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Ernie McGarr, the former Aberdeen, East Fife and Scotland goalkeeper, pictured at the East Fife Community Hub in Methil. He's the groundsman at East Fife. Picture by George McCluskie.
McGarr, who attempted to stop the shots which used to bombard East Fife, is now the groundsman and Harry Waddell and Davie Cumming help him out. The former is known as the “third Waddell” around these parts and although he didn’t represent the Fifers like his brothers Bobby and Andy, he was a player too.
“Forfar Athletic,” Harry tells me. Very good, I say. “And also Juventus.” For a split-second I wonder if I’m interviewing the wrong person, that here at last is the missing link between Loon-town bridies and the Turin Shroud, when Davie says: “He means the Juventus in Australia.”
These three are part of a small army of OAPs who potter around the stadium, keeping it spic and span for the Methil community and the football team. Every now and again one of them will stop to listen as McGarr, sat in the stand with his tea, tells the story of his life, and possibly they’re hoping to hear something new. The yarn which most interests me comes from our man’s time at Aberdeen when, to paraphrase Benny Hill’s chart-topping novelty hit from the same era, his name was Ernie, and he drove the fastest snow-plough in the north. Myths of our football, when you dig a bit, have a habit of turning to slush. I hope this one won’t.
McGarr enjoys telling tales of his time as a player.
This era celebrated its participants by requesting that they squinted into bright, pre-season sunshine with wild hair flying and stylists absent so the resultant photos could be transferred onto collectable cards which these days turn up on Twitter and prompt much hilarity. Now 78 and no longer in possession of his flyaway strands, McGarr’s national duty was brief but he remains proud of having served.
The 1969 debut against the team he still calls Eire was a friendly as Scotland attempted to qualify for the Mexico World Cup. There were no international breaks back then either – today’s players are such indulged snowflakes in comparison – and all manager Bobby Brown could secure from the SFA as a warm-up for the qualifying group decider was a Sunday afternoon kick-off in Dublin, 24 hours after a full card of league games.
“Unfortunately I got a ‘Charlie horse’ playing for Aberdeen at St Johnstone on the Saturday – a dead leg,” explains McGarr, “but I hid it because I loved being around the Scotland guys at Largs and this was going to be my big chance.”
The team that September afternoon was: McGarr, John Greig, Tommy Gemmell, Billy Bremner, Ronnie McKinnon, Bobby Moncur, Willie Henderson, Pat Stanton, Colin Stein, Peter Cormack and John Hughes.
McGarr, centre, received a commemorative cap in a special ceremony at Hampden to mark two appearances he made for Scotland in 1969. Pictured with Scottish FA president Campbell Ogilvie, left, and performance director Mark Wotte. Picture from SFA.
“The thing I remember about Dalymount Park was all the nuns sat round the pitch. They got in free, along with the priests. The physio had worked all night on my leg but not long into the game I made a save and couldn’t get back up. I was angry, hadn’t done myself any favours. Jim Herriot took over.”
Herriot retained his place for the decider – away to West Germany, the game of the notorious boot up Helmut Haller’s backside, administered by Gemmell. “I was upset not to play in that one. Bobby Brown was an ex-goalie but I didn’t really rate him as a manager. I’m pretty sure the likes of Bremner, Gemmell and [Bobby] Murdoch picked the team. These guys were mad for games of cards up the back of the team bus. It was a fiver a time, a lot of money in those days. Bobby would say to [trainer] Tom McNiven: ‘Go tell them to cut that out.’ Tom would go: ‘You tell them.’”
McGarr’s second appearance in the meaningless group game away to Austria would be his last, although he continued to sit on the Scotland bench. The actual caps didn’t come into his possession for another 40 years, when a daft rule about only Home International players of the period receiving them was retrospectively scrapped. They remain his most treasured possessions.