Amateur side copy Jock Wallace’s sand dunes method

MEMBERS of an amateur football club have taken a leaf out of the training manual of 1970s Rangers manager Jock Wallace - training on some of Scotland’s toughest sand dunes.

Legendary Rangers manager Jock Wallace. Picture: TSPL

Bannockburn Amateurs took to the famous Gullane sands in East Lothian on Saturday as part of their pre-season training.

Football aficionados will remember Wallace famously taking Glasgow Rangers to the tough Gullane sand dunes for their training in the 1970s.

Star striker at the time Derek Johnstone was quoted as saying: “We only went to Gullane with Jock once a year during pre-season training. But that was quite enough for all of us I can tell you. It was very, very hard. The day after running up and down those sand dunes your thighs were just solid. You could hardly move.

The sandy beach at Gullane. Picture: Creative Commons

“There was method in the madness. We won a lot of games in the last five or 10 minutes in those days when other players’ legs were tiring.”

Amateurs manager Dougie Todd said: “The bus trip to Gullane is something the players, committee and supporters enjoyed. It’s good for morale, team bonding and most importantly for the players’ fitness. Like others who train there, the benefit of our Gullane adventure is not for August. Instead I know it will show itself in freezing dark February afternoons when I expect that our fitness will give us an advantage.”

Derek Robertson, club chair commented: “We have been to Gullane before and now plan for it to be part of what we do at Bannockburn every year.”

Bannockburn Amateurs kick-off their season in the country’s top flight amateur league, the Central Scottish Amateur, on Saturday at 2pm with a home league game against Campsie Minerva.

Bannockburn AFC was founded in August 1968.

It remains one of the most successful amateur football clubs in the country with a record that includes three Scottish Amateur Cup wins, four West of Scotland Amateur Cup wins, and countless league championships and regional cups.

The club, based in Ladywell Park, Bannockburn, has never been relegated in any of the leagues in which it has competed. It currently plays in the top Scottish Amateur league, the Central Scottish Fosters League.