The NADSC have a lot more difficulties than most when it comes to organizing events and meetings. The shear vastness of the North American Continent alone is a hindrance in itself, but these diehards are still dedicated to the cause, no less than any other fan still fortunate to see their beloved Dundee every week.
They crave any news and merchandise that the rest of us take for granted, you should have seen the disappointed look I received when I never had the latest Dundee strips in my case on arrival. Lack of merchandise in the Club shop and the Club shop being offline affects not just the Local fans a fact maybe Dundee Football Club haven’t woken up to yet either.
It must hurt all the more now that they have a Team truly to be proud of at last, it may not be as successful as the Teams of the Sixties and early Seventies as yet, but the older members remember, those glory days with great affection, but the revival has certainly generated enough enthusiasm for them to feel proud and dedicated enough to create their new Supporters Club.
Modern technology has certainly helped a Club such as this, as it could not keep its members up to date without the use of email. Imagine how the infrastructure of this Club would be hampered if it had to rely on snail mail. Meetings would have to be organized months rather than days in advance, so that all acknowledgements could be received to ensure the meeting could in fact take place.
We all loathe the stance the Old Firm, have towards Scottish Football, but none would suffer more than this band of merry Dundee fans. If the Old Firm did pull out of Scottish Football, there would be no games shown at all in the Americas for Dundee fans to keep in touch with and the coverage of Scottish Football even as a news item, would be non existant.
Again another selfish fact that the Old Firm hierarchies have ignored was not the fact they will be pulling out of Scotland, but they will in be no longer promoting the Scottish game abroad.
I diversify though and back to the reason I’m here, to find out how this Club has grown and how it’s spreading the Dundee Football Club Gospel even, to non-Scots abroad.
The Supporters Club like all clubs has a hard core of diehards, who are trying to spread the word about Dundee Football Club to all in North America.
Bill Perrie is the main organizer of the Club, but unfortunately I never got the chance to meet him due to personal commitments. The membership is growing steadily and is from as far a field as Toronto, Edmonton, New York, Buffalo and as far South as Orlando. It is even getting to the stage where not even exiled fans are joining the Club, but now girl friends and work colleagues are starting to take an interest.
Ed Rahfield who is American born is probably one of the better-travelled members of the Club. He has made the trip from New York to Toronto twice, to watch the Dees in the company of kindred spirits. Though born in America, his Dundonian mum brought up Ed correctly. Ed has even made the trip to Dens for a Derby game and is due over to watch the Celtic game at Dens, a game he could easily watch back Stateside.
Steve and Greg Watson of the NADSC Club managed to organize the opportunity of watching the Rangers v Dundee match, at the Scarborough Celtic Supporters Club (Toronto).
A big thank you has to be extended to Sammy Findlay, for allowing this small but dedicated band of Dundee fans to view the Rangers game at their premises. With the game being viewed early on a Sunday morning, instead of Saturday, the CSC is usually closed, but they agreed to open the premises for these, fellow Scottish Football Supporters. Even a number of the Local Scarborough Celtic Supporters decided to turn up for the game. It was all a good-natured affair, with the Celtic contingent of the crowd, just as disappointed as the rest of us that Rangers had won 2-0.
After the match it was off to Steve Watson’s “St Andrews Fish and Chip Restaurant” for the post match analysis and short NADSC meeting. Though disappointed at the result, the group, were still very up beat and looking forward to the Celtic game.
One item on the agenda was the creation of a banner so that whenever any of the NADSC were at a Dundee match the Banner could be seen flying proud and high letting the team know they were idolized both near and far and as the song goes “we’d walk a million miles for one of their goals”, this bunch almost take the song literally.
To finalise, I was impressed by the Clubs enthusiasm and commitment and I hope to meet all of their members one day. Along with all the Supporters Clubs I have the privilege of being Webmaster to.
A report from Robert Laird
Editor of Boab's Little Piece Of Scotland
Whilst visiting my brother Iain, NADSC Member #001, in the Colonies, I thought it was time to check on how the Colonial Dundee Supporters were faring during their first year as a Supporters Club.
You just have to see Greg Watson's arm to know how much he loves Dundee
