Pars to Wear Commemorative Shirt

A specially commissioned shirt will be worn on Saturday at Somerset Park against Ayr United.

DAFC has commissioned a special shirt this season in addition to the two shirts which were released at the Open Day.  This shirt really is special as it commemorates in tangible form the bravery of seven young Scotsmen in September 1918 at a little village in France called Moeuvres. In particular, this section of soldiers of the Highland Light Infantry was led by David Hunter of Kingseat, who won the Victoria Cross.

The specially commissioned shirt will be worn by our first team on Saturday at Somerset Park against Ayr United.

DAFC Chairman, Ross McArthur stated “as Chairman of the football club, I am particularly proud to say that David Hunter was a life-long supporter of Dunfermline Athletic. He survived the fighting in 1918 and stood for many years with his sons and grandsons on the terracing of East End Park. He died in Dunfermline in 1965. David was the grandfather, of my fellow director, Ian Hunter.

The shirt is Poppy Red, and carries the legend around the badge "The Seven Heroes of Moeuvres, September 1918". The exploits of the seven men caused the press to refer to them as “The Seven Heroes of Moeuvres". Indeed there was a specially written pipe tune with this title. 

On the week-end of September 15 and 16, there will a commemoration of David Hunter and his comrades. The team will again wear these shirts in the match with Alloa Athletic. We will be joined by the Mayor and representatives of Moeuvres, who will have come to Scotland specially. The match programme will carry a special four page pull-out section on "The Seven Heroes". At the end of the season there will be an internet auction of the shirts, which will be signed by the players who wear them. The beneficiaries will be PoppyScotland and the Dunfermline Athletic Heritage Trust. I hope that you will be generous with your bids, as this will be the only way to obtain a shirt. One shirt will return to France with the Mayor of Moeuvres, and a second will be gifted to the regimental museum of the Royal Highland Fusiliers. 

On Sunday September 16, there will be a public ceremony on Halbeath Road outside East End Park. This will start at 11.30 and will last about an hour. The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland will be present. The government gives a Victoria Cross paving stone to the family and town of every winner of a Victoria Cross during the First World War. The Hunter family have long been connected with Dunfermline Athletic, and have asked that David Hunter`s stone should be placed outside East End Park on land owned by the club. It will be placed on a small plinth which will contain a time capsule, and which has two pre-1918 bricks from Moeuvres placed in the shape of a cross. An information board will then be placed on the stadium wall, immediately behind the stone, and adjacent to the existing granite memorial bench.  We are grateful to the Heritage Trust, the Purvis Group, Co-operative Funeralcare, and most particularly the Hunter family for making this possible. All supporters of Dunfermline Athletic will be most welcome.

Finally, there is a private `David Hunter VC Memorial Lunch` in the Purvis Suite after the ceremony. This will raise funds for PoppyScotland and The Heritage Trust, and is fully subscribed already. I am delighted to note that many Hunter family members will have travelled considerable distances to attend. They are hugely welcome”.

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