Spiders Abroad – Adelaide
Spiders supporters are not all located in Scotland. We have fans in all corners the world. In the first of a series of posts, we talk to fans who support the club from afar. Gordon Whitelaw who is 'stuck' in Adelaide, New South Wales starts the series off.
Gordon Whitelaw has been a Queen’s fan since 1958 and a member of the club since 2008.
He played football up to the age of 19, before taking up refereeing. Gordon cut his refereeing teeth in the Glasgow Amateur League before moving to Junior football and finishing off his career in Welfare League football. He even sent a player off for foul and abusive language in a Deaf and Dumb game! Alongside starting to referee Gordon started to attend Queen’s Park matches. And has been going ever since.
Gordon, and his wife Pat, flew to Adelaide in January 2020 to visit his daughter, her husband and his three grandchildren and got caught up in Australia’s lockdown. He originally planned to stay from January to May 2020. But due to Australia’ strict border lockdown, there were no flights in or out of the country. He has now been there for more than two years. Gordon has tentative plans to return to Scotland in May 2022, if allowed to travel.
We spoke in the early evening (Adelaide time) in a cool 24° according to Gordon. I did tell him it was currently 4° in Glasgow as we spoke.
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING AT QUEEN’S:
I uses Facebook to keep up to date and will occasionally comment on posts, but my main source of all things Spiders is the club website.
MATCH DAY ROUTINE:
I usually set an alarm for the game. Adelaide is 10.5 hours ahead of UK time and as it gets dark quite early here, even in summer, most people are early to bed.
I get up about 1:20am on the Sunday morning. I usually put my Queen’s Park away top on for games – as it’s the only one I brought over.
Australians are very fond of pies, so for half time I heat a pie in the oven and make a flask of tea. My wife is not interested in football at all, so it’s just me sitting watching the game on my computer.
I watch most of the home games on QPTV and I buy a Live Stream ticket for some of the away games. I also watch QPTV’s highlights of both home and away games. I like our two commentators, Craig, and Keith. Craig is very knowledgeable and Keith, with his knowledge of the club, adds a lot to the commentary. I am very impressed with the quality of the livestream, very professional.
WATCHING LIVE FOOTBALL:
I go to live football when I can – Adelaide United are my local team. They play in the Australian A League in front of about 2500 fans. I meet up at games with a family that I knew back in Falkirk. Their children attended the same school as my daughters so it’s a small world.
THE LAST TIME I SAW QUEEN’S PLAY LIVE:
The last Queen’s game I attended was on Saturday 11 January 2020 when we played Edinburgh City away and won the game 2-1.
WHAT I MISS ABOUT NOT GETTING TO WATCH QUEEN’S LIVE:
Watching Queen’s play live on the computer is great for seeing how things are going, but nothing compares to actually being at the game. Half the fun is sitting with your friends, discussing the game and hearing the banter of the crowd. I hope to be back in Scotland in time for next season. Fingers crossed it’s a Championship game I’ll be watching.
ARE YOU A SPIDERS FAN ABROAD?
If you are a Spiders fan , living abroad, and would like to feature in one of our Spiders Abroad posts, then get in touch with Head of Commercial, Kieran Koszary, email: kieran@queensparkfc.co.uk
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