Month: April 2023

Next Ants Game - Glasgow University v Saint Anthony's, Friday 21st April 2023, Excelsior Stadium im Airdrie with an 8pm Kick Off

Glasgow Uni v Ants – Preview

This is only the second meeting of the sides since Glasgow Uni entered the West of Scotland Football League, with the conferences of last season keeping the clubs apart. The first meeting at McKenna Park back in October where a Graeme Crawford double and a goal from Rui Carballo gave the Ants a 3-1 win.

We meet tonight at the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie at 8pm with Glasgow Uni looking to bring a 3 game losing streak to an end having suffered defeats to Maybole (Home 1-3), Kilsyth Rangers (Home 2-3) and last Saturday away to Wishaw (2-0). The Uni currently occupy 11th place in the Division on 28 points having played 25, winning 9, drawing 1 and losing 15. They have a goal difference of -10 having scored 44 but conceding 54 goals.

Having lost out narrowly on Saturday to Maybole, Danny and the team will be itching to get back to winning ways with only 5 matches remaining of what has been a great season so far for the club.

The Excelsior Stadium is ticket only entry and if you want to come along tonight tickets are priced at £5 for Adults and £2.50 for Under 16’s. Tickets MUST be purchased online and can be done so here

If you can’t get along to cheer on the team then we will have live updates on the clubs Twitter feed from 7pm

MON THE ANTS 🐜🔥💚

The Future’s bright for NXT GEN of Ants Players

The development of the young players at the club has played a big part since we launched our Under 20’s squad as we joined the West of Scotland Football League, and as part of our commitment to the youngsters we are always looking at ways to help aid their development.

Naturally not all players in the pathway will make the step up to the first team for a myriad of reasons and we looked at ways we could provide other pathways, both with the club and away from the club and have explored a few new partnerships that will help us in providing those alternative pathways.

We are delighted to announce today the first of these partnerships which will see the club link up with NEXT GENERATION USA who are a Soccer Scholarship company who specialise in providing colleges in America with both male and female student athletes aged 16-20 from Scotland, who go and live in America whilst studying for a degree and playing in the ultra competitive college leagues Stateside.

This partnership will open the door for those players who are interested in a scholarship in America to discover if it is something viable for them and will see us work closely with NXT GEN USA in identifying and assisting players who are looking to move stateside.

There are a multitude of benefits for the club with this partnership and we look forward to working with John and the team at NXT GEN in the coming months and years as we look to offer our young players the pathway that is right for them.

NEXT GEN USA will host a series of soccer trials across the UK & Ireland for all potential Soccer Scholarship candidates to showcase their ability and have trials coming up on Tuesday 2nd May 2023 at New Douglas Park, Hamilton between 7-9pm. If you are interested, or know someone who may be, visit the trials section of the NXT GEN USA website to apply or for more information.

The future looks bright for the #YoungTeam

Legends celebrated in Style at 20th Anniversary event.

The club looked back at the achievements of it’s Centenary Year winning league side in an amazing night in the David Lloyd in Renfrew on Saturday Night.

It was like stepping back in time as we brought together the league winning “Ants Legends” side of 2002/03 in an event hosted by the brilliant PG & Dak who did a fantastic job MC’ing the event that saw a special guest speech from St. Mirren Legend Tony Fitzpatrick, who is also involved with our club partner Legacy Comps.

@saintanthonysfc

Great to see Tony Fitzpatrick at the Ants Legends night

♬ original sound – The Ants
Tony Fitzpatrick speaking at the legends event

Although it was an evening primarily to celebrate the achievements of the 2002/03 side there was couple of presentations outwith that as club Assistant Manager Ronnie McDonald was given a presentation for 20 years service to the club, having joined at the start of the season after the league win and Club Treasurer Felix McKenna was given one for FIFTY years at the club, starting off as ball boy before managing the club and then serving as Secretary for 35 of those 50 years before becoming Treasurer at the start of this season.

Ronnie with Kelly Wallace, who planned the amazing event.
Kenna gave an emotional speech as he collected a gift for his 50 years service

Next up PG & Dak brought the legendary co-management team of James “Cotter” McKenna and Bernard “Dixie” Kilcullen to the stage where they spoke about the season and the team they had assembled before calling all the players from the squad who could attend on the night up to collect a small token of our appreciation in the form of commemorative slates from our club partner Laser Amore before Felix McKenna invited James, Dixie and coach Frank Lovering up to collect their presentation gifts where James also presented his Match Secretary at the time Felix with the squad’s own show of thanks. There was a poignant moment when Frank came up to collect a slate for Dennis Donnelly who sadly passed away in 2011 and a toast was made to absent friends.

The 2002/03 Legends Squad and Management get their gifts to commemorate 20 years since the League Win

It was then time to party as the team took photographs with the original trophy that we had lifted on that fantastic day at Forth and then hit the dancefloor until the small hours. The night was a massive success and big thanks must go to Ants committee member Kelly Wallace for her organising of the event, Martin McKenna for his work sorting the gifts and trophy, James McKenna Snr for filling the hall with legends, the Legends for, well being legends, PG & Dak for hosting the night, Tony Fitzpatrick for his continued support of the club and speech, David Lloyd Renfrew for the tremendous function hall, The fantastic DJ who had the floor filled but most importantly to everyone who turned up and helped celebrate these legends and help the club raise some much needed funds.

Check out our special edition Legends merchandise available in the Ants merch hut.

Our next event is the Clubs Player of the Year awards night, which will be in the David Lloyd Renfrew on Saturday 6th May 2023 at 7pm which will celebrate the clubs first team, under 20’s and walking foootball teams. Tickets are only £10 and include a DJ and Chinese Buffet dinner and can be purchased online through our Fanbase portal. Tickets are on sale now