It’s autumn on the Mugdock estate, near Milngavie. Here he stands, shrouded in mist, peering out at the action in Staney Brig Park.
It’s summer in Munich. Here he stands, surrounded by delirious fans and crates of beer on Marienplatz, while the euro disaster in Scotland has yet to unfold and optimism can still be harbored between sips of lager.
Here he is. David Stoker can be found on the sidelines of football fields most Saturdays – and regularly throughout the week. He travels a lot to watch a match. He could be called the King of the Road, but he gently objected.
“I know people who go to 300 games a year,” he says. ‘I’m not at that level. I’ve gone to about 170 to 200 in the last ten years and maybe 100 a year before that in the previous ten years. The years before that would be typical for any football fan. I started going to competitions at the age of ten.’
Stoker, 47, is an office worker, father, grandfather and football nomad. He is also an assistant, companion and informal advisor for those who simply fancy attending a game on Saturday or for those whose obsession runs deeper.
He is compiling a definitive Scottish fixture list on his website and has just published a book, Scottish Non League Record, which records every result in the 2023-2024 season, from the Highland League to the Lowland League and further up the pyramid. There are also rankings for amateurs and welfare.
David Stoker claims he has attended 170 to 200 games annually over the past decade
A trip to see Livingston Utd play Burghead in Junior Cup action gave Stoker his weekly fix
His most high-profile match this year was the most painful: the 5-1 defeat of Scotland in Munich
His interest in the game was sparked by watching Meadowbank Thistle as a boy.
“I could have gone to Hibs because Easter Road was near my house, but those were the days when there was an occasional CS bus lobbying in Leith and my mother wanted me to go somewhere safer,” he recalls .
It is a sign of the times that he was dropped off at Meadowbank as a 10-year-old and picked up after the match. He followed the remnants of Meadowbank to Livingston and eventually became the supporters’ trusted representative on the board. He left that role ten years ago, but still returns regularly. In terms of football fans, he went out.
He makes sure to tone down his passion with an element of down-to-earth poise. ‘I have a family, I have a job, I have a partner. I have to combine football with other things in my life,” he says.
His eldest son is 24, the youngest, who goes to many matches with him, is 10. He met his partner four years ago. The conversation with her quickly turned to what Stoker’s interests were. “I told her I liked going to football games and that could be several times a week,” he says. ‘That’s where the expectation level was set.’
He is well known among the gang of football fanatics. My life on the Fitba road has crossed paths with his a few times. The first at Staney Brig for an amateur match involving Milngavie Wanderers and the second in Munich where he attended a match slightly higher up the football pyramid.
Stoker calls Morton’s Cappielow one of his favorite grounds because of its ‘old school’ feel
So how does he decide which match to watch? As a long-standing supporter of the national team, the decision to travel to Germany was an easy one. Other trips are made in consultation.
“People can sometimes see me on social media talking about going to three games a day,” he says. ‘But that only happens if the opportunity is there and there is space and time for it.’
Normally he scans the week’s playlist and comes to a decision. ‘I need a reason to go to a match. I have to be interested in it on some level,” he says.
‘Sometimes it’s about visiting a place I’ve never been before. Sometimes it’s just an interesting game, sometimes it’s just a level I haven’t seen yet. In general, I prefer looking at cup ties. There are also areas I like to go to. I used to go to Somerset Park, Cappielow, old-fashioned places once a season. These are the places that interest me.’
Stoneyburn in West Lothian is the scene of an annual outing. Livingston remains in his heart. “I like to go there to keep in touch with my friends,” he says. But he started his football journey because the routine of visiting a club regularly started to weigh him down.
“I didn’t enjoy it that much,” he says. The tyranny of a fixture schedule with repeated matches against certain clubs every year left him looking for something new.
As a Livingston fan, Stoker calls their 2004 League Cup win his greatest day as a fan
Still, Livingston gave him his most memorable game of the thousands he witnessed.
“The League Cup final in 2004,” he answers when asked about the best match. Livingston defeated Hibernian 2-0. ‘As a Livingston fan I never expected to win a cup. It wasn’t a great football game, but it will always stay with me,” he said.
‘It was also unforgettable to be in Munich in the summer. I love watching Scotland, so it was very important for me to see the team in a major championship, even though we lost 5-1.”
He also remembers Scotland’s match against Israel at Hampden in 2021, when a timely goal decided the match 3-2 in favor of the home side. “I had just started taking my youngest son to the matches in Scotland and it meant a lot,” he says.
‘My father didn’t like football, so I wanted my son to enjoy it. When trying to immerse a child in soccer, it can be difficult. But that evening there was drama, there was atmosphere and a switch went on in him. That’s special.’
He regularly travels to England for matches, but the bucket list has already been drawn up and Boca Juniors v River Plate is at the top. “But I was lucky,” he says. “I’ve done most of what I wanted to do.”
Scott McTominay’s late winner in a 3-2 defeat to Israel at Hampden meant a lot to him
He would also like to see a match on that incredible pitch at Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. ‘I did a football road trip to the Hebrides from Barra to the point of Lewis and I visited the Eriskay ground but they weren’t home.’
This trip strengthened in him the bond between football and the community.
‘What’s in it for me?’ he asks about his travels. ‘I appreciate the sense of community, connecting with people. There’s nothing like football to unite a community.
‘Look at the Scottish Junior Cup. The final is an unforgettable day out for people in villages or cities. In committee rooms across Scotland there are photographs of the day the Cup came home to a particular city.
“There are places where the community doesn’t really exist without the football team. There are towns or cities in Scotland that you visit and think: “There’s really nothing here except the football club”.’
Forget Madrid or Milan, Stoker’s dream dream would be to watch Eriskay FC play at home
He adds, “That’s not an expression of disrespect. But football not only puts some places on the map, but also keeps them going.’
His magnum opus about last season’s results has just been published. He is open about its purpose. ‘It’s just to record something. I set up the website ten years ago when I was looking for a game and had to visit several websites. I decided to bring them all together in one place for anyone like me who was just looking for a game.
‘It’s a bit of work, but I’ve gotten faster over the years. The book is for people to look at a specific period and see what exactly was going on. It makes me laugh to think of someone finding it a hundred years later and wondering what it’s all about.’
It is, of course, an account of how thousands of people spent their Saturday. It may be cold, the journey tiring, the game boring and the cake overcooked, but Stoker reflects the simple pleasure of competing, far away from the hustle and bustle.
Stoker is obsessed with football and has released a book detailing all the results from last season
‘I went to Stoneyburn once and bought a half-time ticket. The guy came over and called out the numbers and I realized I had won. I was quite loud while celebrating. The man said, ‘Calm down, boy, it’s only four pounds.’
Stoker returned the prize money. His rewards from football come in a different form.
Scottish Non League Record, priced at £10, can be purchased via Stripe or by contacting scottishfootballfixtures@gmail.com