TROJANS FIELD OF DREAMS pt 1

It seemed like only yesterday that I was standing on the side-lines on an AstroTurf pitch at a school in Port Glasgow, watching the birth of a new American Football team in Scotland, the West Coast Trojans formed by former East Kilbride Pirate and one of the Scottish Claymores original “Magnificent Seven” from 1995, Gary McNey.

Despite being classes as a rookie team, it was a side packed with a strong mix of youth and experience, which included former Claymores nationals and development players and GB internationals.

So it was not surprise to see them win the BAFL Division Two Scottish Conference in their first season and throughout their history they have enjoyed a roller coaster of a ride in terms of results.  But there was always something missing to make the team complete – playing in a stadium.

When the team was being put together, McNey had the ambition of not just developing a winning team on the field, but also wanted to build a strong fan base, who could turn up for the day and enjoy a full game day experience.

Having missed out on Greenock’s Ravenscraig Stadium in their first season, the Trojans General Manger/Head Coach, finally found his gridiron field of dreams, a stadium where he kicked off his gridiron career 25 years earlier – Scotstoun Stadium.

The last time that Hot Iron covered a game at this stadium, it was when East Kilbride Pirates were convincingly dumped out of the BAFL Semi Final play offs by the London O’s.

Since then stadium has undergone a major modernisation process and is regarded as a major sporting venue in the city and is set to play a major role in 2014 Commonwealth Games.

So like the Edinburgh Wolves moving to Meadowbank Stadium, this was another major coup for the development of the game in Scotland.    Especially a modern looking set up as this.   A venue with Britbowl quality facilities !!

Once you get the stadium building the game experience takes a bit longer, so as this was the first home game it was important that they showed gridiron fans that this was set up with tremendous potential.

PART TWO - ClICK HERE