Most young fans watching football want to be like the stars on the pitch – but not Rikki Wallace.
He didn’t imagine growing up and being like any of his favourite footballers; becoming a Kilmarnock mascot was his dream.
And that ambition was realised two years ago when he was appointed as Killie’s new mascot, Captain Conker. Due to Covid, however, it took him over a year to even appear at a game.
Killie-daft Rikki launched a Twitter page in a bid to build a profile before he could attend matches and he admits being a new mascot without any games was a challenging period.
Captain Conker replaced the iconic Nutz the Squirrel who was Ian Downie for so long before he sadly passed away.
Rikki told the Kilmarnock Standard: “I’ve taken on the role from such a huge public figure in Ian who was well known inside and outside the suit, he was a massive personality.
“It’s up to me to match that and get to that level. The fans have been brilliant with me and everyone at the club has been good.
“I feel like I can be the bridge between the club and the community, that’s what I try to be anyway, getting everyone involved.
“No one had really seen the suit because I had to wait so long for a matchday but social media has been a big thing. I made a gamble taking on the responsibility of setting up a Twitter page.
“With social media, people start getting to know you, so I built that connection before fans could see me at matches. It built a bit of hype, I think.
“I had a basic friendship with a lot of people by the time I got to go to a game which worked out really well.”
Rikki continued: “I got the job as mascot then Covid happened. We then held off on the announcement due to the devastating news that Ian had passed away.
“We then waited until his family were comfortable with any sort of announcement, then another lockdown happened which pushed it back again.
“Then we got relegated before I got to do a match so in the space of me getting the job and the fans seeing me I ruined the football club!
“My first game, we were losing at half-time. I’ll never forget it because when I came out the tunnel, it was as the whistle went, so there was a sea of boos around the place!”
Rikki admits watching on from the stands attracted him to the role of matchday mascot.
He said: “I grew up watching the likes of Nutz. I wanted to be a mascot and later on in life I started appreciating the football side of things when I was at games. But in terms of entertainment, I’ve always fancied myself as a bit of a class clown.
“So, going to the football, I knew the game was on but nine times out of 10 I was watching what the mascot was doing.
“Seeing people happy is great, that’s what made me always want to do that. The ability isn’t there for me on the field, so I thought maybe my ability off the field would be superior.
“Some people watch players and say, ‘I wish I could be like Ronaldo or Messi’, but I started taking wee bits in from mascots.”
Rikki laughs when asked about a ‘movie-like’ moment when Blair Alston scored Killie’s league-winning goal then ran straight towards him in the Conker outfit.
He said: “That moment with Blair Alston will go down in history, it was special.
“I had that sense of involvement. Blair and I are pretty close now, it was like something out of a movie!
“Having limited vision was tough at that point. If you can imagine looking through a toilet roll tube that’s how I can describe it, one second I looked right, the next I looked left and I was holding a football player!”
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