Brechin becomes centre of football world for poignant tribute to Will

Published on Friday 2 October 2009 22:55

BRECHIN bore the weight of both solemnity and celebrity yesterday when laying David Will to rest. Those who gathered to salute the life of Scottish football's premier administrator included Michel Platini, who stood to applaud together with the rest of the congregation when invited by the minister to give Will a proper footballing send-off.

The 72-year-old former Fifa vice-president died last week following a battle with cancer, and was honoured in the cathedral that helped Will – and a hedge – put Brechin on the map. The grand structure dates back to the 13th century, and grants Brechin its city status. But locals had no need to feel embarrassed by accusations of pretension yesterday. Brechin was the centre of the world – the football one anyway, and for a few hours at least.

"The turn-out we got today is a reflection of David's influence," noted Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association. "People from all around the world have come to Brechin, a small place. David might have played himself down a lot but you can see from those who are present here that he went on to achieve great things in his life, both in Scottish football and on the world scene."

Indeed, the great and the good thronged to Brechin, as did Jack Warner, the controversial Trinidad and Tobago-based Fifa vice-president whose raison d'etre appears to be denying Scotland – along with Northern Ireland, Wales and England – its independence as a football nation. But yesterday was not the time for politics. Instead, leading figures from football put aside differences in order to support Will's widow Margaret.

A frail and emotional Lennart Johansson, the former Uefa president, came to Brechin to bid farewell to a friend, as did former Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh. Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, could not be present due to commitments in Copenhagen yesterday, where Rio de Janeiro was awarded the 2016 Olympic games. But Jerome Valcke, the Fifa general secretary, and former Uefa chief executive Gerhard Aigner also joined Platini among the mourners for a man described as a father of football. Will was as comfortable inside Glebe Park, home of Brechin City FC and a famous touchline-hugging hedge, as the corridors of power at Fifa.

This was a sentiment provided by Rev Scott Rennie, another who can claim to have put Brechin in the spotlight. He is Scotland's first openly gay minister, but recently left the diocese at Brechin to join another church in Aberdeen. The Will family requested that he take charge of a service that was bookended by the hymns The Lord's My Shepherd and To the Hills Will Lift Mine Eyes. His own tribute to Will – "if you needed advice, he was the man you went to" – was clearly heart-felt.

But then sincerity was one of Will's many qualities, as befitting a man who never lost touch with his roots. As a lifelong fan and former chairman of Brechin City he would have been as glad to observe the presence in the cathedral of Jim Duffy, the Second Division club's current manager, as the likes of Platini. The French legend looked quizzical as former SFA chief executive Ernie Walker, who provided the second eulogy, suggested that everyone present gave a round of applause – to Brechin City FC.

Platini turned to his neighbour in search of clarification. But within seconds he was enthusiastically clapping the achievements of the 103-year-old club, which include four Forfarshire Cup wins. Later he remembered Will as a man of great humour, who he first met following Scotland's 2-0 win over France in a World Cup qualifier in 1989. Platini was coach of the defeated French side that night, Will the SFA president. "I got to know him better over the last ten years," said the Uefa president. "He had a very sharp legal mind."

The office of the Brechin law firm Ferguson and Will, which Will's father founded and where he had been a senior partner, was closed yesterday. Representing a nearby community was David McGregor, the long-serving secretary of rivals Forfar Athletic. In David Taylor, another native of Angus who sits at football's top table, the local and wider worlds collide.

"He was helpful, even though we were rivals," said Taylor, with a smile. "He was Brechin, I was Forfar. When I took the general secretary job at Uefa, Michel (Platini] asked David about my background, and of course he put a good word in for me.

"The good thing about David is that although he was the British vice-president, and took his responsibilities very seriously, first and foremost he was a Scot, and everyone knew that. He used to go to international board meetings in a kilt. I was never brave enough to do that – but he did that.

"He was Scottish, but in the right way. He didn't stand shouting it from the rooftops, yet it was undeniably clear he was for Scotland."

Will's loyalty can be traced to an even more exact spot. Now he truly is Brechin, forever.