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Former P&J Highland editor served sport and journalism for more than 60 years

Bill McAllister was paper's Highland sports editor, North news editor and first Highland editor and later shinty correspondent

Bill McAllister with the Scottish League Cup, the Camanachd Cup and the Scottish Cup.
Bill McAllister with the Scottish League Cup, the Camanachd Cup and the Scottish Cup.

Bill McAllister was highly respected in journalism and sports circles for more than 60 years.

He was a colourful and engaging writer, broadcaster and after dinner speaker who also served as a local councillor.

Among the many stories he liked to tell was the time he played in a football match against the legendary George Best.

First job at 16

Bill, who died aged 78, was brought up in Dingwall and joined the North Star aged 16.

At 18, he moved to the Highland News in Inverness and three years later joined the Press and Journal, where he worked for 24 years.

During that time he was Highland sports editor, North news editor and the paper’s first Highland editor.

He was also the P&J’s shinty correspondent for many years until very recently.

In 1990, he set up his own press and public relations company and was founder and editor of Highland Football and Sport, the first monthly magazine devoted to the North game.

His reporting on matches, curtailed Bill’s own career as a goalkeeper.

He played two Highland League games, for Ross County and Brora Rangers, the latter when he provided coverage of the match but also played as a ‘trialist’ when the Brora keeper called off.

Pictured – Forbes Shand, Steve Paterson and Bill McAllister.

He also turned out for a number of welfare and amateur sides, as well as the Inverness Press Team.

It was while playing for a Press X1 against a Dillingers Nightclub X1 that he faced George Best at Victoria Park in Dingwall.

Bill’s entertaining reporting style generated a huge interest in the Highland League in print and also on BBC Radio Scotland for many years.

In 1993, he wrote the history of the first 100 years of the Highland League, The Highland Hundred.

In his foreword, Bill concluded: “The American cowboy philosopher Will Rogers said: ‘We can’t all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the kerb and clap as they go by’.

“It has been my rare pleasure to sit and clap as the years have rolled by for this grand old league, heavy with honours, rich in friends.”

Football memories

He also enjoyed researching local history projects and wrote a weekly column in the Inverness Courier. Commissioned by the Inverness Football Memories Project, he  researched and recorded the history of professional football in Inverness since around 1885.

He was a guest speaker at the football memories March meeting where he entertained attendees with his memories of his career.

For 19 years Bill served as a Labour councillor in Inverness, taking a particular interest in leisure and recreation provision.

He was a former chairman of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities Arts and Recreation Committee.

He also served on the Scottish Sports Council and the Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils. Bill was a former chairman of the Highland branch of the National Union of Journalists.

He is survived by wife Bet, a Highland councillor, sons Mark, who played for Caledonian and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and Kerr, daughter Gemma and his grandchildren.

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