Arbroath Sporting Club’s proud history reached a sad conclusion as the team’s final 90 minutes were played out on the town’s Seaton Park.
The record books will show Arbroath SC’s last display as a 1-0 victory against long-standing rivals Montrose Roselea, but the joy of derby success was overshadowed by the sombre mood surrounding the demise of the club just months after an event celebrated its half century.
Due to lose their home of almost four decades next year, Arbroath SC were to re-enter talks with Angus Council about a new shared community base, but those negotiations were overtaken by the club’s decision to fold after receiving a massively increased rent bill.
The authority had hiked the rent demand from £900 to £11,000 to take into account income the club receives from car boot sales at Seaton Park, a figure club officials said they could not think of meeting.
Before talks could resume, the decision to bring the curtain down on the outfit founded in 1960 as Angus Social Club was made, and among those in the weekend crowd were two stalwarts of the early days who expressed sadness at the decision to fold.
Former president Ron Ritchie who signed the original Seaton Park lease in the early 1970s, said, “I’ve had great times with the club, we all have, and I wasn’t going to be going to the game but my wife said I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t.
“When we took on Seaton Park it must have cost us about £25,000 to get it up and running with everything we needed to do and build, but we ran the Arbroath half marathon and gala day and that cleared up all the debt,” added Ron (77), who served four years as president and was also treasurer for almost two decades in a 27-year ASC association.Full-time work”It’s a sad time for everyone, but I can understand why they’ve taken a decision that they were kind of forced into. You have to be there almost full-time to keep a club running and I wouldn’t be there doing that for the council to get half of it.”
Les Barnett (82) was Arbroath SC’s first secretary and treasurer and devoted over 40 years to the club including a spell as manager.
He said, “It’s a sad day and I don’t think the council has come out of this well at all.
“I happened to work beside the guys who set up the club and they were struggling for players and money, so I agreed to go along to a meeting and when I got there I found I was introduced as secretary/treasurer.
“We had a reunion in March for the 50th anniversary and it was a good night, but there was no indication of what was waiting just around the corner. I never thought I’d see the day before the club was gone before me and it’s sad for the town.”
Picture Jim Ratcliffe.