After a long search for the key position of Operational and Development Manager Southland Football is pleased to announce that local football identity Iain Walker has accepted the role to assist in taking the local organisation forward.
Walker will be familiar to many in the community due to his previous roles in Southland Football and through his role as a Senior Investment Specialist with the SBS and also as a bowls participant over summer.
Walker was born in Scotland where both he and his brother played football. Iain supported his nearest club, Motherwell, as well as Everton across the border. He did not play much club football as he was more involved with primary and secondary school football as well as Boys Brigade football. “I would play secondary school football in the morning, Boys Brigade football in the afternoon and then on Sunday also,” he says.
After leaving school he played Under 21 Football until he was recommended to the amateur football club, Uddingston United, who he played for “ten or eleven years,” until he was 28-years-old. During that time, he won Player Of The Year three times and the club won the Premier Division. He then moved to another club, Balmore, Carluke, where the facilities and standard were a step up. “You were there by invitation, there was a criteria to be met to play.” The team won the 1st Division in his first year and the Premier Division the next and also advanced through nine rounds of the West Of Scotland Amateur Cup, similar to the Chatham Cup, to reach the final and finish runner-up.
Walker finished playing at 34-years of age and joined the Central Scottish Amateur League Committee which gave him a grasp of rules and procedures. He spent five years doing registrations and website work and was also involved in selection and the judicial committee. “It was an opportunity to see the other side and to give back. The admin was second nature to me as I worked in a bank.”
“As a family we made a decision to move for lifestyle and we ended up in Southland and a job with SBS as a Senior Investment Consultant. That was in November 2007. I have been with SBS for 14 years and have made a lot of good friends there. SBS sponsor a lot of things in the community and along with bowls and football we got to know a lot of people and that helped us as a family.”
In Southland Iain has been the Chair of the Ladies Committee and a President, Treasurer and Coach for Southend United as well as having coached both boys and girl’s rep teams.
When the Queens Park Club were contesting the Donald Gray competition Iain reverted to playing at the age of fifty. “We won two Donald Gray Cups, two Charity Cups and the Larry O’Rourke Cup during my return. “In my first and second year I played all but twenty minutes. It was a nice way to end my playing days. It’s amazing what you can do if you get fit.”
Iain was on the Southland Football Board when the Operational & Development Manager role was originally discussed but circumstances changed and he pulled back from the process. “It was something I wanted, football has been a passion all my life. Opportunities like this don’t come up very often but I am sad to leave SBS, it is a very good organisation.”
“My wife Fiona is very supportive of all my sporting activities and that provides that platform. We have two girls, Rebecca and Megan. Rebecca won the Golden Boot Award last year and this year Megan won it and both girls have spent time at the West Ham Academy in the UK while Megan is in the National League team.”
Walker is looking forward to the challenge to see what he can do to make football “bigger and better.”
“There will be challenges,” one of which Walker sees is the engagement of teenagers. “We must find ways to re-engage with them. That is the biggest challenge.”
Southland Football President, Nick Hamlin, says, “Iain brings with him a wealth of knowledge, not only in football but he has held a number of key management roles throughout his career. Southland Football continues to see growth across all its leagues especially in girl’s football which Iain has very good experience in coaching and managing. The Board are very pleased with securing Iain for this critical role and he will be a great addition to the current, very dedicated team.”
Walker will formally commence in the role in early January 2022.