“We got a bit peeved off about it. Barry Johnstone, Paul Rickard and I got together with [club committee members] Sandy Johnstone and Bert Cattle and chatted about it.
“Sandy said, ‘What do you want to do?’ and we said, ‘Surely we can find enough players to have our own club.’
“We had a meeting in one of the old wooden grandstands at Childers Road Reserve one Sunday. Quite a few people turned up and we decided to go our own way.
“Sandy and Bert backed us, but Bert decided to stay with Thistle, and Paul Rickard never played for United [Rickard became a mainstay with Thistle, on and off the field, and is now club patron].”
In United’s first year, 1976, they had only one team. Robertson was captain.
“We had about 14 players at the start,” he said.
“Colin Kenny started as coach but he got a promotion at work and couldn’t put the time into it, so Wilson Pears took over.”
The new team got a confidence boost when they played Thistle in a pre-season game.
“We beat them 4-1,” Robertson said.
“We came second in the Eastern League [local competition] and won the Bailey Cup and hardly got a write-up all year.”
Gisborne City in the National League and Thistle in the Central League dominated the football columns.
“In 1977, we won the Eastern League and the Bailey Cup. We lost only one game. Gisborne Boys’ High beat us 5-4, and that was the halftime score. Five or six of us had gone to the Record Reign before the game.
“In 1978, we went into the Central League third division. We had to have a second team playing at the top level of local football. We got one in 1977 but they had to start in the second division. They moved up a grade when we went into the Central League.
“That meant we were in the same league as Thistle. Those games had an edge.”
United was a family club, Robertson said.
“Mums and dads were always involved. We had a strong committee, with Scotsman Ron Gillespie as chairman. He didn’t pull any punches.”
Robertson’s best memories of United relate to camaraderie.
“When we had a home game in the Central League, four or five mums would be in the kitchen, and visiting teams would get hot meals.
“Everyone got on so well. At one stage, we had four teams in different leagues, plus a women’s team.”
When Robertson gave up first-team duty, he was drawn back to Thistle by the introduction of an over-30s team. He and good mate Willie Watson – another United stalwart – went back to the Jags in the mid-1980s for what was then regarded as the less intense “veterans” action.
Two years on, Robertson took up refereeing, and after four years of that went back to United for social football with their thirds. Former United player Les Gunther enticed him back to Thistle 20 years ago, and Robertson played his last game at 60, having been in goal for the last two years of his football career.
He’s 71 now and has done his share of coaching ... eight years with rep teams as son Jake went through the grades, and spells as coach of the Boys’ High first XI and Thistle’s Federation League team.
Robertson’s first club was High School Old Boys, in 1971, the year after he took a teacher’s advice and left school, picking up a plumbing apprenticeship and his lifetime occupation.
He joined Thistle in 1972 and played under coach Campbell Goodwin alongside Adam Hair, Ronnie Lightfoot, Ray Morrow and Kenny Morrow.
The following year, Iain Gillies took over and christened midfielder Robertson and defender Kenny McRae “Crash and Crunch”.
Robertson was still there in 1974, but the influx of more experienced players and the demands of travel in 1975 set in train the events that led to the formation of a club now engaged in an annual tussle for the title of top Gisborne football team.
Declaration of interest: I was a lanky 16-year-old when my father put me in Thistle’s 1975 Central League team, first in midfield and then at left back. “Son of the coach gets picked while good young players miss out” was never going to go down well. Eventually, the Thistle committee passed a resolution that Iain Gillies should continue as first-team coach but that a selector should be appointed. Bert Cattle visited our house to deliver the decision. Dad had been tipped off and had a plan. He called a special meeting that confirmed him as selector-coach. Most of the committee resigned and a new one was elected. Gisborne United came into being during the off-season. Dad coached Thistle for another year, then helped John Hill at Gisborne City, and later, Kevin Fallon. – John Gillies
