking was very much tied in with team bonding. Now there are different activities to go to – it would be more common to go for lunch than a night out. I think a lot of the change has come about because of the way players look after themselves today, going to the gym more often and things like that. For me personally, I would rather get up on a Sunday morning and take the kids swimming or out on their bikes instead of lying in bed with a hangover.

I would say the betting is probably more out of boredom. Maybe after training players have time on their hands and their mates might still be at work so it’s important they find things to pass the time well. When I am in Glasgow during the day I might go to the cinema myself, just to break up the day until my mates have finished work and I can go and have dinner with them. I always try and stay active so I don’t get bored.

My own experience, especially with over-eating, tells me that you have to take some responsibility for making good choices that will be better for you and your family in the long run”.

That leads me into a subject that a little bird told me about. I’m a vegetarian and I hear that you have been experimenting with a plant based diet. Can you tell me a bit about that?

“Yes, I’ve been doing it for a few weeks now and I feel really good. I’m trying a change just to see if it will help me with the aches and pains after games. I’m really enjoying it so far”

How radical a change has it been?

“I have changed a lot of simple things like swapping salmon, which I ate a lot of, for vegetable based meals. I used to put honey in my tea and butter on my toast but I’ve stopped that. I use soya milk instead of cow’s milk. I’m just trying to keep myself young (laughs)”.

That’s great Stephen. I’ll maybe come back to you another time and keep tabs on how you are doing. I had one or two other things I could have asked you but you’ve been absolutely brilliant and I’ll leave it there.

“Thanks Grant. Good man”.

Next week we will bring you Grant’s interview with Lewis Kidd.