History of the MGRSC
The Melbourne Glasgow Rangers Supporters Club started in September 1981 although not officially launched until 1983. The beginnings were in progress when Frank Barrett and Gordon Hughes, two punters from Partick got the club going. Gordon and Frank had been going to games over many years through the good and bad times and used to frequent the Rosy Bar and The Windsor & Wilsons (to name a few.) "BYRES ROAD HULLO THERE". Gordon went to Skippyland in 1980 and Frank in 1981 and to find out there was no supporters club and no information about the Gers prompted them to do something about it.
After many calls to the supporters club association (DAVIE MILLER) etc we were in, our first meeting had a varied bunch, one Welshman who liked the Gers, three of the Weatherspoons John, Hughie and Wullie from Parkheid although Wullies days were spent in Brighton or Bridgeton to be more socially correct and he would never say he lived in Parkheid.
Gordon, Frank and a few more half hearted supporters and a wee Celtic supporter Jimmy McFadgen who just liked a bevy and a bit of debate. Franks son's telly and video was pinched for the night and videos of the Gers were shown, this is the humble beginnings of our club, there wasn't even enough people to run a raffle. But we had made our first contribution to the establishment of the first Rangers Supporters Club in Australia. Our next meeting was spread by word of mouth from Dandenong City Soccer Club.
Dandenong had the right colours and the background was mostly Gers supporters we had 27 people at the meeting and the alcohol flowed freely as the excitement and the old memories of Rangers days gone by were relived, (we need a committee, people who would work for the club) and quickly the meeting was called to order and it turned out we had quite a few blokes who had been well used to volunteering other people for positions on the committee, you know i'll put forward the motion and you do it, anyway Frank Barrett was voted president and so chaired his first meeting, Gordon Hughes secretary (he couldn't type a letter) and Johnny Weatherspoon treasurer. John used to give the money to Frank Barrett, as he couldn't trust himself not to tap a few bob when skint, but always paid it back. The meeting was an absolute disaster with inebriated gentlemen wanting Burns nights, golf outings etc, after around two hours of backwards and forwards and raised voices, the three executive members, Gordon, Frank and John were totally disillusioned with what they had started.
The club was getting stronger, memberships were up to around 50 and alcohol was totally banned when a meeting was called to order, we had some good people join the club Rab Smith from Johnstone. Rab had been a bit of a wanderer and had worked from Aundarton to Angola, he had recently formed a Papua New Guinea True Blues Supporters Club, mostly of natives and himself, got his own club flag made up and showed us photos of his orange walk that he had got the natives involved in. I mean these blokes were living on the fringes of the Jungle and Rab had converted them. Rab turned up with Chris Thomson. Chris was the only AUSSIE in our club, a real estate agent, who had been brought out from Scotland many years back and unable to wear a kilt by his dad "how cruel" - so Chris turned into a Dinky Die rather quickly but was soon to be as Rab a very important member of our club.
Billy The Bigot
Billy McLeod was our treasurer or "SCROOGE McDUCK" amongst other choice names. Billy had gone back and forward from Melbourne to "KIRKIE" Kirkintulloch many times he couldn't settle down in Australia mainly because of his passion with the Rangers. Billy was told about the club by Jimmy Ross one of our more stable members, Jimmy was from Vale of Leven. Billy was introduced to me and we had some great memories and mutual mates mostly from the coo shed the old "Derry Area", Gordon, Billy, Jimmy, Rab and myself, Jim Davie from Dandy City and Tommy Githmoar from Possil were the new committee. Johnny Weatherspoon had did his part and spent most of his spare time raising money for us, mostly drinking at the bar.
Big Battles
Committee meetings were shifted from Dandy City to the various committee members houses Jimmy and Billy tended to stick together and Jimmy, Davie and Tommy had their own ideas that they stuck to. We had problems as we had heated debates and usually ended up with nothing being agreed on and the problems had to get sorted out. Tommy left the club for personal reasons and Billy was happy and so was most of the committee just to get some harmony, although Tommy's contribution was good but the club had to go on and Billy and myself were nearly at "the punching stages" one night but we then became good mates and have held that friendship ever since.
Committee meetings were then moved to Dandenong Workers club as Billy and Jimmy Ross had a MASON dispute at my house and it was then decided to go to a "NEUTRAL CORNER". We had our regular newsletter done by Frank and Jim. Membership had grown to around 150. We had become a loyal branch in 1993 and had been recognised at Ibrox when Big Rab and Chris Thomson went over with our 'BIG AUSSIE FLAG'.
Jimmy and Billy met David Holmes, just before the Souness revolution was beginning, our club was taking off big and things were changing fast. Our club shifted to Berwick City Soccer Club. Dandenong were getting greedy, they saw how much money we were making and decided to charge us for having our meetings there and we told them to shove it. Davie Cooper had come to Australia playing for Scotland against the Aussies.
We ran two bus loads to the game, big Rab and Chris made a huge banner up out of a tarp for a large truck it stated "DAVIE COOPER STRIKES FASTER THAN THE B.L.F" (The Builders Labours being a union that were always on strike) it stuck out like Dogs Balls and featured in the Melbourne dailys and on TV. I also made a huge flag and stencilled it out spread over the polished floorboards on my lounge I did it four or five times over and was proud of my work "Australia's Number One Melbourne Glasgow Rangers Supporters Club". Unfortunately when I lifted it up it was stencilled into the floor and it cost me fitted carpets and a bit of stick from the wife!
Davie Cooper
Meeting Davie Cooper was a highlight, not because he is now deceased but because he was a gifted Rangers player and a gentleman and idolised by most of our members. I telephoned Alex Ferguson who was then the Scotland manager, in his Melbourne hotel. I was told he was away to pick up Graeme Souness at the airport and was put onto a bloke called "WALTER SMITH" in all honesty none of us knew who Walter Smith was, but he said to come to the hotel and we could present Davie with our player of the year award. Before Fergie and Davie arrived in the foyer we mingled with the Scotland players, Billy McLeod did his usual and slagged off big "SHIRLEY" Aitken, Mo Johnston copped plenty as he was mouthing off Billy sorted him out, while Bill Mcmurdo was arranging or supposed to be arranging $250 a time for an interview with Mo we gave him plenty, but no money. Jim Steele who was the Celtic trainer had a good chat with us and he shouted over to Paul McStay that he had an award to pick up McStays face changed quickly when he realised he had been set up but it was good fun.
When Davie Cooper came off the elevator he was with Alex Ferguson and Fergie proudly announced to us that Davie had just signed for Aberdeen, we all looked at each other and Davie announced "THAT WILL BE RIGHT". We surrounded Davie and he genuinely enjoyed our company we made our award and he couldn't believe what we did just to follow the Rangers. Davie in face gave us a mention in his book, True Blue (Page 68). We were all proud of it and he has remained etched in the memories of all those who met him.
Rangers International
Lawrence Marlisborough who was then a major shareholder at Ibrox contacted us with a view to tapping the expatriot Rangers supporters in Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada and South Africa. We both exchanged information, he was based in Nevada and telephone calls and letters, envisaged a better future for us and the club at Ibrox, and initial newsletter and registration was started, but was soon to grind to a halt when Lawrence sold out his shares.
In Australia we were getting so many letters from all over the country that we couldn't cope, we then decided to try and help supporters from each state try and get together to form their own clubs. We were organised but could not handle the workload involved, we upped the membership fee's to cut down the volume and keep the quantity up, some drifted away but the hard core of diehards stayed with us.
The New South Wales Rangers Supporters Club based in Sydney was formed, Brisbane, Adelaide, New Zealand and numerous other clubs formed and we wanted to keep them all. (More on Rangers Conventions at a later date).
The Big Video Screen
The club had to improve things for our own members, we purchased a large video projector, it was huge and needed four people to carry it, we had to transport it to view our meetings in Berwick and bring it back each meetings night to be stored in my shed. Unfortunately I had planted a large gum tree near the entry to the shed and Billy McLeod and Jimmy Ross were both nearly hospital cases because of that f**king tree. Around this time Drew Bowie who I had known for many years back in Scotland joined the committee. Drew was from Nitshill and was a close friend of my cousins "THE BLUES" from Nitshill (their father John took me to my first Rangers game). Les Strachan also joined the committee, Les is from Peterhead his sons Roddy and Jamie have structured this website, and Les is our video technician and current member of the committee. Drew is now our bar manager and has been doing great things for us. He has been called oor "BIG BARSTEWARD" on occassions.
David Murray had bought Marlisborough's shares in Rangers, things were happening. I decided to contact him and in turn he had his number 2 give us a call. A bloke called "Bob Reilly". Bob seemed very sincere and before long we were talking about him coming out for a visit we couldn't believe our luck, Bob did indeed come out he did a bit of a mini world tour promoting Rangers and showing the new Admiral kit, friendships were made and we have had a strong association with Bob Reilly ever since. He also came out more recently this time with Andy Goram, Charlie Miller, Craig Moore, Neil Murray and Archie "THE ROTWEILLER" Knox, (more about this at a later date). We then moved to our current premises at The Dandenong Showgrounds, the premises are good we run our own bar and have the very best of Video and Sound equipment available to show games at our meeting.
George Hughes is currently our secretary and George has been doing a tremendous amount of work for the club. George was originally from Linwwod and probably comes up with more ideas than anyone else on the committee. The next year Ray Newall joined the committee, Ray was from Cumbernauld, Ray has been instrumental in helping getting the website up and running and is now the editor of our Out of the Blue newsletter. Rab Smith is now in charge of club merchandise some of which you will see in the site. Rab is looking to seeing your cheques in the mail.
Wee Robert...
Robert Barclay originally from Townhead is our fund raiser. Robert is to be found most meeting nights chasing people up and running raffles etc. Look out for Robert and "STITCH UP YER POCKETS" This is just a brief history and background of the people behind our club obviously much more will be written in the future and much more about the past.
The First Sydney Convention
Goes back to the early days of the club, and is directly related to our first convention that was held in Sydney. The idea of it all was to try and help the recently formed Rangers supporters club based around the Campbelltown area of New South Wales. We had decided it was time to give our com padres in Sydney a bit of a helping hand as they were just getting started we had been up and running and had a good membership and a healthy bank balance, we decided to run a bus up have a bit of a social gathering (a barbie) on the Friday night, followed by a dinner dance on the Saturday, and a harbour cruise on a boat. All organised by the NSW RSC.
Strict conditions were to apply to this trip we were mostly going with the wives, and as such a no alcohol rule on the bus was to be strictly adhered to. Bob Grant a fellow bluenose was recruited as our driver and as our full coach pulled out of Dandenong heading for Sydney it brought back memories of expectations just like going to an away game. The cassettes were belting out familiar tunes, and we were off with a mission to show everyone (whoever they may be) that the Rangers supporters in Australia were alive and kicking. The barbie was a great wee night we dug into our pockets and bought souvos, exchanged many a story, and rekindled old friendships. The dinner dance was a bit of a belter, and we all dug deep into our pockets at the raffle to help the new club in NSW. This had the effect of reducing their treasurer to tears as they had exhausted all their finances setting up our weekend, anyway after this they never looked back.(isn't that what it's all about).
One thing they had up there that we didn't have was a catholic club ,as you entered Campbelltown you couldn't miss it,our driver had a fascination for this place because he seemed to pass it a hundred times and the volume on the tape deck went up full bore, and it seemed to generate lot's of loud singing, flags, scarves and banners were stuck up or hung out windows. They knew we had arrived alright.
The Man In Black
This was to be one of the highlights of our trip a harbour cruise around Sydney harbour with dining. Moored at double bay it was organised by Jock Mcnaughton, a likeable and fervent bluenose. Jock liked to partake in the odd light refreshment and I guess he might have had a few when he booked our cruise ship. We had did our usual drive by the Club, thanks again to big Bob, and assembled at the harbour. We stood looking at all the various crafts converted chinese junk boats, large yachts, luxury cruisers, the excitement was building up and our expectations soaring. The talk was all about which one was ours, and it was a bit late. In all the excitement,nobody took any notice of the craft plodding towards us,it sort of hit us just at the last minute. Like a miniature "Marie Celeste" coming out of the mist',Naw! It was the "Vital Spark" a tugboat. This obviously wasn't our cruise ship. any way Jock said "here it is!". I'll never forget the look on young Billy Mcleods face that day, he said **** that I'm no goin' on that thing" HA HA! it was brilliant.
We all shuffled on lots of mutterings,"it's all your fault" etc.etc. We were a bit dismayed to say the least, but the boat (called Annie)chugged off stowed to the gunnels with the finest collection of Gers supporters ever to grace Sydney harbour. We had brought our massive aussie flag with our club logo on it to fly proudly from the mast on our tour, unfortunately it was too big for the boat and we couldn't't fly it. All the food and drink was included, and in no time we were having a ball ,then one of our members complained about a bloke being half pissed and making a nuisance of himself. Our committee got together to keep an eye on him, he was pissed alright and queuing up for a meal. The caterers had nice cutlery, proper plates(not paper) I decided to keep my eye on him as he swayed up to the back of the boat, with plate overflowing bumping into everyone, couldn't't the Sydney Club control the conduct of their own members?
This menace dressed from head to toe in black was going to cause problems,he plonked himself in between a young couple sitting outside at the back of the boat took a couple of bites out of his chicken and then threw it over the side splash! One bite out of the roll, then throws it up and over the side, then the plate, and his knife and fork and then his glass. **** this says I something has to be done. A quick meeting with a few of the lads,and the man in black glaring all the time, as we go to find Jock or someone from the NSW club. He's back for another plate and another drink, goes back out again, bite of chicken, splash. Roll, plate, knife and fork, quick swig and the glass into the water by this time there is going to be some aggro as he's pestering some of the women, we get the NSW guys HEY! sort out your members it's like the OK. Coral standoff...... What do you mean! oor members, it's your bloke that arsehole in the black is causing all the problems!
All of a sudden we realise the man in black is a freeloading interloper we'll soon sort that bastard out! As the assembled posse make towards the back of the boat TMIB see's us coming, throws his new glass over the side and climbs up onto the roof of the boat, stepping on a girls head on the way up, by this time it's pitch black outside and we can't see a thing, the boats rolling around and it's pissing rain. Well he can't really go anywhere so we'll wait for either a really big splash and that solves the problem, or he'll get soaked and give up and we'll restrain him with a few belts for his trouble. However next thing the captain announces that he's got someone in the wheelhouse and to get him out of there,so there we are looking around in the pitch black trying to see him then thud,down he comes and belts the same girl on the head on the way down. Right we've got him, by this time were just about getting back to our mooring at Sydney harbour, weve told TMIB what's going to happen to him when we get back on dry land, and we have got two of the posse standing each side of him as the boat lurches side on to be moored up. Suddenly as the boat jerks the captive man in black has his grip released by his captors, jumps like a drunken gazelle and does a clingy onto the harbour wall,the boat nearly smacks into his legs, but TMIB pulls himself up onto the harbour and disappears never to be seen again.
We all have a good laugh about it get onto our coach and head back for an encore past the catholic club. To the man in black, if your out there "we'll get you the next time pal."