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No broken Hearts for Donna with her team

Following on from our last memory of first football love from volunteer Gordon Handy, we asked ardent Hearts FC supporter, Donna Mackey for her reminiscences. Oh boy, this one is a true cracker and quite amazing. Donna is our Partnership Manager when she isn’t following “The Jambos”

(Hearts = Jam Tarts = Jambos – don’t ask)

Donna’s Love Affair - how it started

“As a single woman, well into my 40’s, I’m inclined to dismiss the feeling of ‘love at first sight’ choosing to leave that to the romantic idealists. But then I cast my mind back to the 11 year old me who first stepped onto Gorgie Road on a match day. I was enveloped in that very distinctive aroma which I later found out to be the brewery, a smell so synonymous with Tynecastle like popcorn is to the cinema. 

I remember my first game at Tynecastle so vividly. Saturday 21st September 1991. My wee brother was the mascot that day, I knew we were playing Dundee United but that was where my knowledge ended. I went along for a day out with the family. But something happened when I took my seat in the old wooden main stand. I saw terraces filled with fans, the songs, the goals, the celebrations, the intensity, the Bovril. I felt an instant connection to this group of strangers and was hooked.

Not for Girls

In the early 1990’s football clubs didn’t really cater for young girls so I was only allowed to go if a willing adult took me to the ‘safety’ of the family enclosure. My dad, being a Hibs fan, wasn’t so keen (although to his credit he did take me to some games) and my older teen brother didn’t want me cramping his style in the ‘Shed’. In the end, thanks to my mum, I ended up tagging along with two of her pals, Rambo and Gordon, and I never looked back. Tynecastle quickly became my home. A few years later after proving myself to be a ‘real fan’ (although obsessed might be more accurate) I was allowed to travel to games on the local supporters bus. Little did I know that this bus would almost end my young Hearts supporting life!

Lifting the Roof

On Saturday 16th March 1996, on our way to Tynecastle for an Edinburgh Derby, our double decker bus drove directly into a low bridge on Russell Road, ripping off the entire upper deck. A deck that my brothers and I were sitting on. The sound of tearing steel and crashing glass will always live with me and it’s a miracle that nobody was seriously hurt. Amongst the chaos I remember being carried from the bus and loaded onto an ambulance where I was taken to hospital with my two brothers. We were all alive and limbs were intact. There was blood though. The next thing I remember is coming out of surgery to repair my mangled nose and apparently the first thing I asked as I came round was ‘what was the score?’ It was 1-1. Phew we didn’t lose. 

How to make a grown man cry

The shared experience and trauma of the bus crash cemented my love for this football club. If I can come through this then I can deal with all the highs and lows I knew they were going to throw at me. Almost 30 years on it’s hard to pinpoint whether the highs have exceeded the lows. I’ve travelled to some amazing European cities like Bordeaux, Basel, Florence, Bruges and Copenhagen to watch Hearts and I’ve made friends for life. Winning the Scottish Cup in 1998 will remain a personal highlight as I’ve never witnessed before (and since) such an outpouring of emotion and elation at a football match. Thousands of grown men crying! It was quite a sight in the Glasgow sunshine. 

It’s a rollercoaster of emotion to be a Hearts fan. When I was younger, I used to take defeats really badly, it ruined my weekend. I’d analyse what went wrong.  But now I quickly deal with the disappointment over a pint in the pub and when the wins come they are all the sweeter. I’m still longing for that feeling of 1998 and it’s the eternal hope for success that keeps me going back week after week and I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’d do anything for your first love wouldn’t you?“

Thank you for the lovely memories Donna and we sure are glad that you survived that crash - where would we be without you!