The ABOB Trophy

The Amateur Battle of Britain, or, ABOB trophy, is contested annually by Hawick United and a team form the Manchester area. It was initially started in 2010 when former Hawick United player Mark Douglas, (Dougis), moved from Hawick to Stockport, Manchester. He started coaching in the area with a team called A.F.C. Stockport. He contacted Kevin Strathdee (Strabo), a good friend of his, who was still playing with United to see if they fancied playing a game against his new charges. The ABOB was born from these conversations. The first game was played in Hawick and United duly won. 

Apparently, the score doesn’t matter as the social aspect was the most important thing. However, judging by the banter and messages toing and froing on Facebook, it did matter to Stockport, and they duly won the return in 2011. The trophy has been contested annually ever since, with a few years missing due to Covid and a couple of other unforeseen happenings, between United and a variety of different teams from the Manchester area, including, Edgley Villa, Disbury F.C. and whatever other team they can find to bring to Hawick bi- annually.

When Mark returned to Hawick the rivalries continued under the guidance of Marks great friend, and banter king, Alex Gannon, who still lives in the Manchester area. Many friendships have been made and the run up to each encounter is proceeded by fantastic banter between the two sets of players, each claiming bragging rights either from the preceding year or the overall score, which currently stands at 7 – 3 to Hawick United. The Manchester mob will probably contest this tho as they are still mumpin about the refereeing skills of Hawick’s Scott Bowers. Apparently, they feel he’s a wee bit too pro Hawick.

Apart from the keenly contested games, each set of players look forward to playing the event every year, just to renew old friendships and have a right guid night oot, be it here or Manchester.

The ABOB Trophy by Douglas Leithead - October 2023