5 days ago
Aberdeen Grammar School's Hampden heroes back together again 30 years on from famous win
The members of Aberdeen Grammar School's 1995 Scottish Schools' Senior Shield winning team were back together to toast a famous victory.
The Grammar side, which included future Aberdeen captain Russell Anderson, defeated Dunfermline High School 4-2 in the final at Hampden Park to win the national competition.
They remain the only team from the north-east of Scotland to have won the Senior Shield.
Patrick O'Driscoll nodded Grammar in front after only five minutes before Anderson doubled the advantage with a header in the 20th minute.
Steven Gilfeather put Grammar 3-0 up in the 33rd minute with a magnificent solo effort before Dunfermline fought back with two goals either side of the interval.
Gilfeather put the game beyond doubt when he made it 4-2 in the 65th minute.
Members of the team and their coach Mike McLeod met up on Saturday to reminisce about their Hampden triumph.
Andrew Wilson, who played in goals for Grammar, said: 'It was a really nice occasion as it was 15 years since we last met up.
'Mike McLeod was there for the first part of the evening when we watched the highlights of the game and it was lovely to see him.
'He brought along a shirt signed by all the players that we'd given him at one of our earlier reunions.
'We went to the Ferryhill House Hotel for some food and then we went back to our captain Gav Hendry's house and ended up watching the DVD of the game two more times until about 3am.'
Wilson said the journey through the early stages of the competition was almost as memorable as the final itself.
He said: 'Along the way we played a number of teams who were probably on paper better than us but we just had enough good components and real character to win those matches in the earlier rounds.
'In several of the rounds we were behind at one point and managed to come back and win.
'I remember we played Carnoustie in the third round and we won 3-2 with a goal in the last minute.
'Somebody said 'our name is on the cup' and I didn't really take too much notice at the time but it just kept going with all these epic cup ties.
'In the following round we had to play down at Braidhurst High School, which I think is now a Scottish FA football academy.
'We won on penalties and we had to run off the pitch at the end as some of the locals started to come after us, which got a bit scary!'
Former Dons captain Anderson was a key member of the victorious team but there were plenty of promising players in the Grammar ranks.
Wilson said: 'Russell played in midfield for us. He was in the Dons youth set-up at the time and played for King Street Dons so he had a fair bit of juggling with the three teams.
'When we played in the final on the grand stage he really came into his own.
'He was tremendous.
'There was another guy, Paddy O'Driscoll, who went on to do a football scholarship in the United States.
'He is now running the women's team at Penn State. He gave us a video call on Saturday night. He was on a tour with his team and was speaking to us from the Copacabana Beach.
'Steven Gilfeather went to Dundee for a bit and then Raith Rovers.
'Andy McCraw played in Highland League, he was at Cove from the age of 16 for nine years.
'Gav Hendry, our captain, also played for Cove Rangers.
'Russell was the one who made it as a professional but we had enough decent players in the team.'
The Grammar team were wearing the school's traditional rugby kits for the final, which gave their opponents plenty to ponder before the big match.
Wilson said: 'When we were watching the DVD, something that was spoken about quite a bit was the rugby kit we had to play in.
'Our opponents got brand new kits for the cup final.
'I think they were looking at us in the tunnel before the game in our rugby kits and they weren't quite sure what to make of it.
'The kits were actually really heavy and the shorts were a bit ridiculous. Our centre-half was 6ft 3in and it looked like he was wearing hot pants!'
The team intend to meet up again in five years' time.
Wilson added: 'I think it is the oldest schools football tournament in the world so winning the final at Hampden is a great memory for the whole team.
'The lovely thing on Saturday was you could see everyone was delighted to be back together again.
'The oldest is 48 and youngest would have been 46.
'I think someone was saying we should try to meet up every five years. It felt like it had been too long.
'We had planned to do something for the 25 year anniversary in 2020 but then Covid kicked in and we couldn't do it.
'It was actually my Mum who filmed the game. She borrowed a video camera and took it to Hampden.
'It was lovely to watch the highlights and, looking back, we actually played some really good football.'
