In the first of this season’s ‘In Conversation With’ articles, we sat down with goalkeeper Ben Fry. Signed from Stirling University in 2023, he has cemented his place as Pollok’s number one in the early stages of this season, having been understudy to Jordan Longmuir for most of last season. Read on to learn more about a career that has so far taken Ben from a senior debut in Northern Ireland at just seventeen, to a Scottish Cup tie at Tannadice, and now to Newlandsfield.
What are your earliest memories of football, and which clubs did you play for at youth level?
Like quite a lot of boys, I have been playing football for as long as I can remember: in the garden after school, in the playground at lunchtime. I don’t think I was very good at the start, so the other kids shoved me in goal to get me out of the way, but I turned out to be quite good at that. I joined a local Christian football team when I was eight, run by a great charity called Coaching for Christ. They combined football coaching with learning about God, and at an early age, this was important to me and my family. I also played rugby at this stage, but going into secondary school, I decided that I had more chance of making it as a footballer, than a rugby player. At thirteen, I joined Ballymena United, my local academy team and after a couple of seasons with them I moved to an amateur team called Carniny.
Your first experience of senior football came with Ballyclare Comrades at the age of seventeen. There is not a huge amount of knowledge in Scotland of the Irish game so what was the standard like at that level compared to here, and how was it playing at that level at such a young age, particularly for a goalkeeper?
In my final year of school, I moved to Ballyclare Comrades to play for their reserve team. The Comrades were in the Northern Irish Championship at this time, and it’s quite hard to compare Northern Irish football to Scottish football, as it’s on an even smaller scale than the Scottish game (I know that’s probably hard to believe!) There are only four or five full-time teams in the whole of Northern Ireland, and I would probably compare the Championship to Scottish League 2/Lowland League. Due to a couple of injuries, I ended up getting six games for the first team that season. It was definitely a physical game over there, and for a scrawny, seventeen year-old goalkeeper, it was a big challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and even those few games taught me a lot about senior football.
You crossed the Irish Sea to enrol at the University of Stirling. What course did you study and why did you choose Stirling?
I studied Sports and Exercise Science, and chose Stirling for its reputation as one of the best universities for sports courses. Of course, I was also aware of Stirling’s reputation for Sport. I knew they had a great football programme and some of the best facilities in the UK. I had thought about going down the football scholarship route out in America, but Scotland wasn’t quite as far away from home!!
During your degree, you turned out for the University of Stirling first team, who play in the Lowland League. What was the process to secure a place in that side?
As I already mentioned, I was aware of Stirling’s sporting reputation and had done a bit of research into their scholarship programmes. During my final year of school, I had the opportunity to be a part of the Northern Ireland U17 squad for the Centenary Shield. This allowed me to apply for Stirling’s International Sports Scholar Programme, and after heading over for a visit to meet the coach and see the facilities, I moved to Stirling just after my A-level results in August 2019. The season had already started so I was training with the team, and playing for the U20s side, even before university officially started. Fortunately, I was able to get my place as number one that season, and kept it for the next four years.
UoS is a bit of an oddity, being a university team playing in the Scottish football pyramid. With a player pool and supporter base that changes annually due to graduations, was it a challenge for the squad to ever fully settle?
Yep, university football certainly is a bit different and you don’t expect many university teams to be playing at a semi-professional level, and competing as well as we did. The success of the programme really is down to the head coach, Chris Geddes who is working all year round, looking for the next group of players to come through and replace the ones that are leaving. It was never a huge squad, but because we were all students, friends and flatmates as well, we all spent a lot of time together off the pitch and I think this gave us a real togetherness on it. I think it also helped that because you couldn’t just go out and buy players every transfer window, it meant players had time to get adjusted to the level, and weren’t punished for making mistakes. I think that’s so important for the development of young players.
Who were the best players you turned out with at the uni, and have any of them climbed to a higher level?
Stirling University has a great record over the past few years of producing who have gone on to play in the professional leagues in Scotland. The most high-profile are probably Blair Lyons and Craig Brown, who are both at Montrose. The best player I played with in my time was probably my captain in my first year, Angus Mailer, who has played for Elgin and more recently, Bonnyrigg Rose. Another two standouts for me, were the two strikers in my last season before moving to Pollok, Ben Maciver-Redwood and Cammy McKinley. They both just graduated in June and have secured moves to Montrose and Stirling Albion respectively.
The highlight of your time at Stirling one would imagine was the run to the Scottish Cup fourth round where you played Dundee United at Tannadice. What was that experience like and how has it served to motivate you going forward?
That’s probably one of the best days of my life and definitely the best experience I’ve had on a football pitch. Even the run to get to the fourth round was special, I saved a penalty in the second round game against Dunbar, and we beat Albion Rovers, who were in League 2 at the time, in the third round. I don’t think anyone expected us to play as well as we did against Dundee United. We really held our own and 3-0 was a respectable scoreline. it probably says something about me as a goalkeeper that I’m still annoyed about the goals I conceded and still watch the highlights back thinking about how I could have saved them. Mostly though, that game just motivates me to continue to aim to play at the highest level and test myself against the best players.
When/how did you hear Pollok were interested last summer, and what was your reaction?
Maxi contacted me around March/April time last year, and I actually had to put him off a little bit as I was trying to finish my dissertation! But once that was out of the way, I met up with him and the coaching staff and knew that Pollok was going to be the right move. I knew they were a big club from when we played them in a cup game with the Uni back in 2022, and I had followed their run in the Scottish Cup too.
In your first game at Newlandsfield you saved a penalty against League 2 Bonnyrigg Rose – tell us what you remember about that day.
The main thing I remember was not really knowing what to do coming out onto the pitch. Apart from the Dundee United game, I wasn’t used to playing in front of so many fans, so I think I just awkwardly applauded and ran around a little bit. With the games itself, I was obviously really happy to save the penalty. I had saved quite a few in my time with the Uni, so I was happy to show that it was a strong part of my game (nothing on Jordan though!) and I made a few other decent saves as well. Overall, I was happy with my debut, but probably a little disappointed to lose the game. It was Angus Mailer, who I mentioned earlier who got the winner late on.
How did you find your first year at Pollok and what were the highlights?
I thoroughly enjoyed my first season, even though it was a tough campaign, and didn’t really finish the way we wanted. My highlight was probably the first game of the season at Newlandsfield against Talbot. It was great to start the season with a win and clean sheet. The West of Scotland Cup semi-final against Talbot later in the season was also a real highlight. Even though I wasn’t playing, just being a part of the group that day, for the comeback and getting to witness some more Jordan Longmuir penalty heroics, was pretty special.
Your first season at Newlandsfield was also Jordan Longmuir’s last after ten years at the club. What was it like working alongside him and what have you learned from him?
I know it has been said a lot over the past few months, but Jordan is a brilliant guy and a top, top goalkeeper. He made me feel welcome and part of the group straight away, and no matter who was starting, we had a great relationship and really pushed each other in training. It was great to learn from his experience and his knowledge of the league and certain players. The biggest thing I learnt from him was just finding a way to keep the ball out of the net, even if it isn’t textbook. Off the pitch, Jordan also had a great relationship with the fans, and this was something I tried to develop last season and hope to continue going forward.
What are your ambitions for the coming season on a personal level and in terms of the team?
On a personal level, I want to prove that I have got what it takes to be Pollok’s number one, and hopefully show that I’m one of the best keepers in the league. As a team, I really think we’ve got what it takes to win something this year. I hope we can give a good account of ourselves across all competitions – another Scottish Cup run would be nice, and I would love to experience a run in the Scottish Junior Cup. Hopefully we will have lots of clean sheets along the way too.
What is the most memorable piece of advice you have been given by a coach or team mate?
Chris, my gaffer at the Uni, said that as a goalkeeper he wanted me to be a 6/10. Initially I was confused as I thought, surely you want me to be 10/10 every week. But over time I’ve realised that it’s much better to be a consistent 6 or 7 out of 10 each week, aiming to be solid, and do the basics right with the odd big moment, than being up and down all season.
Who are the best players you have played with?
Probably the ones I’ve already mentioned from the Uni who went on to play pro. James Berry is another one, who was our captain in my last year at the Uni, and got a move to Stenhousemuir, winning League 2 with them last season. Obviously, Adam Forde has to be up there too. He has embarrassed me quite a few times in training, so I’m very glad he’s on my team for the real stuff.
Since graduating you have been working for a football organisation with a difference. Tell us a bit about that.
I work for an exercise programme with a bit of a difference. We’re called Fit-Baw and we deliver football-themed exercise classes in care homes all around Glasgow. It’s a fun job and the residents certainly keep me on my toes, but it’s really rewarding and great to see the progress they can make from taking part in our sessions. There are plenty of junior football fans, so I get to have plenty of chats about Pollok as well.
Originally published in the Pollok FC matchday programme from Pollok v St Johnstone Burgh on Saturday 17h August 2024.
All Pollok photographs courtesy of James Graham and Finlay Thom