St Anthony’s FC has reached one of its most difficult and important decisions in its 118 year old history as a Junior club. We have now officially applied for membership of the new West of Scotland Football League. This move will allow us to take our place in the Scottish Football Pyramid.

We take this opportunity in the knowledge that we can keep our SJFA membership and compete next year in one of the most prestigious trophies in Scottish Football, The Scottish Junior Cup.

Having made our decision, We can now look forward to a new chapter in the clubs history with excitement and anticipation of what lies ahead for St Anthony’s as a senior club, proud of its junior history and its remaining membership of the SJFA, Reaching club licensing will be a priority, which would allow us to compete in another famous old trophy, The Scottish Cup.

Thank You
MON THE ANTS

The club are saddened to announce the passing of long serving Ants committee man Joe Reilly, who passed away earlier this afternoon aged 92. Joe was a popular member of the committee and an absolute gentleman with a great sense of humour and he will be sadly missed at McKenna Park.

Rest in Peace Joe.

February is the international campaign month of ‘Football v Homophobia’ (FvH) and we here at Saint Anthony’s are supporting the initiative.

FvH is a campaign uniting football in opposing homophobia and prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTI) people in football.Year round, FvH Scotland enables people to take action against prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression in football, and to celebrate and welcome diversity in the game. This culminates in an international show of support in February to raise awareness of theissue and to join together in making a visible stand against prejudice and for inclusion.

Saint Anthony’s are pleased to be supporting the campaign this season as part of the FvH grassroots initiative. Ants Head of Digital and Social Media Martin McKenna said: “We are delighted to sign up for Football v Homophobia Scotland’s month of action. It is sad that in this day and age a persons sexual orientation or gender identity should require a month of action to make them feel included and welcome in football. The club has a constitution which is clear that we are a club welcome to all regardless of religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, race or origin and are proudly non sectarian and non political. When we saw FVH Scotland were launching this campaign we were delighted to get in touch and pledge our support and we have designated our match on the 15th of February v Ardeer Thistle to highlight the campaign, but will be active through the full month and beyond in supporting FVH”

Recent Outsport research found that almost 88% of Scottish respondents considered homophobia in sport to be a current problem. Almost ⅓ of Scotland’s LGBTI respondents have refrained from a certain sport because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The sport which respondents most often refrained from was football (41%), a particularly high figure in comparison to other EU countries.

Attitudes in Football are changing, but we all need to make sure that the language we use and the way we behave reflects this change. At The Ants we believe we can make a real difference to the culture of football, and we’d like your support. We know that change starts with education and The Ants recognises its has a role to play in leading the way on raising awareness of homophobia and LGBTI discrimination within the club and its community.

Saint Anthony’s FC  believes in a game where LGBTI people can be seen and heard, and valued for their contribution to football. The Ants will work to create a safe and inclusive football environment where people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions are welcome.

The Ants will be designating a game in support of the Football v Homophobia campaign this February in our match v Ardeer Thistle on Saturday the 15th of the month at McKenna Park  This is an opportunity for our supporters and friends to also get behind the campaign and show everyone that The Ants is no place for hate or bigotry.

At our #FvH2020 designated game The Ants will be making a pledge to improve our club by using the rainbow matchball to show our support and having our team photographed holding up pledge cards. We will be putting up posters in our changing rooms and toilet facilities stating that they are inclusive of all and will be contacting local LGBTI groups, pubs and clubs inviting them along to the game to show they are more than welcome at McKenna Park.

Find out more about the Football v Homophobia campaign and action you can personally take in February, here:

fvhscotland.org Twitter: @fvhscot | Facebook: www.facebook.com/FvHScot

Following Saturday’s exit from the Macron Scottish Junior Cup away to Broughty Athletic, Ants manager John Kelly wanted to place on record his thanks to the fans and committee who travelled to Elgin and Broughty to give the boys their backing.

Speaking to The Ants website John said “I want to thank the support we have had in both our Scottish cup ties this season, two big long away trips to Elgin and Dundee and the backing that the boys and myself got was as usual, excellent. The New Elgin result was a great one for the team but unfortunately we couldn’t repeat the same performance against Broughty, who are a top team”

“My only regret is that I couldn’t give our superb following another round in the Scottish Cup this season so from me and my players, Thank you for your support”

Ants striker Kamil Leszczynski was the toast of McKenna Park as his double saw the Ants go into the hat for the third round draw on the 8th of October as John Kelly’s injury ravaged side left it late to put New Elgin to the sword.

The Ants were missing NINE players as they made the 4+ hour journey north to face North Region side New Elgin in the second round of the Macron Scottish Junior cup leaving them down to the bare bones but they dug out a fine 2-1 victory against a stuffy New Elgin side.

New Elgin FC vs Saint Anthony’s FC

Video

Details

Date	Time	League	Season
September 28, 2019	2:30 pm	Scottish Junior Cup	2019-20

Ground

Nicol-Togneri Park
Perimeter Rd, Elgin IV30 , UK

Results

Club	1st Half	2nd Half	Goals
New Elgin FC	1	0	1
Saint Anthony’s FC	1	1	2

New Elgin FC

1	Stephen Dey
2	Jordan Whitta
3	Kieran Johnson
4	Dean Stewart
5	Liam McKidd
6	Danny Williamson	62'
7	Ryan McPherson 12
8	Graham Steele
9	David McNamara
10	Ross Morrison
11	Robert Forsyth
12	Jake Bremner 7
14	Simon Lobban
15	Euan Simpson

Saint Anthony’s FC

2	Graeme Crawford Defender
3	Fraser Williams Midfielder
4	Ronnie McDonald Defender	42'
5	Kris Littler Defender
6	Shaun Gallacher Midfielder	43'
7	Darren Taylor Midfielder
8	Chris McLaughlin 14 Midfielder
9	Kamil Leszczynski Forward	32', 82'
10	Johnny McKay 12 Midfielder
11	Martin Sinclair Midfielder
12	Ross Mundy 10 Forward	86'
14	Anton Conway 8 Midfielder

Ants top goalscorer last season Scott Arthur came back to haunt the Ants with new club Vale of Leven, scoring two goals in a 5-0 defeat of John Kelly’s men at McKenna Park, in a match where nothing went right for the injury hit home side.

The Ants made a number of changes to the starting XI from the win at Maybole, with Patrick, McLean, Milne, Turner, McLaughlin and McGarroch all not making the 11 for various reasons including injury to at least 4 of them, Goalkeeping coach Tony Curran taking his place between the sticks, with Crawford, Williams, Leszczynski, McGarrigle and Taylor coming into the side.

Saint Anthony’s FC vs Vale of Leven

Video

Details

Date	Time	League	Season
September 7, 2019	2:00 pm	West Region League 2	2019-20

Ground

McKenna Park
392 Shieldhall Rd, Glasgow G51 4JA, UK

Results

Club	1st Half	2nd Half	Goals
Saint Anthony’s FC	0	0	0
Vale of Leven	3	2	5

Saint Anthony’s FC

1	Tony Curran Goalkeeper	74'
2	Kris Littler Defender
3	Graeme Crawford Defender	76'
4	Stephen McGarrigle Defender
5	Shaun Gallacher Midfielder	61'
6	Mark McIlvaney Midfielder
9	David Edwards Forward
11	Darren Taylor 12 Midfielder
16	Fraser Williams 7 Midfielder
14	Anton Conway Midfielder
16	Kamil Leszczynski Forward
7	Andrew Turner 16 Midfielder
8	Chris MacDonald Midfielder
10	Steven Fitzpatrick Midfielder
12	Ross McLean 11 Midfielder	87'
15	Greg Marshall Defender

Vale of Leven

1	Reece Pollock
2	Stuart Douglas Bryson
3	Stephen Jordan Griffen
4	Adam Monaghan
5	Mark Butler 14
6	Lewis King 17	16' 32'
7	Lee McGeachy
8	Richard Stewart
9	Scott Arthur Forward	43', 85'
10	Antony Pilkington 15	35'
11	Christopher Jackson
14	Ross Lyden 5
15	David McNaught 10	78'
16	Daniel Paterson
17	Cameron Smith 6
18	Robbie Dolan