PAISLEY PIRATES-UPDATE

Following on from Paisley Pirates’ memorable League winning performance at Dundee last Saturday, beating the local Tigers 6-0 to clinch the SNL title for only the third time over a 24 year period, the club has continued to receive congratulatory messages not just from the local community, but from icons associated with the club since its inception in 1946.

Secretary Jackie Turley explained, “We often receive queries about or from former players now staying abroad, particularly from Canada, usually looking for information about someone they played with, but this week, since we beat the Tigers, in amongst the hundreds of congratulatory messages we’ve received, two we’ve received via one of our volunteers have given us particular pleasure.”

“One was from Bill Brennan, who along with his brother Ally were absolute icons in Paisley when the sport, and the Pirates, were at their peak in the period just after the Second World War right through until the early 60’a. Bill sent us a message saying it was nice to see the Pirates still leading the field, which meant a lot, as Bill was without doubt a major player in the sport over a long period of time.”

“Similarly, in the last day or so, the same volunteer received a lovely message from Mike Bettens, Pirates’ captain for a number of seasons after the Pirates returned to the Lagoon in th 1992/93 season, saying how much the news of our League title had brought back so many memories of some great times playing for the club. Mike was the captain of the team in that year when they won the League title in their return to the sport after an absence of some 25 years, and is still remembered by an awful lot of ice hockey fans in this area.”

“We are always reminding people just how iconic a club this is, and we like to think that these messages, from two absolute giants of the sport in this area, illustrates that fact. Bill played for and coached the club more than 50 years ago but still follows them, while Mike Bettens was one of the team’s first major stars when the sport returned to Paisley nearly 25 years ago and clearly retains his love of the club. That’s something to be proud of, and we certainly are!”