Actor Dougie Henshall's passion for St Mirren began when Fergie was in charge and endures to this day,

DOUGIE HENSHALL'S first St Mirren game was at Love Street in February of 1975. On their way home from what was probably a shopping trip to Glasgow, his father suggested that it wouldn't be too late to take in the second half. It was a league match in the old second division, their opponents were Meadowbank Thistle and their manager was Alex Ferguson.

St Mirren won 4-0 that day, and when the nine-year-old asked his old man if he could make a habit of it, a childhood obsession was born. It sounds like an accident, but Henshall isn't so sure. "When I was growing up in the 1970s, my dad wouldn't take me to Ibrox or Parkhead because of all the sectarianism. It may have been a well-cultivated plan."

Henshall's love for St Mirren is the one you don't hear much about. It is the boyhood passion that creeps into the smallprint of interviews about film, theatre and television. The 44-year-old actor from Barrhead, best known for his role in the ITV series, Primeval, will not be at today's CIS Insurance Cup final against Rangers due to professional commitments, but his heart will be.

He loved those early years, standing on the North Bank. He says that Ferguson, and later Jim Clunie, presided over the kind of football that hasn't been seen in Paisley since. The memory has sustained him. "I always think that your first test of loyalty as a young lad is your football team. When the going gets tough, do you go somewhere else or do you stick with them? I stuck with them, and it's been that way ever since."

As a teenager, Henshall hiked about all over the country with St Mirren, from pre-season reserve games at Love Street to life-threatening days out at Pittodrie. Surely, the man whose cv includes a stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company wasn't part of Scottish football's hooligan element? "No, I was in the running-away element. I've been chased out of cities all over Scotland. I can remember games in Aberdeen where the police used to hold back the home support so that we could get a head start to the buses. But when they thought we were far enough away, they just let all these mad people come haring after us. It was mental."

Frank McGarvey, pictured right, was his boyhood hero, "such a glamorous player, the best striker we have ever had ... bar nobody". There are also honourable mentions for Jackie Copland, Billy Abercrombie, Lex Richardson and Billy Stark. When it comes to nostalgia, he gives us Peter Weir. "He never looked like he should have been a winger, a bit slow and awkward on the ball, but I loved him."

The standout memory was a Scottish Cup fourth-round replay against Celtic in 1980. He had been to the first game, where St Mirren were denied by a late equaliser, and was so anxious to be at the second that he rushed home from school, got himself changed and headed straight for the ground. At 5.30pm, they were already queuing outside for what was a ticketless match. "It was phenomenal, the fullest I have ever seen Love Street," he recalls. "I think there were about 27,000 there, with ten or 15 thousand outside. It was that really squashed feeling of being swayed around inside the stadium with your feet almost off the ground."

Celtic recovered from 2-1 down to win with a pair of goals that Henshall insists were offside. "It looked like Johnny Doyle had got changed outside Love Street, climbed over the walls and ran on to the pitch. I couldn't believe that the referee let play go on. They scored, of course, and they scored again from almost an identical situation. It was the most unjust, most Old Firm-friendly form of refereeing I think I've ever seen. And I've seen quite a bit of that down the years."

In those days, Henshall wanted to be John Motson. Not only was the BBC commentator paid for going to football matches, he was an obsessive character that the young Scot admired. Henshall was a decent footballer himself, but nothing special, at least not as special as he was at tennis. A regular at Arthurlie Tennis Club, he became the 1983 Paisley and District champion. "God, when I was about nine or ten years old, my whole summers were spent playing tennis. I was there from when it opened till when it closed. They had to kick me off the courts, I loved it so much. Sometimes I look back and think, 'would I rather have done anything else?' Well, I would rather have been a tennis player. Definitely. It's such a great game. I like the physical side, but also the psychological edge to it."

Instead, he made do with being an acclaimed actor. Henshall has lived in London for most of his adult life, which means there are few opportunities to watch St Mirren. The last match he went to was with his nephew just over a year ago. He hasn't been to the new ground, and counts himself among those who would rather have stayed in the old one. "It was never the most glamorous of places, but it was the best-named stadium in the country, my spiritual home. Christ, I was upset when they took away the terraces."

He goes to Stamford Bridge now, and sometimes the Emirates with his Arsenal-supporting mate, Hardeep Singh Kohli, but he doesn't want you to get the wrong idea. "I could never call myself a Chelsea fan. I'm a St Mirren supporter. But after about 35 years of watching St Mirren, I think I'm entitled to go and see what else there is."

When he is in Los Angeles, he goes to the basketball. A friend has two mates that play for the LA Lakers, so Henshall gets free tickets for the Staples Centre. And his niece is a football coach in San Jose. "She's a great player, far better than I ever was. I remember going to see her and being slightly annoyed that she could do all these tricks that I never could."

All of which has given Henshall a degree of perspective. He doesn't like Scotland's anti-Englishness, and he will be supporting the Auld Enemy in South Africa this summer. As for the Old Firm, well, he didn't realise until he grew up how much he hated them. "The sectarianism and all that nonsense surrounding them, I loathe it with a passion. And also the big-fish syndrome that exists in Scotland. Rangers and Celtic are responsible for virtually ruining any competition in Scottish football."

When St Mirren last appeared in a national final, Henshall was sitting drama-school exams, but it didn't do the team any harm. He hopes that they can do to Rangers this afternoon what they did to Dundee United in 1987.

"On paper, we should lose. It's as simple as that. But I'm not going to say we will get beat. I'm just not going to say it. I refuse. Even against the direst odds, I have to keep a little bit of hope, otherwise what's the point? That's why people go to watch St Mirren. You have to be like that or you would jump off a roof."