ON THE ROAD finds Darvel seeking stability … two years after that glorious night when they chased a dream by beating the Dons

Darvel 2 Johnstone Burgh 3

It is merely 23 months since Darvel beat Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup, yet the trail for the club since has had its trials.

John Gall, a major backer and purveyor of the Killie pie, has stepped away from the club, though his celebrated meat and pastry products form a constant gift to club coffers through his continuing generosity.

In budget terms, though, the years of plenty are history in this patch of Ayrshire. Darvel sit bottom of the West of Scotland Premier League, albeit with games in hand over every other side in the division.

To illustrate the changing fates of football, the Ayrshire team face a battle to stay in the top division of the sixth tier in Scottish football, while Aberdeen players who were defeated on that famous January night in 2023 went on to win man of the match in a Champions League tie (Liam Scales for Celtic) and another progressed to La Liga for more than £6million (Bojan Miovski to Girona).

The fates of football are intriguing to chart, if impossible to predict. There are somecertainties, however. Resilience at clubs is found in the work of volunteer fans. The Darvel story resounds with this humble trait amid the glitter of astonishing pieces of silverware that sit on the bar in a hospitality suite.

Darvel may have finished last season with the news of a massive benefactor stepping away, but they also picked up the Scottish Junior Cup and the West of Scotland Cup. Both sit in front of the massed crowd of pint swillers and pie munchers as the club prepares to meet Johnstone Burgh in the fifth round of the Scottish Junior Cup.

Darvel fans enjoy Saturday’s fifth-round clash with Johnstone Burgh in the Junior Cup

Supporters Caroline McIntyre and Derek Steven got engaged two weeks ago at the club

Lilian Mair swerves around both as she caters to the punters. The room contains a couple who got engaged there recently — a contender for the validity of that cliché, the romance of the cup — several former players, and a bustling group of lads from a Galston boys’ club, who are to be mascots and ball boys.

But Lilian’s story may be the most affecting.

‘I came here after my husband died,’ she says of her role as chief caterer and bottle washer at Darvel FC. Her husband, Sandy, is remembered in a bench that sits in a corner of the ground, underneath the Sammy Cox Memorial, a tribute to the Darvel boy who became a Rangers great. Sandy was an indefatigable supporter of the Vale.

His family has honoured that legacy. ‘I am very busy here,’ says Lilian, somewhat unnecessarily as drinks are poured and food is served. ‘We had a funeral here yesterday and we have a game today, Santa is coming for the kids tomorrow, and there is another game on Tuesday.’

Her daughter, Ainsley, helps out at the bar and another daughter, Stacey, is in the pie hut. Her 18-month-old granddaughter, Lily, sits on the bar, dwarfed by the Scottish Junior Cup but providing a beaming smile to all-comers.

‘This all means so much to me,’ says grandma. ‘When my husband died, I just naturally came down here and I volunteered — we are all volunteers here — and it now takes up so much of my life. I am grateful for that. I am now retired and the club fills up so much of my time. I was here from eight this morning. I love it, though.’

She is a fine example of the club’s link to the community. The children’s party is part of that commitment, but so, too, are the bags of food dumped at her feet for the less fortunate families in Darvel.

‘This is what we are about,’ she says, though she recalls with pleasure some exploits on the pitch. The winning of the Scottish Junior Cup prompted scenes of celebration in the town, but that victory over Aberdeen remains fresh in her mind. ‘I could not sleep for a week before that, and you can imagine the work we had to put in. But nights like that are wonderful,’ she says.

Darvel and Johnstone Burgh in action in the fifth-round cup clash

Fans shout encouragement as the teams go head-to-head in the Junior Cup

Johnstone Burgh celebrate a goal on their way to knocking out the cup holders

There is an element of wonder, too, in the story of Derek Steven and Caroline McIntyre. ‘This was where we had our first date,’ says Derek. ‘I am a big romantic. It was a year ago, and we got engaged two weeks ago in here. I wasn’t quite down on my knee but she said aye, so that’s the most important thing.’

Caroline was not a football fan when she made her debut in the terraces of Recreation Park. But she is now.

‘We are here at every home game and we go to as many away games as possible,’ she says. ‘I think I have surprised everybody by how I have got into football. I really enjoy it now.’

The couple were at both cup finals last season and their link to the club may be strengthened further.

‘We will have the engagement party in here,’ says Derek. ‘We are even thinking of having the wedding reception in here.’

They sit at a window facing a marvellous green sward. The pitch is impressive. It is largely the work of Stephen Hultman, the groundsman. ‘It is looking good,’ he concedes. ‘I work on it a couple of days a week as I am now retired. I got into this because I followed the team after I stopped playing football, and when they said they needed helpers, I volunteered. I then got voted in as the groundsman.’

A former youth player with Ayr United, he went on to play with Hurlford. ‘I don’t tell everybody that,’ he says of the rivalry between the local teams.

‘I have been doing the pitch for four years, so it keeps me busy. It was great to watch Aberdeen being beaten on it,’ he says.

Some fans have the perfect view of Saturday’s cup clash

The Darvel players line up under the floodlights  ahead of the game with Johnstone Burgh

Darvel (in black strip) were ultimately defeated 3-2 by their visitors 

One of his former team-mates at Hurlford sits at an adjacent table. Sam Murray, now 76, recalls that he also played for Darvel, though. ‘There was a guy who stood at the corner down there,’ he says, pointing to a spot near the corner flag. ‘When I came here at first, he gave me abuse because I was a former Hurlford player. But when I started scoring the goals, he began to think I was all right.’

Murray played senior football with Queen of the South and Stranraer, but his affection for the Junior game is strong. ‘I go to a game every week. I try to see Hurlford mostly, but they are away today so that’s why I have come here.’

As the lounge fills, Robert Anderson, club president, makes his rounds. He was only given the post three months ago at the annual general meeting and appreciates its significance in a time of transition.

‘This is a time to move on with purpose,’ he says. ‘This is a club for Darvel folk, run by Darvel folk. This is a club for the community. There is a price to be paid for that in terms of hard work.’

A former head of HR at Glasgow City Council, he is Darvel born and bred. ‘I retired two years ago and this has been great for me.’

He has set out a short-term strategy in the wake of the Gall departure. ‘We need to get about halfway up the table and retain our status in the premier division,’ he says. ‘We have been involved in so many cups that we have games in hand. So that’s the objective on the park.’

He also points out that while Darvel in the past were ‘intensely ambitious’, the club now ‘have to pull our horns in a wee bit and become a more sustainable club. Right now, it’s about stability.’

In the longer term? ‘We have a fantastic committee here with hard-working volunteers. We have the nucleus of a good team on the park. We have a great story here and we have to sell it. We have to take that into the community and the wider world. We have to broaden our appeal. This a proud place and we should celebrate it,’ he adds.

It was Johnstone Burgh supporters, though, who cheered loudest at full-time. They progress to the sixth round of the Scottish Junior Cup after coming back from two goals down to win 3-2.

That glittering trophy will therefore not sit on a Darvel bar next season. The volunteers, though, will still be there. That’s a football story that blessedly never changes.