I’ve been avoiding getting anything written of late because A) I’m lazy, B) real life occasionally got in the way and C) I have chronic writers block which couples unhappily with my laziness. Instead, I’m going to expand a bit on what its like to be a fan of the Scottish National team, from my point of view. Feel free to disagree with what I say, but no bugger ever reads this anyway, so oh well. Also, I’m fully aware of the result earlier. I’m choosing to ignore it.
It’s mostly the current crop of international games that have brought this to my attention. Where I work when I’m not procrastinating, is in a kitchen. I’m a commis chef, and it involves a lot of prep work. I enjoy it, but sometimes there’s plenty time for chattering away while doing something else. One of those conversations, about 2 days ago, led to me attempting to explain how it is to be a Scotland fan. The guy I was talking to professes to be a fan of Arsenal and Barcelona, due to the way they play. My colleague is from Poland, and has no actual tie to either team, and so doesn’t understand what I mean. Given that they are also highly successful(Barca) and less so(Arsenal) he has no real knowledge of what its like to support the perennial underdog. I should also point out he has no interest in Polish football, so he has almost no actual gauge of the subject.
Enough babble, get to the point, Garry.
On the radio over the last few days there has been coverage of England Vs Gareth Bale+10 for an age. So much so, that I’d even thrown a prediction into the ring(I’d said 2-1 to England, but that was before Bale was injured, I count it as a half win). Occasionally piercing Ian Wright’s Saturday Afternoon Blinker-Vision was an advert for Scotland against Brazil at the Emirates. Something which caught my attention, being that I am in fact, a Scotland fan, and based in London. This was a possible game to attend.
Work commitments fairly quickly quashed that dream, as did money and then the SFA declining to give me media accreditation for no reason(other, I assume, than the fact that I don’t work in the media). So, I was resigned to the fact that I wasnt going. I explained this to my co-worker and he asked me how I thought it would go.
I was optimistic, I said as much. “I’m optimistic about it,” I said, ” but I don’t think we’ll win.” Probably not an exact quote, but its close enough. Questions were asked of this statement. “Why?” He asked. And so began the explanation.
The Tartan Army is a generally amiable and happy bunch. Pleased as punch to be anywhere there’s a game of football and a couple of pints. Sunshine is a bonus, but not always requisite due to Scotland being cloudy and overcast much of the time. An effervescence among the thousands of travelling fans that is almost always good-natured, light-hearted, foul language banter, with themselves and the locals. An active and excited buzz to be somewhere other than Scotland to see “the lads play in the blue”.
What nobody ever mentions is the fact that the fans are there to see the players play, and play with the heart of a lion, until the opposition score that 1st goal and then the 11 heads on the pitch go down. It’s this that the fans are really there for. It’s why we care. It’s why the Tartan Army is always the happiest of many, many groups of supporters. It’s because we know that the Scotland team don’t have the same quality as it used to. Dalglish, Gemmil, Laws, Dean, Jordan. 5 names who could inspire the other 10 shirts around them to pull their fingers out and carry on. Miller, Brown, Naismith, Adam, Mackail-Smith? Not quite the same level anymore.
But its ok. We’re Scotland. We know we’re not the greatest, and probably never will be. We don’t particularly care. We are who we are and we enjoy being there to be difficult. We probably wont win using a 4-6-0 formation, but we’ll give it a shot none the less. And yet, at the same time, we ARE Scotland. We ARE the greatest and one day everyone else will see it. We might not still win, but that’s because Player X missed a sitter and their keeper had a blinder, but on any other day we’d have gubbed them 5 or 6-nil.
It’s just a bit schizophrenic, and I utterly love it. It’s the eternal optimism that is coupled with the blind devotion(delusion?) that comes with being a Scotland fan, regardless of your club.
The English don’t get it. They won something, once, and have never let go of that most tangible of straws. They are still sure that next time around, they’ll win which ever tin pot they qualify for next before inevitably crashing out in the 2nd round due to some “cheating, foreign bastard”, etc…
The Welsh are a naturally downhearted bunch anyway, and as such, don’t really have much in the way of footballing ambition. They’re not too bad at rugby, so it’s not all bad news for them.
The Northern Irish also don’t dream of World Cup glory. Their one great white hope came and went in the form of George Best. A tragic figure of a man, he was a footballing genius.That being said, they are the current holders of the Home Nations championship.
Neither the Welsh nor the N. Irish have had the golden era as such, it may still be to come. Scotland has had the late 70s to early 80s. Something which we’ll never recover from, but that’s fine. We don’t need to recover.
Because we’re Scotland. And we’ll beat them next time.
