Keith's most famous footballing son 'Braveheart' Colin Hendry returns to Kynoch Park for Keith Cancer Link charity match and a reunion with the man who 'discovered' him, Maroons managerial legend Bobby Wilson
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Former Scotland World Cup captain Colin Hendry will never forget the man who kick-started his football career in his home town of Keith.
The ex-Rangers, Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers legend heads back north this weekend to play in a charity match at his old Kynoch Park stomping ground in aid of Keith Cancer Link.
Hendry will play for a team of Scotland veterans taking on their English counterparts from Catshill FC who head all the way up from the Midlands for their annual charity venture.
Among three well-known footballing figures managing the home side on the day is former Keith boss Bobby Wilson, who led the Maroons to countless trophy triumphs during their halcyon days.
Wilson is credited as the man who "discovered" Hendry's talent for the sport and gave him the start he needed to push on and play at the highest level.
"When I was growing up in Keith there was a boys league but we didn’t have the volume of kids to make up a lot of teams," Hendry recalled.
"Bobby came to watch a couple of games and it might have been through one of the local boys who played for Keith but they asked me if I fancied coming down training, along with a couple of my pals.
"Bobby said we could train with them as they were short on numbers with the satellite squad in Aberdeen training through there. He lived in Elgin and he would come through to Keith with the local boys and we made up the numbers.
"I was only 14 or 15 but because I was tall, I got away with it a wee bit. Bobby made it clear that if the standard of the session fell down then they would take us out.
"We more or less worked ourselves into it and that gave me a great base for going into professional football.
"It was Bobby who really did discover me, between him and Don Mackay who took me to Dundee. They have given me the life that I’ve had in football by giving me that start."
Now aged 57, Hendry has become a regular in the Keith Cancer Link charity matches over the years.
He will be the star name in Saturday's benefit match played at Kynoch Park, with proceeds split between the Keith cause and a hospice based in the Birmingham area and supported by the visiting English team.
The event raised over £18,000 last year.
It will be a gruelling weekend for Hendry, who plays on Saturday then drives down the road to Oldham the following day to play in another charity match in aid of families affected by the Manchester bombing in 2017.
On Monday he will head to Salford when his son Callum is playing in a League 2 fixture against Gillingham, then on Monday night Hendry is due to play in his third charity match in three days at his former club Blackburn's Ewood Park ground.
"That's the plan anyway," he added. "I don’t know if I will be very fit on Monday night after all that."
Saturday's Kynoch Park match will also involve Highland League legends like Keith's record goal scorer Cammy Keith, Eddie Copland, Ryan Green and Charlie Rowley.
Bobby Wilson's son Barry, who is currently assistant manager at Inverness Caley Thistle, will also turn out for Scotland.
Another former Keith star Kevin Bremner won't play in the match but is expected to help out with the auction event afterwards in the 'Ploo' bar in Keith.
Hendry remembers Aberchirder native Bremner, who starred as a striker in the English leagues, as another major influence in his career.
"I played with Kev as a kid when I was 14, and as brutal as it was playing with older, experienced players it helped me no end. He had an influence in my career, he was one of so many good players in the team.
"There was Mike Dalgarno, Paul Wisely, Brucie Martin, Bobby Gray, Andy Fettes, Ray O’Hara who I believe was up in Keith recently, Ally Christie……I grew up watching them and then playing with them.
"At one point when I was in the Keith youth team at 14 or 15, we played down at Buckie Thistle on a Sunday and (former Aberdeen legend) Joe Harper turned out for us. I was in the changing room at Buckie and here I was in the changing room with Joe.
"You would have three games over a weekend, Saturday morning was school, Saturday afternoon you played for Islavale and Sunday afternoon the Keith youth team. That was my upbringing in association football.
"But there I was with Joe Harper in the changing room with me. He was one of my heroes at the time."
Hendry, who was capped 51 times by Scotland, many of those as captain, and won Premier titles with Blackburn and Rangers, remembers juggling jobs in his home town as a teenager while travelling to watch his Maroon heroes in the Highland League.
"That was Bobby Wilson's team. He was the reason I was a professional footballer and the reason that I had more or less had the career I had. You need to be discovered by somebody and that was the man that was responsible for that.
"He had an unbelievable record at Keith and I used to go and watch them everywhere, as long as I could get back home for seven o'clock to do my Green Final newspaper round.
"I did two or three paper rounds and I did a delivery for the local ironmongers as well, with gas bottles on your butcher’s bike. You couldn’t make it up!"
Other names in the Scotland veterans' squad for Saturday include long-time organiser Willie Dick - who plays in goal - and a string of former Highland League and junior favourites.
Gogs Younie, Brian Geddes, Mike Dunbar, Gordon Bowie, Neil Gibson, Davie Norquoy, Stewart Donald, Peter Mann, Graeme Geddes and Ian Barron have all confirmned they will play.
Joining Wilson in the dugout are his fellow co-managers Mike and Gordon Winton, with Mike's son Kevin now the event organiser.
As for Hendry, his mother still lives in Keith and he has family reasons for supporting the keith cancer Link cause.
"It means a hell of a lot to me because of my mum, the cancer link and the car and that purpose. It means a hell of a lot to people in the area and it means a lot to me and my family.
"When you have been fortunate in life with not having a stereotypical job and you’ve been blessed with having an art, I suppose, for want of a better phrase, you want to give something back.
"But it’s important to me because of my mum, she has used the car and some of her friends.
"I will bring a shirt up and get it signed. There will be quite a lot of memorabilia.
"I gave one of my Scotland caps last year. I’ve only ever done that maybe two or three times but it was more or less me saying to myself ‘if you can’t play again but you can hand something over’ you are doing your bit. But attending is probably the most important thing to me.
"Every year people say to me ‘you’re too old to play this year’. I am 57 now and I have something like 30 games to play over the summer.
"I had 90 minutes last week down at Clitheroe and raised quite a bit of money. It was Blackburn and Preston guys against the Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, Coronation Street guys for three different charities.
"And we beat them 5-4, that was the most important thing. I got a couple of headers as well. I seem to have a game every week and I’m quite happy with that but it just so happens that this weekend I’ve got three!
"The fire in the belly gets brighter and people are quick to point out how old you are and that’s exactly what I want to hear.
"There’s a good banter and it will be good to see the boys. The guys love coming up here and it’s been a really good event.
"We will be going all out to retain our status as being on top of England, that’s for sure."
