Hearts celebrate tiny village team's 125th anniversary

HEARTS send a side to the Scottish border village of Newcastleton this afternoon, for a pre-season friendly with a difference.

The Tynecastle men are going back to their roots to renew old acquaintances with the local side, Hearts of Liddesdale, and celebrate the amateur club's 125th anniversary.

The last recorded meeting between the teams was in September 1893, when the Edinburgh club ran out 4-1 winners in the second round of the Scottish Cup.

One hundred and twelve years on, Stephen Frail will take a young Hearts team to the village which sits only three miles from the English border.

The amateurs expect more than five times their average gate of 40 at Liddel View Park for the game which kicks off at 2.30pm.

While George Burley and his first team squad touch down in Dublin for the start of a two-game tour, the younger players from Tynecastle will be playing their part in a very special day for Newcastleton.

Club secretary Alec Matheson takes up the story. He said: "It's a great achievement for a village with a population of between six and seven hundred to have a football team which has lasted for so long.

"Hearts have been absolutely brilliant in setting up the match. We were slightly worried when John Robertson left the club, because he had agreed to the game, but [interim manager] John McGlynn was in touch before the end of the season and we confirmed a date."

The history of Hearts of Liddesdale is an epic tale in itself. Initially formed as Newcastleton FC, the club have played most of their football in amateur leagues around Carlisle.

They spent the last two seasons in the Dumfries Amateur League, and finished a respectable fifth in the top division last season, but have now returned to the Cumberland County League for season 2005-06.

"We are only 25 miles from Carlisle, and some of our players come from there, so it makes sense to play in their local league.

"Travelling to the likes of Berwick on a regular basis would become a real problem for us in practical and financial terms," added Matheson.

While the exact reason for the club's early name change is unknown, it is generally recognised there was a strong link between Newcastleton and Hearts in their formative years. The teams played a series of friendly games, and there remains a strong support for the Edinburgh side in the village to this day.

Liddesdale have a tradition of family links, and seven members of their current 19-man first team squad are related. They have been Carlisle and district league champions on three occasions, the last in 2002.

Their most famous export is Barry Elliot, whose father is a butcher in the village, and who left Newcastleton to join Celtic having played for "the Hearts" as a youngster. Elliot later played for Airdrie, Partick, Berwick and Stirling Albion, amongst others.

Matheson added: "Lottery funding has enabled us to install all-weather pitches and new dressing rooms, which the Hearts players will be using.

"Steve Cram came to the village to open both facilities, and said he was truly amazed at the generosity and hard work of the local people.

"All our sponsorship comes from local tradesmen and businesses. Without them, we simply could not survive. We really are the original case of the butcher, baker and candlestick maker in football terms."

Phil Anderton, Hearts' chief executive, said the Tynecastle side was delighted to fulfil the fixture.

"We had no hesitation in helping them out," said Anderton. "As a club of 131 years' standing ourselves, we recognise the significance of this landmark.

"And it's always nice for a club like Hearts to put something back into the game at grass-roots level."

Taken from the Scotsman