man what a night

Sat, Nov 17, 2007

I’m not normally into football but it seemed that Scotland had found a new lease of life and a real football team. The last time I remember such hype and excitement was in 1978 when we were “on the march with Ally’s Army” to Argentina. I was in primary school and we were all taught that song and it seemed everyone in the country was following the team to the world cup. It all climaxed in Scotland going out but it was capped by possibly the best goal this country has ever produced, by Archie Gemmel. The place went wild after that genuine display of footballing genius.

Tonight I detected the same excitement so I tuned in to Radio 5 to listen to the game and when 50,000 people sang the Flower of Scotland, led by Ronnie Brown of the Corries, the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. I actually wished I’d gone to the game. It was a typical night in celtdom. Torrential rain, high winds, a chill in the mid November air and 50,000 chanting clansmen. What a night. And then it happened. Italy scored after 68 seconds and the atmosphere disappeared instantly but I thought, if Scotland level by half-time, the crowd will ignite and they’ll most prolly win the game. They didn’t score until well into the second half, by which time the ageing Italians were showing the strain and were trying to kill the game again. Time wasting ballerinas, as is their wont, apparently.

Scotland did us proud. They took control and hammered the Italian goal time after time but in the end it was down to a halfwit arsehole of an official who gave a free kick to the Italian hacker who committed the foul and who promptly scored and knocked us out. Wiz we robbed? F*****g right we wuz! The Spanish referee apparently was blind and inept and there were mutterings about the official. Was it deliberate?

Of course, I’m completely naive in such matters. I only remember two games that had me on the edge of my seat. One was the Battle of Britain as it was termed, between Rangers and Leeds Utd, in 1992. I remember that run by Hateley and the header by McCoist. Pure dead brilliant. The other game was a UEFA Cup final I think, between Denmark and Germany and it was a real gripper. In both games it was end to end action.

But tonight it seemed the Italians were doing their level best to kill the game stone dead once they’d got their goal and when it became apparent Scotland might actually get a second, they went into slow-mo big time. Unsporting? I would say so but as I said I’m naive in these matters.

It’s just a pity it had to end under such a suspicious cloud. Was that a deliberate decision by the official to award a free kick to the offender? Given the state of Italian football recently, with violence and corruption in daily evidence, who can say. I look forward to the pundits deliberating on that one.

In the meantime, thanks Scotland for a nail biting finale. Every time the cat climbed onto me for a nap, another assault on the Italian goal was mounted and I jumped up shouting and bawling and holding my head in my hands!

If tonight was a glimpse of the future of Scottish international football, I may just pop down to Hampden the next time.