A football fanatic celebrated his 70th birthday by lining up for a 10-a-side game at McDiarmid Park in Perth against players 50 years his junior.
Allan Smart, father of former professional football player, also Allan Smart, was piped into his regular Sunday night game to mark his milestone birthday at McDiarmid and then piped into his game of fives the following night at the North Inch.
After his musical entrance on Sunday, Allan went on to score in a game his team won by a single goal.
Turning 70, Allan still plays a few times a week and reckons he has scored more than 10,000 goals at five-a-side and believes more people should keep up the game for longer.
He said: “I play with a lot of different guys and they’re all very good to me.
“You just keep playing. I still enjoy it but there’s probably a little bit of insanity in there as well.
“Guys should play more and longer – but maybe not as long as me.
“Someone asked me how many goals I’ve scored at fives and I said it must have been over 10,000 – but then I have been playing since 1970.
“I scored on Monday at the fives and on Sunday as well. I always score at fives.”
His son Allan, who scored the second goal in Watford’s 2–0 victory against Bolton in the 1999 Football League First Division play-off final, believes the delight his father got from being piped into the two games might encourage him to play on for another decade.
Allan junior said: “He plays three times a week and I think he goes to the gym every other day so he’s still fairly active – more active than me.
“He’s out lasted all his mates and he’s now playing with their grandkids.”
Allan knows his father thoroughly enjoyed the special attention he received for his 70th birthday.
He said: “It was great, he was made up. It made him really happy.
“The thing is that I think this will keep him going for another decade.
“He wants to keep playing as long as he can and he enjoys it.
“It’s a great social for him and they look after him.
“The youngest on the pitch (on Sunday) was 18 and then guys in their 30s and then there was probably about 20 years between him and the next oldest.”
