Scottish Cup winners Aberdeen provide testimonial opposition for Buckie Thistle’s Highland League football legend Hamish Munro
He’s played on with a broken ankle, and once discovered he was on the transfer list when he read it in a newspaper.
Hamish Munro also remembers being left out of his team for a long trip to Wick, and booking a flight to Australia on the bus home to Moray to start his next football adventure Down Under.
But the high points far outnumber the lows for the 39-year-old, who has won every Highland League honour including four titles with current club Buckie Thistle, who have granted him a testimonial.
He will enjoy his big day on Saturday in a match against Scottish Cup holders Aberdeen at Victoria Park.
Starting with a teenager at his hometown Fochabers, Munro, who has won every honour in north football, looks likely to play beyond his 40th birthday in January as he targets even more trophies.
He combines playing for Jags with being manager Lewis MacKinnon’s assistant, as well as the club’s fitness coach.
Munro also works for the Scottish FA, teaching sports science to youngsters at their north performance school at Aberdeen’s Hazelhead Academy.
During that stint over the past 12 years, he nurtured the talents of future Buckie Thistle players Max Barry, Jack MacIver and Lyall Keir, as well as current Aberdeen FC prospects Jack Milne and Fletcher Boyd - who he could face in his testimonial.
“It’s been difficult getting a game against Aberdeen because of their busy schedule but it’s finally happening, and I’m looking forward to Saturday,” he said.
Dad-of-three Munro will walk out for his testimonial this weekend with his two youngest children Esme (11) and Lucas (8) as well as his niece Kerrigan, to the adulation of a Buckie support in great appreciation of his 400-plus appearances for the club.
When you add two spells at Forres Mechanics, a shot at SPFL football with Peterhead, a four-year stint at Formartine United and even a season in Australia, his career must amount to more than 600 games of football.
He has helped Jags win their last four Highland League titles, and can tell some incredible stories from across a memorable career in the game.
At Formartine, he played one season unaware that he had broken a bone in his ankle, and his time at the Pitmedden club came to an end when learning about being put on the transfer list by reading a newspaper.
Before then, his first spell at Buckie began in spectacular fashion with back-to-back league titles, but he recalls how that team gradually broke up and manager Gregg Carrol ruthlessly showed the door to any stars who wouldn’t sign a new contract.
Munro also remembers his second spell at Forres Mechanics finishing when he was an unused sub in a match at Wick Academy, and by the time he returned home to Moray he had booked a flight to Australia to play for his next club.
While the stalwart is aiming to keep playing into his forties, he knows his career is on borrowed time and expects to be mainly on the sidelines for Buckie next term.
“If the boys are performing, if the guys are fit and putting in the work, then I probably shouldn't be near the team,” he admits.
“If there's injuries and people are away and if we don't quite get the performances in, then I might be required. My plan is to be ready for that if they're enjoying training and keeping fit anyway.”
One boss who has recognised the talents of Munro is the legendary Steve Paterson, who can list Aberdeen, Caley Thistle, Elgin City, Peterhead and a multi-title-winning Huntly among the clubs he has managed.
Paterson have Munro his first taste of Highland League football at Forres in 2005, stepping up after a couple of seasons in the juniors as a teenager with Fochabers.
Paterson then took the defender to Peterhead for his only SPFL spell, which proved short-lived after late Aberdeen legend Neale Cooper took over the reins at the Buchan club.
“Neale was a great character and he was obviously a good manager, but he was someone that probably didn't quite trust me. When that became apparent, I knew it was time for me to leave and I ended up going back to Forres.
It was Gordon Winton who was in charge at Mosset Park, setting the foundations for a team which would eventually win the league under Charlie Rowley’s management.
Munro didn’t know it at the time but a journey to the other side of the world was on the horizon.
“In the first year we were actually competing for the league and cups, and had a really good squad.
“Then we went to a transitional squad and I remember there were a few games I wasn't playing where I felt I maybe should, or I definitely wanted to.
“I remember going up to Wick where I was an unused sub, and coming home I was kind of sulking a little bit.”
Munro started texting former team-mate Connor Campbell, who by that time was playing in Australia and had tried to persuade him to join him.
“I was like ‘is there still a chance to come out?’ and he said yes, so by the time I got back from that Wick trip, my flights were booked to Australia!”
Munro signed for Shepparton, based in the state of Victoria just north of Melbourne, where his friend Campbell played alongside another Scot, goalkeeper Robbie Taylor who played for several Highland League clubs.
“The standard was quite good, but the lifestyle and the people were brilliant,” he said.
“We won the league, and then three Scottish guys went out celebrating, and everybody else was kind of like ‘what are you doing? It's just like your ticket to the grand final’ where the top four played off, but we got through and won that as well.”
Munro came back to get his university degree in Aberdeen, and a chance meeting between his father and Buckie Thistle president Mark Duncan led to Hamish joining his brother Donnie at Victoria Park.
“The second season was probably my best in terms of performance. I just enjoyed my football and playing well, week in and week out.”
Jags had ended a wait of more than 50 years since their last league title triumph by claiming the crown, then retaining it a year later by defeating arch rivals Deveronvale in a title decider.
“I’m not entirely sure what happened in the third year. I think we were at 12 points clear of Cove, but then we were dropping a lot of points and fell away.
“My contract was coming to an end and a lot of people were leaving, guys like Andy Low, Craig MacMillan and Graeme Stewart, so I held off on signing.
“Gregg (manager Carrol) just said ‘if you're not signing, you're gone’. I remember he took four or five guys into the changing rooms and they just walked out.
“Spider (Stewart) was called in and he came out and said ‘guys, that’s me, see you later’ - and then it was my turn to go in.
“I thought ‘oh no, I'm going to get released here’ but we had a wee chat and he actually kept me on, and I ended up playing centre midfield for the rest of that season and ended up scoring quite a few goals.”
With Munro staying in Aberdeen at the time through university, when Paterson tried to lure him to Formartine it was a move that made sense.
“We were very close to winning the league in the first season and in my third season it kind of faded away a wee bit.”
A major reason for a deterioration in Munro’s personal performances was an injury which turned out to be a lot worse than he feared.
“I had a bad tackle in the first season and I knew it was sore. I had to try and manage it in training and kind of push through it because we were going for the league.
“There wasn’t enough time to rest and I just kind of got in a bad cycle of training and then being sore and then I wasn't even striking the ball properly.
“It turned out to be a weird fracture in my ankle, a type of bone bruising and I realised I needed to get it sorted out.”
Kris Hunter replaced Paterson as manager and it soon became clear that Munro’s future lay elsewhere.
“He phoned me up and said he was coming in and there was going to be changes and stuff like that, which was understandable. The next morning I read in the newspaper that I was on the transfer list.”
Buckie Thistle wanted him back, although he promised to get his damaged ankle sorted before committing to a Victoria Park return.
Just like he did in his first spell with Jags, a shot at the title brought the very best out of him and his team-mates.
“Having been injured or struggling I went back with the target in my head to be fit for every game. I ended up playing every game and every minute that season.”
One of his greatest days came in the Aberdeenshire Cup final when Buckie faced Cove Rangers at Turriff.
Cove went 2-0 up and Jags were down to ten men but battled back to force extra time, and despite a second dismissal the nine men held on for penalties, with Munro scoring the winning kick in a thrilling success.
The league soon followed, and although Munro had to wait another seven years for his next silverware moment, the capture of his fourth league title in 2024 was a great moment.
When Stewart quit as manager after that title win, his assistant Mackinnon took over and Munro became his number two in addition to his fitness coaching duties.
His own fitness knowledge and sports science qualifications have helped Munro to keep playing to a high standard, though he remembers thinking his career was over after a disastrous Scottish Cup display in 2022.
“I remember the game, it was against Broomhill, the open goal team. The week before I didn't have a great game and Graeme (Stewart) hummed and hayed about putting me in for the cup game - and decided to put me back in. But it was an absolute disaster.
“I think we had a goal kick and I struggled to run to get out of the box. It probably didn't help that they had a good player up against me, I can tell myself that anyway.
“I remember coming in at half time and I was like, can I apologise for that? I took my top off to signify that I needed to come off, and Lewis put a nice comforting arm round me and said ‘don't worry, you were coming off anyway’.
“I thought that my legs were gone and that was me done. In hindsight, I think it was just maybe a Covid thing or a viral thing - I was just wiped.
“Graeme was good. He took me out and told me to get my head sorted, and he would use me when I was ready.
“The season we won the league, even then I was telling him ‘I think that's me’. He told me to give him what I had, then I could retire.
“I ended up just being used for the bigger type games, against Brechin, Brora or Fraserburgh, and i was fortunate enough to play in the Celtic game as well (Scottish Cup).
“Apart from Celtic, I think we won all of those matches and it was an incredible experience to win the league again.
“I didn’t play as many games last season. I don't really need anyone to tell me how I've played, I think I know.
“I didn't have a great start, so they ended up throwing me in against Huntly and we ended up winning 1-0 to end a bad run. It’ll probably be the same again this season.”
And what’s been the secret of a long and profitable career in football? Just being a bit older and wiser, he says.
“I try and keep my performances levels high, so I knew that I had to kind of prioritise to do things right which meant I might have to rest on occasions, which I didn’t like.
“Through my uni course, being able to give myself a bit of a more structured programme and stuff and get back to fitness really helped.
“My main strengths were probably my fitness and maybe speed as well, that kind of got me out of a lot of situations. But in the last few seasons I've noticed that's not quite what it was.
“You end up just finding a way and it's either trying to be positionally in the right space or just using anything you can, if it's just aggression or strength or whatever.”
Anyone who attends Munro’s testimonial on Saturday and buys the match programme, will read his own personal message of thank yous.
“That took a while, just because there's so many people that have helped me along the way.
“From managers, to players, to friends, to coaches, to the committee and stuff. I couldn't have done it on my own, so I'm glad I've got a lot of good people in my corner.”
