Over the past months the Ed has been asked on many.occasions who is this Ally Forbes the able wordsmith who both entertains and informs us in equal measure on a weekly basis through his column" First man over the top" or The Friday Fillip

Let me tell you Ally is no ordinary Annieslander--no not for him a cloistered education in Glasgow's leafy west end
Ally is made of stern stuff a true backwoodsman who honed his rugby skills on the high veldt of the Milngavie frontier where Boreas blows unhindered in from the Campsie Fells
He learned his rugby at the school of hard knocks coached by "old school " PE men like Muir and Macgregor and refereed by Reedie His alma mater known as Dougie Academy produced greats of both codes men like Matthew D F Duncan and Murdo Macleod

Ally like Burns is not a respector of unearned rank you have to gain that respect on the pitch in the heat of conflict and this is reflected in his musings he is more a Sharpe as opposed to a Flashman-- a man who himself is the gowd for a that

We await with eager anticipation his endeavours and crafted words this week as we approach that great old match GHK v The Accies the continuation of Anniesland 's 120 years war when ghosts of halcyon days past stir the memory

So on Friday whilst Boreas blows over the green sward of Old Anniesland in true tradition the players will run like stags and leap like salmon with no thought of the ribboned coat or pecuniary gain only the Corinthian pursuit of the laurel wreath symbolised in the David Gilmore Trophy

LUDERE CAUSA LUDENDE

This article was originally posted on 1-Feb-2010, 19:00 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 2-Feb-2010, 08:14.