Girls at Gartcairn on the rise thanks to efforts behind the scenes at one of Scotland's most ambitious clubs

IT may be the fag end of a season but there is always room for new beginnings.

The story of Gartcairn is one of those Scottish fitba’ tales where the extraordinary is almost routine. It plays out to a script where a coach can start a team so his boy can play and watch it grow to more than 400 players, where a goalie can drive six hours to train, more if there is a landslide, and where a manager can be recruited for an SWPL 2 team after coaching Dundee United.

There are more plots to come, of course. Plans have been submitted for a development across the Eurocentral site in North Lanarkshire. More than 900 homes could be built, new jobs brought in and, yes, a sporting facility built to cater to those who move in. It is facing opposition but it remains in front of councillors. Gartcairn seeks to become the club that would benefit from this multi-million pound development.

Whatever happens, Gartcairn has come a long way from being basically a works team before being reinvented in 2007 as a boys’ side. It now stands proudly at MTC Stadium, next to Airdrie Leisure Centre, as a club with under-age teams, a women’s side and a senior men’s XI.

‘The last time I counted we had 473 players and 92 coaches,’ says Robert McCallum, chairman of the club, who in true lower-league fashion cheerfully describes his role as ‘doing everything’.

He certainly created Gartcairn in 2007 but there is a back story. ‘It all goes back to 1989,’ says McCallum. ‘I was working in a supermarket and we started a team. We called it Gartcairn because most of the boys came from Gartlee and Cairnhill in this area and even Cranhill in Glasgow.’

The team eventually died but there was a remarkable resurrection. ‘In 2007, my boy was six and I wanted him to play football. He wasn’t very good but I wanted him to be physically active,’ says McCallum with brisk candour. ‘So I started a team.’

This early motivation chimes with the club’s motto: ‘Those who want to play, shall play.’ The first laddies were only six years old and playing against under eights. ‘There were a lot of defeats,’ says McCallum.

However, from such beginnings a behemoth has grown. The senior men’s and women’s teams have ambitions to rise further. The men’s side have had a fine season in the West of Scotland Premier Division. The women’s team is determined to rise from SWPL 2.

‘A Junior manager once asked me: “Do you ever take a step back and say wow?” I replied that I was too busy to do anything like that,’ says McCallum, who manages to fit in a full-time job in telecoms alongside his football duties.

‘I look back to 2007 and realise that I have enjoyed coaching from the moment I stepped into it,’ he says. ‘One of the biggest satisfactions has been the rise of the women’s team. Basically, women’s football just exploded.’

His daughter, Emily, now 17, was part of that phenomenon. ‘She is the best player in the family. By a mile,’ he says. McCallum once played in goal at a good amateur level but his two sons no longer play. Emily is at Motherwell, having gone to Hamilton from Gartcairn.

‘The next thing for her may be a scholarship in America,’ he says. ‘I would miss her… but what an opportunity.’

There is an opportunity for the club in the development at Eurocentral. Another presentation has to be made to North Lanarkshire Council and McCallum is cautious.

‘There are various stages to be gone through but we have made our initial case and are ready to do so again,’ he says. The pitch now being used in Airdrie is too narrow and can only be used with a waiver. The development at Eurocentral would include two pitches that would adhere to FIFA standards.

The way forward thus has its obstacles but would present a wonderful vista for an ambitious club.

THE way down from Argyll to Lanarkshire also has its challenges. Jasmine McPhie brushes them aside. At 20, she already has a substantial career in football. ‘I played for Red Star, a local team, then went to Rangers for six years before joining Gartcairn,’ she says.

An apprentice plumber, she lives in Lochgilphead. The Automobile Association details this as a round trip of 206 miles. McPhie, the club goalkeeper, does this at least twice a week, once for training, once on matchday. ‘She sometimes comes down for another training session,’ says McCallum.

How long does it take? ‘I average about two hours 45 minutes each way,’ says McPhie (below). ‘It can be more with roadworks.’

And what about the landslides? The Rest and Be Thankful road is regularly blocked and McPhie admits this can be a ‘bit of a pain’. She says: ‘It can take four hours each way if that road is blocked. And it often is.’

So what compels her to climb into her Ford Fiesta for such a trek? ‘There are no teams where I live and I want to play,’ she says simply. ‘I have played since I was at school and I love it. Sometimes you think why do I bother? But then you get a couple of victories and it makes it all worthwhile. It’s just football, isn’t it?’

Her return from games or training can stretch into the early hours and then she is up for work soon after. ‘It’s not just me,’ she says. ‘My brother plays for Broomhill and he does the same journey. Unfortunately, our schedules rarely match.’

This enthusiasm comes as no surprise to Gartcairn’s new manager, Graeme Hart, who has signed a three-year deal with the club. Hart left Dundee United — and the SWPL — in February and relished the challenge now posed in a lower division.

‘I am excited,’ he says. ‘I am delighted to bring my experience here and there is ambition at the club.’

Hart pointed out that Gartcairn had an infrastructure that would be the envy of some clubs in the top division, pointing out that GPS, analytics and recovery systems were top class.

‘This club wants to go far and I was attracted by that,’ he says. He was also enthused by the commitment of his players.

‘This is my first match but I have had one training session. The dedication is outstanding. We are all part-time at this level — and not one of the players is being paid — yet they turn up for four training sessions a week.’

Asked about coaching women players, Hart adds: ‘The girls demand more and they are more responsive. They want it as close to top-level professional as it can be. They give up a lot of time. If you want to play in the top leagues, then you have to make sacrifices.’

His philosophy as a coach is simple. ‘I want to make sure the players enjoy it,’ he says. His debut match was a scrappy affair that ended in defeat. But there were lessons to be learned and impressions were made. Not just by the players.

As the sides trooped into the dressing-rooms, McCallum was attending to all the minor tasks that come with being a chairman of a club. Nets had to be put away, balls collected, and the cameras at the side of the pitch safely stored.

In a corner of the stadium, Hart could be seen detaching a sponsor’s board and taking it towards a storeroom.

It may not quite come under his duties in his contract but he was comfortable with the burden. ‘We are all in this together,’ he says.

The club that started with a few boys has embraced the women’s game. Both men and women now march forward together. The final destination may just be a plot of land next to Eurocentral. The pitch may change but the principles never will.