Striker Dominic Macaulay has gone the distance for Inverness Athletic this season, travelling by sea and air to play for the North Caledonian League club.
Living in Eriskay in the Western Isles, the apprentice plumber finishes work on a Friday night and flies to Inverness before travelling home by bus and ferry on a Sunday.
It is an epic journey for the 22-year-old to undertake every weekend, but Macaulay says he loves the opportunity of playing football during the winter, something which isn’t possible in the Western Isles.
“I finish work on a Friday and then fly over after work and play the game on a Saturday and then get the ferry home on a Sunday.
I travel from Benbecula to Stornoway and then fly to Inverness on Friday night.
“Then on Sunday I get on a four-hour bus to get the ferry from Uig home.
“The ferry can be a bit rough and you never know if it will set sail due to the weather. But I have only been stuck once.
“But I love it as in Eriskay there is no chance that I could play in the winter here.”
Macaulay says the distance involved in playing for Athletic was a concern before he signed.
But with the support of the club and from fellow team-mates, he is relishing the opportunity of playing at the sixth tier of Scottish football.
“I go to college in Inverness as part of my apprenticeship.
“At the very start of the season, Athletic team-mate Graham Stewart asked me to play for IRN Security in the Inverness summer league.
“He asked me to go along to training and that is when the manager asked me to come and play.
“I had to think about it because I did not know how easy it would be to come across and how I would pay for it.
“But the club have helped with the travel costs and got some funding for me to travel.
“I couldn’t do it without that.”
Macaulay has scored 10 goals for Inverness Athletic this season and he would like to average at least a goal a game in their final five matches.
“I am pretty delighted with 10 goals so far but I wouldn’t mind getting a few more before the end of the season.
“We have five games left so it would be good to get at least 15 goals.”
Macaulay also plans to play for Eriskay in the Uist and Barra League in the Summer. He says it would be great to see more players from the Western Isles in the North Caledonian League. But says it is a huge commitment.
He said: “It would be good to see more players coming from here to play in the North Caledonian League but it is a big ask for people to go over.
“But the club have asked if there are players that could come and do a job for them.”
