What do Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Dennis Bergkamp and Megan Quinn have in common? They are all club legends who have displayed remarkable longevity and have been honoured with a testimonial match.
In years gone by, a testimonial match was not an unknown thing. Typically granted by a club to a player after ten years of unbroken service, they are, in the current climate when it is very rare for anyone to stay in the same place for that length of time, becoming fewer and further between. In the women’s game, they are virtually unknown. Considering the amateur status of the vast majority of the clubs in the women’s game in Scotland, they’re not a thing. Until now, that is.
Hamilton Academical is not a professional club. It operates on an amateur basis, with nobody on traditional contracts. Players and staff can, in effect, come and go as they please. Some may have to leave the club due to work commitments or because they have left home to go to university.
This makes it extremely difficult at times for the management, especially during the close season. Effectively, everyone at the club is constantly available on a ‘Bosman’ free transfer. Hamilton are, of course, by no means the only club that is affected by this. You can count the number of women’s clubs in Scotland being run on a professional basis on the fingers of one hand, which, in itself, makes it even more remarkable that Megan has been in one place for so long.
Megan Quinn has amassed nearly 250 games in ten years for Hamilton Academical since her debut in April 2015. She has been the club captain since 2021 and is, as the phrase goes, ‘part of the furniture’. She is also a school teacher, meaning that her football career fits around her work schedule. It is the teaching that pays the bills, it is the football that she – and all the others like her – plays because she likes it and she is good at it.
The testimonial match, played at New Douglas Park, home to both Accies men and women’s teams, saw today’s squad face a team of Hamilton legends. Former manager Gary Doctor returned to manage a legends squad made up of former players who were part of the SWPL2 title-winning side of 2016 and others who have played 50 games or more for the club. The line-up reads as a veritable who’s who of Accies past with the likes of MT Gardiner (now Wright), Amy Lindsay, Joanne Paton and Sarah Crilly still showing how it’s done and Elaine Fleming once more between the sticks. Aside from Robert Watson, who was then assistant manager before moving into the hot seat after Doctor moved on, Megan is the only member of the 2016 squad still uninterruptedly donning the Hamilton red and white.
“She has been the captain for the last five years and has been incredible,” said Watson of Megan prior to the game. “What a massive job she’s done. She’s contributed so much and with her retiring at the end of the year, she’s going to be a massive loss for us. Quinny has been absolutely incredible for the last ten years and will be so difficult to replace, if we can replace her.”
“I’m a wee bit emotional,” was Megan’s first reaction. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for ten years, it feels like I’ve just walked in the door, but it’s been a large journey in my life. It’s been amazing – I’ve loved every minute of it. When I signed from Celtic back in 2015, I thought I’d only be here for a season or so but, as soon as I walked in the door, I was made to feel so welcome.”
“I was actually quite shocked to be made captain. Gary Doctor was the manager at the time and he said, ‘We’d like you to have the armband, you’ve got good qualities and attributes to be a leader so we’d like you to be captain’. Having been here so long and having that responsibility has been amazing and I absolutely love it.”
Having already got one title winner’s medal from 2016, there’s a fair chance that a second will be added this year with, at the time of writing, Hamilton needing just seven points from the last five games to make sure of the championship and promotion to SWPL1, the most upper echelons of Scottish women’s football. Those seven points is also taking the assumption that title rivals Kilmarnock win all of their remaining matches. Has Megan thought about what kind of legacy she’s going to leave?
“It wasn’t until recently, actually, that I starting looking back and thought that the career I’ve had, most people would take that in terms of football. I feel really fortunate and lucky and, to be honest, it’s down to my family for helping me at a young age. When we play here on a Sunday and we see all the young girls in there watching and our Academy girls of 10, 11, 12 years of age, that’s when it really hits home.
“We had a mascot the other week who was only about eight, and all she wanted to do was wear the captain’s armband and lead the team out. I think it’s amazing that the young girls who come along and support us do look up to us and want pictures with us. When I was growing up, we were looking up to David Beckham, but now the girls are looking up to female athletes, and I think that’s an absolute credit to everyone involved with this amazing club.”
As for the game itself, it was a celebration of all things Accies with Megan playing the first half in the present team and the second half in the legends team. Was it a hard-fought blood and thunder encounter? No, but testimonial games are not meant to be. They are meant to be an enjoyable party, and this was certainly that. Both teams wanted to win, of course, and there were some good moments. Can you imagine, though, if it was no holds barred and one or two of the current squad picked up injuries at this vital stage of the season with the league championship trophy coming into view…?!
Today’s team took the honours 4-2, the first being an unfortunate own goal from a corner, the second being a thumper from Eryn Brown. Chloe Muir notched the third and Chloe Docherty wrapped up the scoring. Both the Legends’ goals came from penalties, Megan herself scoring the first and Danni Pagliarulo slotting home the other. The match actually finished 11 v 13, the Legends employing the clever substitution tactic of taking two players off and putting three on in their place.
Testimonial matches are traditionally a way of giving a player a nice financial send-off as well as a big thank-you before they engage in life outside of football. This was especially the case in yesteryear when testimonials first came about, a time when the seemingly endless supply of money we see today just wasn’t around, when players did not earn anywhere near the fortunes they do now and would, after their playing career ended, have to join in with ‘normal’ life by getting a ‘proper’ job to support themselves.
Another lovely touch here, though, was the fact that all profits from the match didn’t go to Megan herself or even the club but were donated to Andy Carlin, the former Accies WFC head of goalkeeping. Carlin, a former professional goalkeeper with Cowdenbeath and Stenhousemuir amongst others, needs money to fund his medical treatment after a devastating reaction to a COVID-19 booster in 2022 left him with a host of health problems. We all wish him well.
Football legends aren’t just the ones who are at the top of the game, being paid the biggest wage packets and being given the most publicity. Legends are the ones who have made a difference, who have provided inspiration to others and who mean something to their club, their club’s supporters and their teammates. Megan fills that definition perfectly. In fact, you might say she is the Quinn-tessential club legend.
