The vast majority of the footballing world are aware of the events of 15th April 1989 at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield so I'm not going to go into the ins and outs and who was to blame on this piece (I may do so in a later article). A young Dunfermline Athletic player decided that during the close season after Dunfermline had re-gained promotion to the Scottish Premier Division that he was going to run the Dunfermline Half Marathon to raise money for the Hillsborough victims fund. That player was 22 year old defender Gary Riddell who had been a regular presence as The Pars lifted their first ever Scottish First Division title keeping club legend Norrie McCathie out of the side at times, with McCathie even being sent on loan to Ayr United for a couple of games during the season to re-gain match fitness. Riddell was to collapse around the 10 mile mark and a fellow runner who was a doctor came to his aid with a nearby ambulance crew who were a mere 100 yards away called over to assist. Unfortunately he was pronounced dead on arrival at Dunfermline and West Fife Hospital.
While people are more aware of more prominent figures for the club having their lives tragically cut short such as the aforementioned Norrie McCathie or cup winning full-back John Lunn it is fair to say that on that hot June day in 1989 the shock and disbelief at such a promising clean living young player with no apparent health issues was just as numbing as the two club legends.
Gary Riddell had signed for Dunfermline from Aberdeen for around £40,000 of the proceeds of the club selling Ian McCall to Rangers for £200,000 and was one of the players referred to when club manager Jim Leishman who was trying to appease supporters angry at the sale of McCall said "I have sold an ace to buy four kings". The signing of Riddell was surprising to many as he was only 21 and only featured in the Aberdeen reserve team when it was expected that Leishman would generally look to bring in more experienced players to play alongside Norrie McCathie at the heart of the Pars defence for the Fife side's first ever season in the Premier Division especially with 3 teams being relegated due to league reconstruction with the reduction in size of the top division in Scotland from 12 to 10 teams the following season.
The aim of avoiding relegation proved to be too much for The Pars with them finishing 11th and only Greenock Morton beneath them in the table. Gary was to make 22 league appearances during this season and 2 in the Scottish Cup. The following season was to have a better ending with Dunfermline beating local rivals Falkirk to the title by a margin of 2 points after a nervy 1-1 draw with Meadowbank Thistle. Riddell again made 22 appearances in the league, he also was selected for 2 games in the Scottish Cup (both against former club Aberdeen) and 3 in the Skol Cup.
There are a couple of ways in Dunfermline and the wider West Fife area that Gary is remembered with primary schools competing for the Gary Riddell Memorial Trophy and the competition's inaugural winners Inzievar Primary School from Oakley appeared on popular children's programme "Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade" in a segment later that year.
The other is/was in the form of the DAFC Players' Player of the Year Trophy that was re-named the Gary Riddell Players' Player of the Year Trophy after his untimely death, however it has been alleged the trophy was not returned after Derek Stillie won it.
The reason for writing this piece is that it is exactly 25 years to the day since Gary Riddell got the call to play centre half for God's XI and that even though the young defender only played for Dunfermline for 2 seasons is to show that in the eyes of Pars fans he will always be remembered.
Gary Riddell signs for The Pars accompanied by then club chairman Mel Rennie and manager Jim Leishman
(photo nabbed from @officialdafc Twitter).
