She has stood through wind, hail and snow supporting East Fife, but as she prepares to celebrate her 90th birthday, Etta English admits it’s nearly time to hang up her scarf for good.
For the club’s most ardent fan, who has barely missed a game in the last 50 years, concedes it’s her eyesight that is the problem, not the loss of love for The Fifers.
With the Methil pensioner steeped in East Fife history, her grandfather supported the club from day it was formed in 1903, while her mother and father were both fans, Etta’s Saturdays have been mapped out ever since she took her six-year-old son Andy for the first time back in 1968.
“My husband wasn’t a football fan so I took my son along and the rest is history, I’ve been going ever since,” Etta said.
“From Berwick to Arbroath and Hearts to Hampden, I’ve also tried to be there at many away grounds to cheer the boys on.”
But Etta admits her attendance at Bay View may have been short-lived had she not quit her job.
“I worked at the local Co-op with every second Saturday off but when called to cover for an absent colleague that was it,” Etta remembers.
“I would have missed the game so I walked out.
“In doing so it started a whole lifetime of love for East Fife.”
Paying tribute to Etta’s unwavering loyalty, supporters club chairman, Andrew Brown, said: “Etta is phenomenal.
“On behalf of the supporters I wish her all the very best and will happily be the first to buy her a drink to celebrate such dedication.”
And when word of Etta’s impending birthday got out this week, the occasion wasn’t missed among the highest echelons of the game with Tottenham and Barcelona legend Steve Archibald taking to social media to wish happy birthday.
“Massive congratulations to you. Great to see that you have been supporting East Fife all this time, hope they appreciate you,” wrote the former Scotland international.
“I’ve not seen it yet but that’s nice, he’s a lovely man and was a good player-manager during his time at East Fife,” said Etta.
Now, with age starting to take its toll, Etta said she struggles to see the far end of the pitch.
“The chairman has invited me inside to watch the game in the warmth but I’d miss the atmosphere and the banter.
“Anyway, I can put up with the cold, it’s my eyesight that’s the problem.”
But with a new season ticket already paid for, the lure of Bay View has once again been too great for Etta, as one last campaign beckons.
“It would be difficult to give up on after so long, after all, this could be their season.”
In Etta’s lifetime:
1930 -East Fife play their only season in Scottish football’s top division before World War II having finished Second Division runners-up the year before.
1938 – In front of almost 91,000 spectators, East Fife win the Scottish Cup after a 4–2 win over Kilmarnock.
1947-55 – The period in which Etta’s favourite player, Charlie Fleming, played for East Fife. The striker scored an impressive 117 goals in 173 appearances.
1948 – The Fifers return to the top flight of Scottish football after securing the ‘B’ Division title.
1957 – East Fife suffer its worst defeat 9-0 versus Hearts. (The club’s biggest being 13-2 versus Edinburgh City in 1937).
1968 – Etta takes her six-year-old son Andy to his first East Fife game sparking 50 years of unwavering support for the club.
1995 – With the club struggling financially, its directors agreed to sell the ground for redevelopment. East Fife played its last match at its original home in May of the 1997-98 season.
1998 – After 95 years at the original Bayview Park home, the club moved to a new purpose-built ‘New Bayview’ 1,980 capacity ground built on vacant land adjacent to Methil docks. It was later renamed Bayview Stadium in 2007.
2003 – A last minute goal against Queens Park secures Division One promotion.
2008 – East Fife won the Division 3 title, its first league title in 60 years and the first piece of silverware since 1954.
2011 – The club recorded one of its biggest cup shocks in its history defeating Aberdeen 7–6 on penalties, after a 3–3 draw, at Pittodrie.
2017 a new 3G artificial pitch was installed for the start of the 2017-18 season.
