Blether with Brown: Dave wears Dryburgh beanie in Netherlands

Gary Taylor, along with a trusted band of fellow-coaches, does fine sterling work with the various age-group football teams in the successful Dryburgh Boys Club in Dundee.

He relays a tale regarding fund-raising for his club.

“Going back a year or so ago, when my U/13 Drybugh team were sponsored by Dundee band The View, we were selling their shirts online,” he revealed.

“The band let us keep the profits for club funds.

“We sold only a dozen or so but a few sold as far afield as London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Montrose and Glasgow.

“I took it upon myself at the time to add a few items to the ‘Dryburgh shop’, and had Dryburgh-embroidered beanies and scarves made.

“We had a period when we shifted a few but, after the rush, we drew a line under it.

“Then, one day, out of the blue, I received a payment into the PayPal account for a beanie.

“My first thought was to close the shop down on our website. It was only something we set up for a temporary period for the sale of the replica shirts.

“However, I thought I’d better honour this last sale.”

Gary was then astounded when the location of the buyer was revealed.

He continued: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when the postage address was Alkmaar, Holland!

“It was from a Dundonian called Dave Mann, who moved to Alkmaar to stay.

“I responded by email to advise that we wouldnt usually ship merchandise abroad but, on this occassion, and the fact that, to my knowledge, he is our only Dutch fan, I would get it in the post to him.

“I asked of the reason for his interest in Dryburgh, and received the following reply . . .

Hi Gary,

Thanks for shipping the beanie, much appreciated.

Eh’ll definitely send a photo.

My interest in Dryburgh Athletic goes way back, lang afore The View’s mums and dads were born.

I played in the 1970s team, coached by the great Wullie Lilly and Graeme Walker.

In our team were Eddie Thomson (no’ the Utd ane) in goal, Gadge Strachan, Alan Broon, Laurie Deacon, Jim Sorrie, Frankie Feeney and Jim Broon.

Shame but I forget the rest of this motley crew.

We had a ball, or should eh say, oor opponents had it most of the time.

However, we would always come out fighting . . . no understatement there looking at the names in the team.

I would love to see any photos of Dryburgh Athletic teams. We were U/12-U/14.

Thanks again, Dave Mann.

Gary takes up the story again.

“I sent the beannie out to Dave but it got lost in the post,” he revealed.

“After a good few months from the initial contact, I re-sent another, this time reaching him safely.

“I asked him to send me a photo wearing the beanie for our website, and he responded with a snap taken at the Dutch Cup Final between AZ Alkmaar and PSV Eindhoven, AZ winning 2-1.

“Since Dryburgh Athletic became a Quality Mark Club last year, we now regularly have parents from all ages of teams within the club wearing our scarves and beanies.

“However, as far as I know, we have only one in The Netherlands!”