Sportsman’s Dinner 7 March 2015

Over 150 people attended the DAFC Sportman’s Dinner on Saturday evening at the Garvock House Hotel, which was promoted by the 1885 Business Club.

The compere for the evening was our own Jim Leishman MBE, and as usual Jim proved to be a fantastic host and kept everyone well entertained during the course of the night.

It has been said many times before, but it is absolutely vital that our club continues to raise funds to ensure it can reach a point when it can become sustainable. Therefore, it was absolutely fantastic to see a sum in excess of £16,000 being raised to assist our community club. The Board of Directors at DAFC would like to thank everyone who attended the evening and generously contributed to both the raffle and auction prizes.

The Board would also like to thank Rui Fernades and all of his staff at the Garvock House Hotel for their continued support of our club; it is, as ever, warmly appreciated.

In addition, our thanks go to the 1885 Business Club for their assistance in organising the event, but a special thank you must go to DAFC Director, Billy Braisby and club Executive, Chris Charalambous, who along with Director Jim Leishman meticulously organised and planned the evening.

The feedback received following the evening has been fantastic, which is to the credit of everyone listed above. We hope to repeat it next year!

The invited guests on the night also had the pleasure of listening to two well-known after dinner speakers, Frank McAvennie and George McNeil.
Frank was first up and shared with the audience his funny stories of former team mates, celebrity friends and trips away whilst on international duty with Scotland. As well as a few tales of some other exploits!

George then provided a masterclass in after dinner entertainment which included an impersonation of our own Provost, tales of his time as a football player and professional sprinter as well as countless other clever and hilarious stories.

At the dinner, on Saturday night, the Board of DAFC also made two very special presentations.

The first one was an “Outstanding Service Award” to Club Doctor, Bobby Robertson.

Bobby had a long and successful playing career with The Pars. He was signed by George Miller on a “S” form in 1975, and represented Fife at Schoolboy, Juvenile and Junior levels. When Bobby was then provisionally signed in 1976, he was farmed out to Kirkcaldy YM, until Harry Melrose offered the 18 year old a part time contract in July 1977.

At the end of season 1978/79 Bobby won his first promotion. He took over as Club Captain from his good friend and fellow Doctor, the late Hugh Whyte in 1985 and won consecutive promotions, including appearing in the club’s first Scottish Premier Division season in 1987/88. On 26 March 1988 he became the club’s highest ever league appearance maker (354 league appearances),
which since then has only been broken by the late, great Norrie McCathie. In total, Bobby made 410 appearances for the club (8 goals), and unbelievably played in 154 consecutive first team matches.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. Bobby’s service to the club does not just extend to his on the field exploits, as he was appointed Club Doctor in 2007, a post he still retains to this day.

Few people at any football club have served their club both on and off field as well as Dr Bobby Robertson and it was only fitting that our club should present Bobby with his award for outstanding service to DAFC. Well done Bobby!

Dr Bobby is seen being presented with his award by Club Chairman, Bob Garmory

The second presentation to Bob Purvis was also richly deserved, and was in recognition of the fantastic support provided by The Purvis Group to our club over the last 10 years.

As all supporters will now be fully aware, this current season is the Purvis Group’s tenth anniversary as our main shirt sponsor, which demonstrates fantastic loyalty to our football club, from a local based company. This longevity of relationship is unlikely to be matched in modern day Scottish Football. The Purvis Group employs many local people and already supports many worthwhile community activities, so our Club is privileged to have been able to maintain an unbroken 10 year partnership with them.

Bob Purvis is seen being presented with his award by Club Managing Director, Ross McArthur

During this spell, our club reached two cup finals, one cup semi-final and won promotion to the SPL as Champions of the SFL League One. Sadly, in the last couple of seasons our club hit hard times including entering a period of administration, but the Purvis Group remained loyal to the club and the Board of DAFC thank Bob and his colleagues for their continued support, particularly during such a testing time for our club.

The Purvis Group do so much to assist our club in so many other ways, that it is impossible to list them all! However, what is sure is that The Purvis Group is not just a name on our first team shirts, they have been a true partner and friend to our club, over the last 10 years and will always remain part of the Pars Family. Thanks once again to Bob Purvis and The Purvis Group.