Thistle football club celebrates 100 years

Gisborne Thistle life members (from left) Mark Pearce, Grant Thomson, Paul Rickard, Guy Midford and Ronnie Young with the cake marking the club’s 100 years of existence. Picture by Stephen Johnson

Gisborne Thistle celebrated a hundred years of existence with three days of Easter exuberance at the weekend.

The showpiece event was on Saturday night, when 180 people turned up for the 100-year anniversary dinner at the Cosmopolitan Club.

Guests came from all over New Zealand and from Australia, too.

They were entertained by three-game Thistle veteran and 1982 World Cup All White John Hill, who was guest speaker, and master of ceremonies Dudley Meadows.

Club patron Paul Rickard was to be Meadows’ assistant on stage, but he was laid low with fluid on the lungs, which led to breathing difficulties, a visit to the hospital emergency department and a precautionary night in a ward bed. He was back at the Childers Road Reserve the next day and at work yesterday.

“I missed the dinner on Saturday, which was a bit of a shame, but I caught up with a lot of people on Friday night and again on Sunday,” Rickard said.

“That was the highlight for me . . . catching up with a lot of the guys I’d played alongside for years.”

It was a theme that recurred over the weekend, as old-timers made mental adjustments for the passing of the years to recognise teammates from decades before.

Hill, who played most of his serious club football in New Zealand for Gisborne City, congratulated Thistle on their anniversary and the club spirit that made this longevity possible.

His own three-game Thistle career came when he was drafted into the side for a Chatham Cup game against a Nelson team. Two of those games were appearances that made him eligible for a place in the cup side. Thistle lost the cup tie and Hill’s Jags career ended.

A feature of the Saturday night function was the induction of a life member, Mark Pearce. He joined the club in 1979 after leaving Lytton High School, where he had played in the first 11 under the coaching of former Gisborne City fullback Colin Milne.

A right-footer who usually played leftback, Pearce established himself in the 1980 team that contested the Central League second division. He played in a youth team that was formed in 1981 but returned to first-team duty in 1982, and was a regular until a serious ankle injury in 1984 ended his outfield career.

He filled in as goalkeeper when required but after he married Megan in 1989 he was busy with family life and the raising of daughters Briar and Tayla.

Thistle came calling again in 2003 when coach Grant Thomson asked him to be his assistant. That led to other duties in the club, a place on the committee and — from about 2008 — responsibility for the bar. Over the years the role expanded until he was effectively the clubrooms manager.

Pearce said the people in the club were the reason he enjoyed being part of it.

“They are friendly, welcoming people . . . that’s what my elder brother Richard found when he played for them, and I found the same.”

The youngest of three brothers in a six-child family, Pearce has found an extended family on the north-western edge of the Childers Road Reserve, but on Saturday he thanked his wife and now-adult children for their support.

Club president Shannon Dowsing said the weekend celebration set Thistle up for the next hundred years.

Scottish club Partick Thistle, after whom the Gisborne club was named, sent a recorded message of congratulations, and the past, present and future of the club were celebrated with social games on Saturday and a six-a-side tournament on Sunday.