Sunday June 8th saw the latest Volunteer day at Dens, and a hardy band of volunteers once again turned up to show that the fans of Dundee F.C. really do go the extra mile for the club they support. For three of them in particular, the extra mile could possibly be described as the extra thousands of miles, as the group was boosted by the appearance of Fraser McDowell and his twin sons Liam and Logan, all the way from Houston,Texas!
Fraser explained how they had come to be at Dens, ‘I work in the oil industry, and moved to Houston nine years ago, but obviously I am from Dundee, and a lifelong Dundee fan. We are back for a family wedding and a general catch up with any new arrivals in the family. I stay in touch with what is going on at Dens through the website, and am part of the Exile Dark Blues set up by Scott Lockie, and part of the initiative to buy kids season tickets run with the help of Dundee Mad, so I try to stay in touch as much as I can, so I figured since we are here, why not come down and do what we can to help out. I would obviously have preferred to be here next weekend, but if I cannot be here for a game, then why not help out?
The boys have been here few times, their first trip was actually to see Dundee lift the First Division Trophy, and we were all back for the Cup Final against Rangers. We generally have to come back during the school holidays, so we don’t get to many games, but today we got to meet some new people who obviously have a passion for Dundee, we have always known that was there, but today I got to see it in action, and that’s refreshing.’
Fraser explained that living in Houston, there is a local team he could support, ‘Our local team is the Houston Dynamos, but unfortunately, they play in a strip which is slightly too orange for my liking, and to be honest, I cannot really get into it. Several of my friends based in Houston go along, but it is not my team. I do occasionally go to see other sports, but nothing compares to a trip to Dens'
Stadium Manager Jim Thomson had a list of jobs, and with the team from Millar’s specialist decorators taking care of the painting, the volunteers concentrated on the list supplied by Jim, who was more than happy with what was achieved on the day. ‘We had a good few volunteers turn up, and all in all a great deal was done. The volunteers who turned up today have saved the ground staff here almost a week’s work, and as you can imagine, that’s a great help to us. I would like to thank everyone who took the trouble to come up to Dens today and help out, it is most appreciated.’
Dundee FC Supporter’s Society would like to add their thanks to the band of volunteers who gave up their time on a Sunday to help out with things around the stadium. Once again, the fans have shown that they are willing to adopt a hands on approach when necessary to help out the club. With fans arriving from all over the world, never mind the local area, The Society is confident that the support shown for the Volunteers Day, and other Initiatives shows that Dundee fans the world over are the best fans in the world.