Andy Todd’s Jukebox Durie says Stirling’s Binos are dandy…

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Stirling Albion was the first UK senior club to be 100% owned by a fans trust. In 2002, a group of die-hard fans became concerned about the club’s growing debt and decided to set up a Trust with the goal of providing financial support to the club when needed. As the club’s fortunes (both literal and figuratively speaking) declined throughout the decade, as they dropped from the first division to the third, the trust was given the option of purchasing the club from its main shareholder in 2009. The ‘Buy Stirling Albion’ campaign was formally launched on 6th May 2009 with the Trust leading fundraising efforts to the point where it was able to purchase the club in June 2010.

Today, the club’s ambition is to return to the higher divisions and, given its history, you wouldn’t put it past them to bounce back. Stirling have two nicknames. They are named ‘The Binos’, which is not a reference to Dennis The Menace, but a shorter version of Albion. And they are named ‘The Yo Yo Club’, which, again, is not a reference to Dennis The Menace, but to their reputation for bouncing back and forth through the Scottish leagues when they were promoted and relegated between the first and second division eight times in 12 years between 1952 and 1965.

One of the fan’s most popular songs is ‘Rave On’ based on the Buddy Holly classic, and which gave its name to the Albion fanzine ‘Rave On’ which took over from The Beanos, which is still not a reference to Dennis The Menace, in the early ’90s. The lyrics tell you exactly what you will get if you go to watch Stirling Albion.

“Come to Forthbank, don’t be shy,

You’ll get a Bovril and you’ll get a pie,

Rave on Stirling Albion, Rave on Stirling Albion,

Rave on Stirling Albion”

Ironically, Buddy Holly died when his plane fell from the sky, while Stirling Albion began after another object fell from the sky. Stirling Albion was founded in 1945, just the war ended. They replaced the previous team, Kings Park, after King’s Park’s ground (Forthbank) had been damaged during the war when it was hit by a German bomb on 20 July 1940. With no ground, there was no team, and five years later Stirling Albion was born.

Buddy Holly version:

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About the Author
After too many years as season ticket holder at Parkhead, Andy Todd renounced the SPL three years ago to support Queens Park. One team is a rank bunch of amateurs who play in a state of the art stadium and the other is…(I think we can all see where this is going).

Andy has been performing comedy for 18 months but is currently ‘between gigs’ while he writes a book on Scottish property law to be published in Summer 2012. Its potential audience will be less than 300 but his mum will be very proud.

Follow Andy on Twitter: @toddandy

Check out Andy’s website: www.toddandy.com

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