|
CPSC
sounds like either the old name for Russia or something
to do with the Co-operative Society, but in the
70's these were the letters used by one of Cowden's
better supporters clubs. The Central Park Supporters
Club was formed on the back of league reconstruction
in season 1975/76. Cowden had gone to the depths
of the old 19 team 2nd Division by then after the
famous highs of the early 1970’s. There was a renewed
interest in Scottish football when 3 divisions of
10/14/14 were introduced in August 1975 and when
Cowden finished a respectable 5th in Division 2
after leading the league for the majority of the
season it seemed the good days were coming back.
In 1976, after lots of letters to the Central Fife
Times about a new supporters club being formed,
the football club gave the CPSC a room under the
stand previously used by a groundsman and suddenly
Cowden had their first ‘offishul’ fan club since
the days of the First Division when Cowden rubbed
shoulder with and got hammered by the Old Firm,
Hearts, Hibs, etc.
The
3 leading lights who formed the CPSC were a local
painter John Martin (who incidentally re-painted
the dressing rooms for nowt around this time, the
first time they’d seen a lick of paint for about
20 years), and brothers Pete and Arthur Hynd. Arthur
is still a well-known local character and is now
a lollipop man "o’er the brig". It’s hard to believe
now but at the time the CPSC were known to run up
to 3 buses to away games and always one heavily
packed coach.
As
well as getting a matchday programme going again
for the first time in years and organising many
good social nights plus a player of the year award,
the CPSC had a good reputation for getting people
interested in the football club from youngsters
to OAPs, and brought many people back to CFC. Unfortunately,
the team of the day didn’t match the fan’s ambitions
for Cowden FC in the new reconstructed Scottish
league. Cowden had many promising players and 3
honest, hardworking managers in the time the CPSC
existed (Frank Connor, Pat Wilson and Andy Rolland)
but a combination of bad luck and the usual self-destruct
button put paid to any promotion hopes. The abiding
memory of former members of the CPSC would probably
be the ‘away days’ and the many characters around
the terracing at that time. Ian ‘Whitey’ White was
the Cooshed cheerleader at this time, a real Cowden
die-hard who got into many a scrap defending the
name of Cowden. My favourite memory of Whitey was
coming back from Berwick when the CPSC coach passed
through a posh Edinburgh suburb. A middle-class
type wifie was out with her strimmer (a new invention
of that era), Whitey couldn’t resist leaning out
of the bus window and shouting "BOOGEY" at the poor
woman, who nearly shat on her tailored lawn - a
classic encounter.
30 something Cowden fans will remember "Cat", a
strange Canadian settler who never missed a match
and would always get Cowden fans into trouble by
asking the local looneys to "Come ahead" from Arbroath
to Berwick before doing an excellent Seb Coe impression.
"The great unwashed", as a Cowden board member once
referred to the away support at Meadowbank, would
always descend on the Commonwealth Stadium and no
matter what our league position was over 200 Cowdenites
would always cram into the stand at Meadowbank as
it was the only decent ground outside the Premier
league. The behaviour of some of the young Cowden
fans at Meadowbank always embarrassed the club in
the mid to late 70’s but after dumps like Coatbridge,
Stranraer and Falkirk, Meadowbank was like a club
18-30 holiday for the Cowden fans of that time and
the behaviour was more Ibiza than Ingliston.
Where
as now Cowden’s away support cram into available
cars or onto tandems, during the days of the CPSC
air conditioned coach travel would cost you a fiver
maximum, it was probably the last time Cowden carried
a sizeable away support outwith the promotion winning
match at Alloa in 1991. Certainly the CPSC would
have carried on in the 1980’s but for the famous
Rolland spot kick miss on the final day of season
1980/1, promotion would never have been a fitting
climax for the CPSC but the heart went out of many
supporters after promotion was blown against Queen’s
Park and the club wound-up not long after. It would
be another decade before Cowden had a support which
could be seen without the aid of a telescope.
|
