Fife Flyers retro game honours 1985 champions who became club legends

The Wembley triumph of the team led by player-coach Ron Plumb was the benchmark against which every team was to be judged for more than 15 years.

And it is fitting that the team of 2025 should don their retro strips against Belfast Giants on Saturday (March 15) as celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of that triumph gather pace.

Plumb, together with Dave Stoyanovich and Danny Brown, are flying into Fife for a special live show at Rothes Halls, Glentothes, on Friday, May 2 and taking in an exhibition which opens at Kirkcaldy Galleries at the end of next month- two events which will spark memories of a golden period for ice hockey in Fife. There is also a sportsman’s lunch at Strathearn Hotel. Tickets for the show are on sale now at onfife.com

The story of how Flyers triumphed at Wembley is one fans will never tire of hearing - and it is fitting to retell it ahead of Saturday’s retro match.

The journey to Wembley in May 1985 started the previous summer. After an insipid 1983-84 season in which Flyers fell further behind the all conquering Dundee Rockets, rink manager Jack Dryburgh and team manager John Haig went to Canada to stage a training camp to find imports with the XFactor to spearhead a hockey revival in Kirkcaldy.

They discovered the three Canucks who became the Plumb Line which led an otherwise all home-grown, amateur team to astonishing success.

Flyers were unbeaten at home that season, finished second in the league and runners-up in the Bluecol Cup to Durham Wasps, and peaked to perfection at Wembley where they hit the finals weekend on a 15-game winning streak.

They took on, and dispatched, surprise semi-finalists Streatham, Redskins 12-3 with hat-tricks from Brown, Stoyanovich and Neil Abel, to set up a final showdown against great rivals Murrayfield Racers.

Roared on by a near 1000-strong travelling support which headed south in a convoy of buses, they destroyed the capital side with an opening period goal blitz to lead 7-1. The sight of Andy Linton hitting the post inside 40 seconds was a taste of what was to come as Brown bagged the opening two, and Plumb made it 3-0 with a typical rasper of a shot before Jock Hay got Racers off the rails.

Flyers ploughed on, and goals from Chic Cottrell with a deflected shot, and Plumb made it 5-1 before brilliant skating from Brown saw him tear apart the defence to set up a simple goal for Linton and then grab his own hat-trick - his 123rd strike of the season,

After the goal blitz, the second period was goal-free as netminder Andy Donald played a blinder with a string of incredible saves as his team was outshot 16-6.

Jim Lynch found the net for Murrayfield in the third, but Stoyanovich restored Flyers’ lead before getting involved in some ugly scenes with Racers’ uncompromising defenceman Paul Heavey - Stoy sat seven minutes of penalties, Heavy was tossed for five.

Gordie MacDougall deflected a Paul Hand shot to make it 8-3 and Hay added a fourth to suggest a possible comeback, but when he then missed a simple chance for 8-5, Jimmy Pennycook eased any tensions on the Fife bench with what proved to be the final goal of the game.

It was left to team captain Gordon Latto to collect the trophy and raise it to the fans - and send this team into the history books as true legends.

Plumb was named coach of the year with 41 wins from 51 games, and just six defeats, and joined his fellow imports in the British Ice Hockey Writers’ Association’s All-Star team.

Graeme Scott, sports editor of the Fife Free Press, who was rinkside at Wembley reported: “Plumb was the architect, Stoyanovich and Brown grabbed the goalscoring limelight, but their influence also rubbed off on the local players with outstanding success. Winning the championship is testament to how they have risen to the challenge.”

Seeing today’s team skate in the strips of the ‘85 heroes will spark many memories among long-time hockey fans - with much more to follow when the players take to the stage at Rothes Halls in May. That promises to be a night for everyone to fall back in love with this sport and this team.