Stars in stripes for American guests

They know the way to San Jose but East End Park is a much easier home venue for new Californian supporters

Will Forslund with the Pars players

Special guests at East End Park on Saturday were Tim Forslund and his son Will. They live in Sebastopol, California but intend to be regular attenders at East End Park for the rest of the season!

Back home they support their local soccer team and have made the four hour round trip to watch them playing in the NSL. There was no doubt in their minds that when coming to Scotland they would remain loyal to their 'support local' policy and of course were delighted to learn that the stadium was virtually on their doorstep. Tim explained:-

"We follow the US League and support San Jose Earthquakes so we are really excited to have a professional team in town."

Tim contacted the Young Pars back in February to make sure that nine year old Will would be enrolled in the club's young supporters club and the match against Hibs happened to be the first that they could attend. 

Pre match Tim and Will met the Pars players, shaking hands with the entire squad before Jim McIntyre announced his selection to them. Highlight of the behind-the-scenes tour was bumping into someone they already recognise as a legend. In the treatment room Martin Hardie was there to chat to Tim and Will and they were well aware what an impact Martin had made since joining the club earlier this year.

Tim is a teacher at Analy High School in the American city but arrived in Dunfermline on 6th August to teach history at St Columbas High School. Brian Harrison has gone in the other direction as part of the year long Government exchange programme and it was Brian who suggested to Tim that it would be a good idea to support the Pars.  Tim again:-

"We were following the team before we came here and watched Martin's goal against Raith although I think there was an hour's delay on the broadcast. The teacher I was switching with said that it was a pretty exciting time because they were close to promotion. So we knew that the big game was coming up and the tables were close. On the messageboards, the fans website some of the users had embedded Martin's goal, so thousands of miles away people know about his goal."

Back home nine year old Will is keen on his soccer and now in Scotland he has joined Duloch Juniors FC 2002s and has been playing in the Soccer sevens at Pitreavie. Will and his sister Ainsley (7) have settled in at Masterton Primary School and although the family admit to missing the sun the proximity to East End Park is going to prove a popular positive.  The Hibs match was certainly an exciting introduction to live Scottish football.