Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Inverurie Loco. Works: The sad passing of John Chalmers

Post Thumbnail

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death…. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that”.

We all understand the sentiments of Bill Shankly’s famous quotation, but, of course, it is not true. Life and football were put in perspective at Harlaw Park last Saturday when long-time supporter John Chalmers collapsed just before kick-off in the league match against Wick. He died later in hospital. Everyone extends their deepest sympathy to the Chalmers family.

Despite the tragic and sad circumstances, the response to the incident did highlight the tremendous professionalism behind the scenes at the football club.

Help was on hand immediately from Stuart Gordon, Inverurie Loco. Work’s First Aider, club doctor Aileen Connelly, other Locos’ officials, as well as NHS first aid responders and paramedics.

The club was extremely grateful for the help offered by the Wick Academy doctor and physiotherapist, who is also a paramedic, and everyone worked together as a team to resuscitate and stabilise Mr Chalmers and prepare the transfer to the ambulance.

Thankfully such occurrences are relatively rare, but the response which ensued on the day certainly highlights the organisation, training and effort behind the scenes which many “unsung” club officials undertake to allow the games to proceed in a safe environment.

The SFA and Highland League deserve commendation for ensuring that all Highland League clubs have a “defibrillator” and doctor on hand at all matches.

Following on from my article last week, the incident also reinforces my view that the Highland League is “in a different league” (to coin the title of Rodwill Clyne’s famous book) in terms of its “family” culture.

That view was echoed by league president Finlay Noble of Fraserburgh FC as he described the league as “one big community” in which all member clubs would share the sadness involved.

I do hope that the SFA will come to appreciate the unique “culture” within the Highland League as they develop their new pyramid system to/from the Scottish league.

As for the match last Saturday, it was a good one with Wick deserving their 3-2 win, but for once the result didn’t really matter.