Team back together in tribute to friend’s death on 20th anniversary
PLAYERS from a former Inverness football team were reunited to remember a man who they set up the team in his honour on the 20th anniversary of his death.
Footballers of Innes CI put on their boots again to remember their friend Neil Balnave.
They organised a special match which took place at Bught Park in Inverness last Saturday.
Neil tragically died in a car accident in 2003, and the football team, which had several names during its history, was formed to play in the Inverness and District Football Association in his memory by his friends.
The team played for 18 years before they officially disbanded in 2021.
But to honour his memory on the 20th anniversary of his death, players decided to get together to play a match between each other.
Neil’s friend and former Innes CI captain and player-manager Steve Gray said it was important to everyone on the team to remember the memory of their friend.
He said: “It is 20 years since the passing of Neil who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2003.
“When Neil passed, a group of his friends decided to start a football team in his memory and we played in the Inverness Amateur League up until 2021, when sadly age got the better of us.
“The team started as The Caley Inn. When it closed, we moved to The Portland Club and were called Portland CI.
“We wanted to keep the Caley Inn in the name as that’s where we started, hence the CI.
“Then the Portland closed and we moved to The Innes Bar and were called Innes CI.
“Over this time, a huge amount of players came and went and we wanted to bring as many of these as possible back together to have a match to celebrate and remember Neil.
“Then we went to Kilvean Cemetery where he is buried to pay our respects to him.
“We always did that every year when we had our end of season award ceremonies to remember Neil and then we went back to the Innes Bar.
“We normally had a pool competition and a quaich for a player of the year trophy, and it was always planned to fill up with a bottle of whisky where it was passed around.”
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Among those in attendance at the special football match were Neil’s family who cheered on the players during the match.
The game was also looking to raise money for road safety charity Brake.
