New Douglas Park Tourney nets charity £350

Jun 12 2008 by Alastair McNeill, Hamilton Advertiser

A FOOTBALL tournament recently held at New Douglas Park involving well-known veteran players has raised more than £3000 for a Lanarkshire charity.

Organised by Hamilton’s Philips factory, the event also involved teams from the company’s Dutch and Belgian operations.

The electrical firm’s teams and a team from Philips’ supplier, East Kilbride-based Worldmark, played the Dukla Pumpherston team made up of ex-Scottish professional players.

The all-star line up included former Accies players Gerry Collins, Gerry McCabe and Stevie Clarke, and ex-Livingston goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie.

Following the May tournament at the Accies stadium St Andrew’s Hospice received £3284, which included £150 from Philips Eindhoven (Netherlands), £350 from Philips Turnhout (Belgium) and £784 from Worldmark.

Tracy Chalmers of Philips Hamilton said this week: “Philips Hamilton have played in football tournaments organised by Philips Eindhoven and Tournhout and we thought we’d invite them over this time.

“They were very happy to get involved and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They were over for about three to four days in total.

“It had started off as a social event, but we later decided to make it a charity event.

“This is the first time Philips Hamilton has organised such a tournament. We raised a lot more money than we thought, and now we’re looking at making it an annual event.”

The cash will go towards palliative care at the Airdrie-based hospice.

The Eindhoven, Turnhout, Worldmark and Hamilton teams all got a chance to play the Dukla Pumpherston team during the tournament, in which the Hamilton Philips team reigned victorious.