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Will Clark – We waited long enough, so just enjoy it Scotland


By Will Clark

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June 10, 1998. I was a skinny 15-year-old and Scotland were to open the World Cup against world champions Brazil in Paris.

Scotland qualified for their first major championships in 22 years. Scottishfa.co.uk
Scotland qualified for their first major championships in 22 years. Scottishfa.co.uk

I went to school that day where almost, if not every school pupil, was wearing a See You Jimmy bunnet, a tartan hat with a ginger wig attached.

It was a surreal sight seeing pupils queuing outside the baker in the town centre for their chip butties and bottles of Moray Cup wearing them.

That’s what I bought every school day at lunchtime for six years anyway, which led to my malnourished lanky form.

Apart from English and German, I rarely paid attention in subjects I didn’t like anyway. But there was only one thing on my mind that day.

Kick-off was at 4.30pm, and my school bus dropped me off at the end of a road two miles from the farm I lived on. In the farmhouse, not the barn. I ran all the way home and missed the opening three minutes, but just in time to see Cesar Sampaio nod the ball past Jim Leighton to put Brazil in front.

John Collins equalised from the penalty spot before Tom Boyd’s own goal gifted Brazil a 2-1 win. A 1-1 draw with Norway followed before a nightmare 3-0 defeat against Morocco put an end to our World Cup dreams.

After that, me and my three best friends decided that we were going to the next World Cup, when we’d all be old enough to buy a round too.

I got £2 dinner money and decided to save £1 every day and use the other pound for a chip butty and bottle of Moray Cup.

I wish I kept to that saving plan, I might have got a mortgage out of it instead, it has been so long since Scotland qualified for a tournament.

Many things have changed in the last 23 years.

Money previously spent on chip butties and Moray Cup, went on to be spent on lager and kebabs.

But one constant which remained for two decades was Scotland didn’t qualify for tournaments any more.

Depressingly, in the last decade, we weren’t even close, Scotland hadn’t managed to get into a play-off since 2003.

Even in Euro 2020 qualifiers we were a distant third behind Belgium and Russia. But along came the Nations League and offered Scotland a second chance of glory. And it turns out, we’re a dab hand at penalty shootouts!

That win in Belgrade has given most people under the age of 30 in Scotland something they have never been really able to fully appreciate or experience before.

Covid-19 might
mean empty sections in stadiums and less fans on the streets than before the pandemic.

But the virus will not dampen the enthusiasm the Tartan Army will have to follow their country at a major footballing tournament.

If you can’t remember the 1998 World Cup, I’ll give you some advice.

You may experience emotions of unadulterated euphoria if Scotland find the net.

You may sink into depths of utter woe when Scotland fall behind, get a player sent off or eliminated from the tournament.

But whatever the result, embrace this month for all its worth. If you still have your See You Jimmy bunnet, put it on.

If you have a saltire, wrap it around you.

If you must have a beer, make sure it is Tennents, or if they still make Sweetheart Stout. Just enjoy supporting Scotland, we deserve this.


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