Forest Pitch

I boarded a bus in Glasgow this morning heading for a location that almost proved too much for the driver's satnav. After a couple of wrong turns, we were dropped off at the entrance to a field between Selkirk and Newtown St Boswells.

After a fortifying snack in a marquee, we were directed to a flag in the corner and followed a muddy track into a forest, emerging a few minutes later in an unexpected clearing. The trees had been felled, the ground levelled, and a crisp, brand-new, manicured three-quarter-size football field greeted us.

This was Forest Pitch, the intriguing brainchild of Craig Coulthard, which featured two games, played by men and women who have only recently settled in Scotland.

Although it never quite stopped raining, it was a magical afternoon, which I think softened the cynicism of some the locals in attendance who would have rather seen public funds going into improving existing sporting facilities in the area instead of what they feared might have been a pretentious statement or 'experience'. But of course one does not preclude the other.

Here is Alloysious Massaquoi (better known perhaps as a member of Edinburgh hip-hop outfit Young Fathers) being gently chided by the linesman for a schoolboy error, unworthy of the Duddingston Athletic striker.