History
Longside FC records date back to April 1933, although a few years ago it was noted that Longside FC had won the Brucklay Cup in the Central Buchan League in 1910, which would indicate there must have been a team at that time.
From the records, the undernoted officials were appointed at the AGM on the 6th of April 1933.
Hon President - Will Bruce, Inverquhomery
President - T S Davidson
Vice Presidents - Rev W L Carmichael, J Farquhar, J Kane, W S Cran, J Park, and J M Birnie
Secretary - J S Park
Captain - Tom McLeod
Vice Captain - W Thomson
Trainer - Geo Wiseman
Committee - W Gavin, G Sellar, J McKenzie, J Park Jnr., T Wells, G Harvey
Selection Committee – W Gavin, W Russell, J Farquhar
Subscription Set - Seniors 2/- Juniors 1/-
The income and expenditure total for the year was £24 2/5 with a cash in hand balance of £8 4/5.
Season 1954 was the “Highlight of the 50s” when Longside won the Central Buchan League Championship.
Pictures of that Team plus the Reserve Team Squad were taken and they are on view in the Social Club. On a personal note, I joined the Club as Secretary in 1962 when the bank balance was £73 18/6p. The assets of the Club were Two Kits (one in Aberdeen’s colours and one in Celtic’s colours), 2 Balls, First Aid Kit and a Set of Goalposts which were moved around each year to a field around the village depending where either Cairngall Farms or J Sainsbury Farms allocated us one.
Around 62-63 approaches were made to my father, T S Davidson, regarding a permanent site for a field, and he agreed to cancel his lease on the current site and let the Football Club approach J Sainsbury to negotiate a purchase price which was set at £1000 – quite a sum in those days, but in no time this was raised and the field purchased.
From 1965 success on the playing side began to be a regular thing and since then, up to the current season, over 70 honours have been won.
The Pavilion was funded and built in the early 70s and was officially opened in 1972.
Floodlights were erected in 1978 and since that time they have been upgraded on two occasions.
Longside joined the Aberdeenshire Amateur FA in August 1974 and in 1977 they appointed their first coach in Doug Milne who was promoted to Team Manager in 1979.
The Club worked their way up through the divisions and they were League Champions in every Division except Division 4.
The move to Junior Football was made in 1989 and despite the impressive ground, we still required to make considerable ground improvements, totalling £5000.
For a small village Longside FC have an impressive ground with a Main Pitch, one Side Pitch and a large Training Area, all floodlighted, plus two Pavilions which feature the Club’s colours, Red and Black. We find that while these are taken for granted by us, visitors to the ground are amazed at the facilities we have to offer.
The entry into Junior Football saw the Club have Sponsorship on our Team Jerseys with a number of Companies being involved over the years up to our present Sponsor, Andy Smith, Positive Solutions.
The Club is now Semi-Professional with sponsorship of Matches, Advertising Boards and various fund raising ventures the normal, but in common with other Clubs and other organisations, these have been savagely hit by the National Lottery.
Many people say to me why do you not apply to the Lottery for money – but to do this you have to have a project in mind and you have to raise a proportion of the costs and Clubs are struggling enough to cope with running costs despite many cut-backs, so the future for Longside FC, like many others, is not clear-cut.
The success of the Club’s lotteries peaked in the late 80s and early 90s which enabled Longside FC to build a grandstand and then tidy up the last untidy area of our ground by building an impressive Social Club.
Our main aim at present is to strive to maintain the premises and the upkeep of the ground.
In my time, from childhood up to the present, I have seen many players represent the Club – many of these could have gone into a higher grade of football, but elected to stay at Longside where they enjoyed their football. I am often asked who did I think was the best and when forced to pick one I always nominate Zander Whyte who represented us for many years and was a skilful player and a joy to watch.
Highlight was 26th May 2000 when Sunnybank came to Longside requiring only a draw to win the Premier Division Title. Longside had to win!!
The 77th minute saw Gilbert Stephen control the ball 25 yards out and fire a “screamer” high into the net to put Longside ahead – Six minutes of injury time was played and it took a goal-line clearance by Gavin Fraser in the final minute to give Longside victory and see them being crowned PREMIER DIVISION CHAMPIONS for Season 1999/2000. The Championship was retained the following year 2000/2001 – a tremendous achievement for a “Village” Side.
Season 2003-2004 saw us finishing in 3rd place. Most of the years since that time we have found ourselves finishing up in the lower half of the League. Cup competitions have not produced silverware either.
As we approach 2011-2012 with a new manager in place, Natty Porter, assisted by coach, Billy Smith, we can only hope to look forward to better times.
ALAN DAVIDSON (Secretary)