Photograph Notes: Unst football pitch was opened at the same time as the adjoining leisure centre, in 1988. Until that time there had been three pitches on Unst, each with their own team � Baltasound Utd at Harry�s Park in Baltasound (see [[1343241]]), Northern Rangers at Brakes in Haroldswick (see [[1345640]] and [[1345647]]) and RAF Saxa Vord at Burrafirth links (where they also played rugby - RAF Saxa Vord also opened an astroturf pitch on the camp in about 1990) (see [[[2470312]]], [[1343292]], [[1345657]] and [[1345666]]). Together with a team from Yell named Hascosay Rovers, they competed against each in a mini-league, but only occasionally played against other Shetland teams. Another team, Uyeasound Thistle (see [[5468847]]) had been one of the three teams that founded the Unst FA, along with Baltasound United and Northern Rangers, although they stopped competeing in the 1970s. Although an Unst team had existed on occasions since at least the 1920s (especially in the Parish Cup), improved ferry timetables in the late 1980s meant it was possible for Unst FC to enter the Shetland leagues and the three Unst teams were soon disbanded. For most of this time, Unst FC has competed in the B league, due to the small pool of players available. For one season Unst and Yell combined as Northern Rovers, a name used for junior teams on several occasions, and competed in the top league. Recently, Unst have competed in the Lerwick Building Centre Shetland Premier League following a recent, and somewhat controversial, decision to restrict the B league to reserve teams. Incidentally, the football season in Shetland is in the summer, due to the poor weather, low light-levels and poor condition of the pitches in the winter. The match in progress is a Parish Cup first round game between Unst and Sandwick, a game that Unst won 5-0. The Parish Cup is a representative competition played for by teams from parishes outside Lerwick and Scalloway. Instead of playing for their club teams, players represent their parish, and they must qualify by residence or parental connection. Unst has competed in this competition since the 1960s (travelling to away fixtures by fishing boat in the days before ro-ro ferries) and won the competition in 1964, 1965, 1967 and 2000. A photo of the 2000 final is here [[671745]]. The pitch itself straddles four one-kilometre grid squares. For a photo from the other end of the pitch see [[1341561]]. For the official website of Unst FC click http://www.unst.org/football/2009/index.html
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