THE Waterfront Cinema on Sunday night.

The place was packed. Tickets were like gold dust.  You had to be in the know.

I’m there with the Provost’s chains. They had hoovered the red carpet for the world premiere: ‘The First Fifty Years’, the story of the Gourock YAC.

Entertainment of the highest order!

Over fifty years ago my old friend and colleague Ronnie Ahlfeld and his sidekick Brian Woods had a vision around forming a sports club in Gourock and although football wasn’t mentioned in the title of Youth Athletic Club, that was the game that was getting played.

We listened to how the whole thing grew arms and legs and how soon there were several teams for each age group representing the club.

How local businesses supported and sponsored. How individuals were drawn to lend their skills either through coaching or utilising their business acumen. How it all became community driven with parents, wives and best mates all drafted in.

They wanted a clubhouse and found the money to pay for it. They had sell-out dances in the Cragburn and the Gamble Halls. They soon got the hang of bottle stalls but had a lot to learn about barbecues. Sir Simpson Stevenson opened their new building. He said the YAC had become part of the fabric of the town.

Their teams were travelling far and wide to play. They sent a squad to Italy, another to the USA. The Morton were doing rather well extracting from them. Joe McLaughlin and Neil Orr amongst many did them quite a turn.

But it never was about turning out star players. It wasn’t even about winning trophies. It was about giving every young boy in the town (and girls now too) the chance to play football whether they were any use or not!

It was about enjoyment, it was about self-improvement, it was about a life experience. This was the ethos of the club and one of the things that the coaches always centred on was behaviour and how to conduct yourself. How valuable is that to a teenager?

Walter Smith was a great supporter. He made the time. And of course, there was the big match that everyone still talks about. Bill Hawthorne had wangled Graeme Souness to come down and play in an exhibition match at the Darroch Park. His team was to play Jimmy Johnstone’s team. Bobby Lennox was in, Tommy Gemmell, Davie Wilson, Benny Rooney and a host of other big names. However, it was Joe Baker’s inclusion that swung it for Souness. Heroes have heroes too, you know.

Ronnie Ahlfeld made himself self-appointed captain. He’s in the dressing room before the game and he asks Souness how long he wants to play for. Souness says to him, ‘Look I didn’t come doon here to play half a game, don’t even think about it!’ Five thousand of a crowd. Two polis and a handful of stewards and a day to remember. It was two each but that didn’t matter!

The movie had old pals sitting blethering. Recollecting stories. There was laugh after laugh. There were poignant moments of reflection too. The contributions of some no longer with us were noted.

So many men and women have made the Gourock YAC their lives. Immeasurable contributions. Unsung heroes of the highest order with barely a thought to the lives they have touched, changed and directed along the way.

The club now goes forward into a new era in fine shape. A new generation of coaches and the next generation of Ahlfeld at the helm.

Towards the end of the film Ronnie and Brian are asked if they would do it all again. They surprised us all by saying no. The world is a changed place they said. It has different values. The pressure is on to win all the time. There was a doubt with them that the way they did things would have any place today. I know for sure they are wrong.

To everyone connected with Gourock YAC over the years your community owes you a hearty vote of thanks.

Well done indeed!

Great film.

Catch it if you can!