Dufftown Football Club has today received confirmation that season 2010-2011 will start on either Monday 2 or Tuesday 3 August.  It's expected that a fixture list for the opening couple of months of the season will be published in the next 10 days and of course you will read about Dufftown's fixtures first on this site just as soon as they are available.

Dufftown have been handed a home tie against Superleague side Longside in the first round of next season's Inter Regional Cup.  Should Dufftown progress then they face a trip to the winner of the first round match between Buchanhaven Hearts and RAF Lossiemouth.

The full draw is as follows:

First Round

Burghead Thistle  v  Stonehaven

Lewis Utd  v  Dyce Juniors

Dufftown  v  Longside

FC Stoneywood  v  Whitehills

Buchanhaven Hearts  v  RAF Lossiemouth

Deveronside  v  Hermes

Fraserburgh Utd  v  East End

Parkvale  v  Maud

Cruden Bay  v  Islavale

Culter  v  Ellon Utd

Lossiemouth Utd  v  Newmachar Utd***

New Elgin  v  Sunnybank

Hillhead  v  Glentanar

Buckie Rovers  v  Hall Russell Utd

Bishopmill Utd  v  Banchory St Ternan

Bye – Banks o’ Dee

Second Round

Lossiemouth Utd or Newmachar Utd***  v  Banks o’ Dee

Buchanhaven Hearts or RAF Lossiemouth  v  Dufftown or Longside

Fraserburgh Utd or East End  v  Buckie Rovers or Hall Russell Utd

Deveronside or Hermes  v  Culter or Ellon Utd

Burghead Thistle or Stonehaven  v  Hillhead or Glentanar

FC Stoneywood  or Whitehills  v  Parkvale or Maud

New Elgin or Sunnybank  v  Cruden Bay or Islavale

Bishopmill Utd or Banchory St Ternan  v  Lewis Utd  or Dyce Juniors

***subject to gaining entry to the SJFA

Dufftown have been drawn with Superleague sides Hall Russell United and Lewis United, fellow First Division side Burghead Thistle and Second Division side Fochabers in next season's Grill League Cup.

The full draw is as follows:

Section 1  Culter  Banks o’ Dee Glentanar  Bishopmill Utd  Nairn St Ninian

Section 2  Dyce Juniors  Ellon Utd  Lossiemouth Utd  Hillhead  Parkvale

Section 3  Hermes  Maud  Islavale  Deveronside  Newmachar Utd***

Section 4  FC Stoneywood  Sunnybank  Buchanhaven Hearts  East End  Cruden Bay

Section 5  Hall Russell Utd  Lewis Utd  Dufftown  Burghead Thistle  Fochabers

Section 6  Fraserburgh Utd  Banchory St Ternan  New Elgin  Buckie Rovers  RAF Lossiemouth

Section 7  Longside  Stonehaven  Inverness City  Forres Thistle  Whitehills

***subject to gaining entry to the SJFA

Dufftown have been handed a tough draw in next season's North Regional Cup.  A trip to Stonehaven, who were promoted into the Superleague following a play off at the end of last season awaits Paul Lamberton's men in the preliminary round, and, should they progress from this, a trip to face Ellon United awaits in the first round proper.

No dates have yet been confirmed for these matches.

Preliminary Round:

Parkvale v East End

Maud v Lewis United

Stonehaven v Dufftown

First Round:

Buchanhaven Hearts v Dyce Juniors

Burghead Thistle v Hermes

Ellon United v Stonehaven or Dufftown

Cruden Bay v Culter

Longside v Maud or Lewis United

Banks O' Dee v Lossiemouth United

Nairn St Ninian v Forres Thistle

Sunnybank v Fraserburgh United

Inverness City v Hall Russell United

RAF Lossiemouth v Bishopmill United

Deveronside v Banchory St Ternan

Fochabers v Newmachar United***

Glentanar v New Elgin

Islavale v Buckie Rovers

FC Stoneywood v Whitehills

Parkvale or East End v Hillhead

***subject to gaining entry to the SJFA

Dufftown Football Club are delighted to reveal that Strathdee Properties is the new away strip sponsor in a deal that will see the Craigellachie based company's logo on Dufftown's away kit for the next two seasons.

New strips have been designed and will be revealed on this site later on in the summmer, when we will also have some comments from Dufftown Football Club President Pearl McKenna and Gavin Strathdee, Managing Director of Strathdee Properties.

Following Stonehaven's victory over Buchanhaven Hearts on Thursday night in the play-off match for a Superleague place the setup of all three North Leagues for next season is now known.

Superleague:

Banchory St Ternan, Banks O' Dee, Culter, Dyce, Ellon United, Fraserburgh United, Hall Russell United, Hermes, Lewis United, Longside, Maud, Stoneywood, Stonehaven, Sunnybank

First Division:

Bishopmill United, Buchanhaven Hearts, Buckie Rovers, Burghead Thistle, Deveronside, Dufftown, East End, Forres Thistle, Glentanar, Hillhead, Inverness City, Islavale, Lossiemouth United, New Elgin

Second Division: 

Cruden Bay, Fochabers, Nairn St Ninian, Parkvale, RAF Lossiemouth, Whitehills, Newmachar United (subject to being admitted to SJFA) 

With the Westburn Park pitch having seen its last action of the season on Saturday attention has now turned to next season and ensuring that the pitch is in fine condition ahead of the resumption of fixtures in August.

Work began on the Westburn Park pitch at 6.30am this morning with the entire pitch being vertidrained with an aeriation machine - a process which took over four hours.  The aeriation machine punches holes in the turf to a depth of nine inches and this process helps to promote grass growth.

Contractor Andy Burnett from Greenstaff Services then covered the pitch in fertiliser and is to sow around 6 bags of grass seed all over the pitch. 

The final part of the process will be for 30 tonnes of sand to be evenly spread over the pitch which will also help to promote deep rooted grass growth along with the re-turfing of the Smiddy end goal-mouth which has proved to be a problematic area for drainage throughout this season.

The maintenance programme represents another substantial investment by Dufftown Football Club to try and deliver the best possible playing surface in the years to come.

Charity was the ultimate winner at Westburn Park yesterday as two teams of former Dufftown players went head to head on a rainy afternoon in front of hundreds of hardy spectators.

The Dufftown team that won the league in 1991 faced a Dufftown side made up of players who played for the club throughout the 1990s in a match that was designed to help raise funds for CALICO a charity that has helped current Dufftown coach Doug McCormack's family.

The charity has supported the McCormack family as Doug's daughter Robyn, who is now 10, was diagnosed in December, 2007 with medulloblastoma and had to undergo an operation on Christmas Eve to remove a brain tumour.

Robyn, a pupil at Mortlach Primary School in Dufftown, had radiotherapy and chemotherapy over a prolonged period following her operation.

The Dufftown team from 1991 opened the scoring through a fine long range effort from Michael Robertson and doubled their advantage with current Dufftown assistant manager Willie Duncan chipping the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Willie Dick.

The Dufftown team of the 1990s battled back into the match however with Ian Morrison grabbing a goal before half time and Davie Grant rifling in a superb effort to bring the sides level in the second half.

The match was to be settled on penalty kicks and after each player had taken a spot kick the final score was 10-8 on penalties to the Dufftown team from 1991.

Doug McCormack expressed his thanks to everyone who played their part in a memorable day and said that the fantastic sum of £4,098 was raised on the day for CALICO

Some video footage and photos of the match are available on the following links:

http://www.dufftownfc.co.uk/pictures.asp?grp=Charity+Match

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcJKEZSzmzo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WkUD_Iz3g8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YnvAaUIGE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo9-p2izZaA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKwRFUE-zus

The climax to season 2009-2010 at Dufftown Football Club was reached recently with the presentation of the Player of the Year awards.

After a keenly contested vote in both the Player of the Year and Young Player of the year categories, midfielder Peter Fraser emerged victorious, being presented with the James 'Shortie' McIntosh trophy as Dufftown Football Club's Player of the Year.

In the Young Player of the Year category it was defender Blair McDonald who collected most votes and he was presented with the Matt Crawford trophy as Dufftown Football Club's Young Player of the year.

The top goalscorer award once again went to Stuart Allan as his 12 goals during season 2009-2010 was double the amount achieved by his nearest challenger.

A large crowd enjoyed a night of entertainment and fun at the Masonic Hall in Dufftown last night as Dufftown Football Club's Race Night helped to raise some much needed funds for the club.

The Race results were as follows:

Race 1

Sponsor: G C McIntosh, Butcher, Dufftown

Winner: Win! Win! Win!, ridden by Willy Win

Horse Owner:  Blair McDonald

Jockey:  Laura Edwards

Race 2

Sponsor: Fife Arms Hotel, Dufftown

Winner: Hay Fever, ridden by Sneez N Run

Horse Owner:  Big Tawse

Jockey:  Unknown

Race 3

Sponsor: Commercial Hotel, Dufftown

Winner: Fast Buck, ridden by Big Bet

Horse Owner:  Gordon McIntosh

Jockey:  Claire Henderson

Race 4

Sponsor: Royal Oak, Dufftown

Winner: Sexy Eyes, ridden by Sultry Look

Horse Owner:  Pearl McKenna

Jockey:  Stuart Lamberton

Race 5

Sponsor: WJM Engineering

Winner: Need an Ocean, ridden by Alaskan Sea

Horse Owner:  Gemma Kerr

Jockey:  Kerrie Wilson

Race 6

Sponsor: Johnston Carmichael

Winner: Slim Jim, ridden by Weight Loss

Horse Owner:  Kevin Smith

Jockey:  Alan Shearer

Race 7

Sponsor: Strathisla Construction

Winner: One Night Stand, ridden by Buckie Brew

Horse Owner:  Paul Lamberton

Jockey:  Paul Lamberton

Race 8

Sponsor: The Whisky Shop Dufftown

Winner: Head Butt, ridden by O'Neill's Folly

Horse Owner:  Stephen Wiltshire

Jockey:  Ronnie Anderson