Brothers in arms and on the ice for Fife Flyers

Jim stepped down from his role of treasurer at Kirkcaldy Ice Hockey Club which he had held since 1984 at the end of the season, a year which also saw him pick up the Service to Sport trophy at the Kirkcaldy and Central Fife Sports Council Awards.

It was richly deserved for his service to the sport in the town, in which he played his part in creating a piece of ice hockey history.

The Taylor brothers - netminder Jim and elder siblings Hugh, John and George are believed to be the only set of four brothers to play at the same time for the same team in the UK.

Hugh is the eldest having been born in 1942 and he would play forward alongside younger brother John who was born three years later in 1945.

George was born in between in 1944 and played defence. The ‘baby’ of the family is Jim who was born in 1949 and went on to play in goal.

With hockey having collapsed in Kirkcaldy and many other places following the 1954/55 season Hugh was already a 19-year-old when the first signs of the sports re-emergence in the town occurred.

As Jim recalled: “Hockey returned after its failure in the mid 50s with a challenge match between two teams of Kirkcaldy players in 1961 led by Pep Young and this marked the first game for Hugh.

“Challenge games followed over this and the next season and growth really started in 1962/63 season where experienced players returned.

“It also meant that some of the locals were moved aside but this allowed the formation of a second team.

“This being a “new” sport meant there were no true juniors and it was played by adults only.”

Season 1963/64 saw the Flyers Juniors compete more regularly and in their first public match of the season against the Murrayfield Royals on December 27 at Kirkcaldy. 18-year-old John would score one along with a couple from 21 year old Hugh in a 6-4 win.

In season 1964/65 George, Hugh and John continued to play for the Junior Flyers, with Jim making his first appearances with the Juniors the following season, then, in 1966/67 at the age of 17 he was introduced to the senior game.

John and Hugh were now becoming established players for the senior Flyers and come season 1967/68 and Jim was faced with displacing former GB Internationalist Roy Reid, who had signed again from Falkirk, if he wanted to get time playing in the Flyers net.

He duly did so and January 18, 1969 all four brothers made history when the brothers all appeared at the same time in the Flyers first team in 6-5 home win over the Glasgow Dynamos – John scored two and Hugh one.

Hugh played his last season with the Flyers in 1969/70 before retiring in the summer and Jim left to play for Dundee Rockets in season 1970/71 but returned the following year.

The three brothers continued to play for the Flyers, Jim later becoming captain, before George retired in 1974.

John would write himself into the record books in 1976/77 with a 40-goal season and in an away game against Paisley on January 18 in a 28-3 Flyers win, he notched six goals and five assists for 11 points to hold the record for most points in a game for Flyers by a British born player jointly with Gordon Latto.

The game also rewrote the league record books, highest away win ever in NIHA, highest number of goals for, most in a single period 13 in the third, highest aggregate number of goals and most scored over a weekend on consecutive nights.

John retired from the ice in 1979 and did Jim who then joined up with KIHC upon its formation in 1984 and remained an invaluable part of the club until this year.