Manager of Sutherland’s most isolated amateur team lauds confidence of young footballers defying rural depopulation
The man in charge of one of Sutherland’s most isolated amateur football teams has hailed the confidence of his young squad as they prepare to embark on another summer season in the North West Sutherland amateur league.
Melvich boss Alan Murray is acutely aware that his club represent a vanishing breed, as one of just two remaining north-west Sutherland-based teams competing in amateur football.
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Despite their league affiliation, the north coast side find themselves geographically closer to Thurso than any of their North-West Sutherland League rivals, with a 50-mile trip to Helmsdale the closest contest on offer.
The only other north-west-based team taking part in the league is Lochinver, situated over 100 miles away from Melvich on the west coast.
Isolation is something that has been a problem for Sutherland communities as a whole, and far north rural areas as a whole, with young people moving away from the area and populations dropping.
Over the past decade, the collapse of leagues in east Sutherland and Ross-shire has seen the North-West Sutherland Football Association (NWSFA) become a safety net for clubs without an association to play under.
Speaking in February, league secretary Hugh Morrison lamented depopulation as a factor in the declining numbers of footballers participating in recreational football each year.
So, how has Melvich managed to stave off amateur extinction, whilst teams such as Tongue, Kinlochbervie and Durness have fallen into abeyance?
“A main factor in village life is more and more people are leaving these communities to go to college or university and they are not coming back to the villages to work,” Murray explains.
“We lose a lot of boys in their early twenties when they start looking for full time work, and the people that we do see moving into the villages are older, and they don’t play football.
“That said, we are probably a bit luckier (than the rest of the north-west) with Dounreay being close by, as more people get jobs there.
“My guess would be the further west you go, more young people are having to leave to find opportunities for work.”
Murray, an ex-Brora Rangers youth and a Melvich player since the age of 15, has had a full circle journey of his own.
He too left the area for opportunities in the big city when he moved to Edinburgh at the age of 21.
But bucking the trend, life took him back to the north and he pulled the shirt back on for his local side.
He then took on the role of manager, a post the 45-year-old has held for the past 11 years.
While the loss of teams in the region is a source of dismay for many, the veteran amateur campaigner believes the overall standard of football in the county has been on the up.
“When I started out, there were two leagues in the county, for the east and north-west. So things have definitely changed,” the manager recalls.
“I think we have seen a big benefit from having all of the teams in one league though. Every team is getting better.
“The league is of a pretty competitive standard now. The games are getting closer. There are still teams who are a lot better in the league, but on the whole games can be quite close.”
Murray’s Melvich showed they are not just around to make up the numbers last September when they beat guest club Mallard FC, from Dingwall, in the final of the Mackay Cup.
Lifting silverware for the first time in seven years, Murray believes his team have now laid down a marker for the season ahead, with his players taking confidence from their victory.
“We had a pretty settled team when I first took the job on,” he explains. “But with everyone getting older, and players dropping out after Covid, we were forced to rebuild the team with a lot of young players.
“We’ve generally had the same young lads for the last couple of years. The majority of the boys are local to the area, from Bettyhill to Reay, with a couple of young lads from Thurso in the mix.
“Now, with a few seasons behind them and with more experience, we find ourselves gradually adding more young players to the team.
“So, there is now a cycle of boys coming through and there is a team for young people to play football.
“The boys really enjoyed the cup win last year. It has given them confidence that they can go and compete with the other teams in the league and hopefully we can push on with that.
“We are just trying to improve each season, getting better as a team.
“The aim is to win more games than we did the previous year. If we do that, we know we are moving in the right direction.”
