Everywhere They Go

Scotland  0  Northern Ireland  1

International Friendly

Admission / Programme - £35 / £5

So I’ve got this work trip to Scotland in the diary for March, and as much as I scoured the fixture lists for something in the Scottish Football League, the Lowland League and the West of Scotland League, I couldn’t find a thing. It was very odd, I mean, it’s March and we’ve had three months of monsoons, why on earth would no one be playing midweek?

Then, when the every reliable ‘Scottish Football Fixtures’ website ticked over to show the games for Tuesday 26th March, I realised that I’d been suffering from a long standing brain fart! It was the International Break, and, Scotland were playing Northern Ireland in a Friendly at Hampden Park. That would completely explain why the rest of the Country was having a night off, but, could I get a ticket?

Quite easily it seemed, register on the SFA website, pick your seat, pay your money and then bingo, you’re off to Hampden to hear the roar, all for the princely sum of £35.

The journey was the tried and trusted waddle over to Crewe before catching the not that reliable Avanti West Coast service which thundered up through Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle before hurtling over the River Clyde and into Glasgow Central a few minutes after 3pm.

Hotel choices had proved tricky due to the combination of both the football and the Easter holidays, so my work expenses budget meant the usual twenty yard walk to the normal venue had to go by the wayside and this time it was further to walk to the Maldron which sat to the North of the City Centre.

My trusty companion arrived half an hour after myself and before long we were happily cocooned in the nearby Wetherspoon’s, wondering what to spend our nightly food allowance on, and trust me, you can get a good fill in Spoons on our budget, but, according to the rules, only one alcoholic beverage is permitted!

One alcoholic beverage later, plus a couple more we had to grudgingly fork out for, and it was time to wander back down to Central to monitor the travel situation to Mount Florida, the station that serves Hampden Park.

Glasgow was busy, fans of both sides were milling in the pubs and in the streets, all quite cordially it seemed, and upon arriving at the station I was met with a barrier / queue system which soon found it’s way to the platform and onto a somewhat packed wagon, albeit for only ten minutes until we alighted again.

With the area around Mount Florida busy, and the pubs seemingly rammed (I tried one, they wouldn’t let me in, full it seemed, or was it the fact I was a Sassenach?), I decided to make my way to the stadium, a stadium I’ve never previously visited.

Older readers (Derek, Steve etc) will recall Hampden from it’s former glory period when it was a cavernous bowl holding 140,000, and many a glorious battle took place between Scotland and England, and of course Rangers and Celtic. These days it’s a modern all seater stadium holding around 52,000, but, and you won’t see this on any tickets or official ground plans, it has a Rangers End, and a Celtic End!

The Rangers End is at the Western side of the ground, nearest Mount Florida, whereas the Celtic End is at the Eastern side of the ground. Why do they do this, simply because of the parts of Glasgow where fans of the two clubs travel from, in other words, it’s designed to help keep the peace!

I was in the Rangers End, as were the Norn Iron fans, and given the historical and political backgrounds quite appropriate I thought, in fact as one of my Scottish Colleagues (who supports Celtic) said to me, “It will be one big Rangers-fest”, but more on that later….

No beer could be had in Hampden, you cannae get a pint in Scottish professional grounds, they can’t trust you with it! So on a freezing cold night, I took my seat and watched the players warm up, and the atmosphere build.

Hampden Park then, it’s a bowl, put simply, no other way to really describe it, other than on the South side where the dressing room / offices / corporate stuff is, an extra upper tier exists in the stand. Sat behind the goal, it’s quite a distance to the pitch, but then again it always was back in the day, at least back then if anyone wanted to have a go at invading, the police and stewards had half a chance of stopping them before they got as far as the pitch!

Since qualifying for Euro 24 in Germany, the Scots have been on a bad run, and most recently they lost 4-0 in the Netherlands. Northern Ireland didn’t qualify and are rebuilding under Michael O’Neill with a young side.

So, the fans, well I was a bit surprised, they really didn’t like each other very much it has to be said. It all started with the Northern Irish National Anthem (God Save The King), and then went up a notch when the Ulster Boys launched into a rendition of ‘Rule Britannia’. It seems such ditties are very much English, not British, and certainly not Scottish in the Scots fans eyes. However, a fifteen minute long rendition of ‘Scotland Get Battered’, while not political, nationalistic or religious in any way, caused the most disquiet, probably because it was a bit close to home in terms of it’s accuracy!

So, with much gesturing and taunting going backwards and forwards, I decided to pay attention to what was going on in terms of the game. To be honest, I don’t really like International Friendlies, they tend to be slow, dull, uncompetitive, and marred with far too many changes. This game, to be fair, wasn’t especially dull, but it was bereft of chances, with the only goal coming in the first half courtesy of Liverpool’s Connor Bradley who looks a real talent.

Scotland huffed and puffed in the second period but couldn’t find a breakthrough, and that meant another defeat in the build up to a major tournament, which is something of a headache as far as Steve Clarke is concerned. Northern Ireland were loving it, Scotland were indeed getting battered again, everywhere they go……

I tried to get the train back but gave that up, the queue was nearly back to Kilmarnock. So instead I decided to jump on one of the many double decker buses that was bound for the City Centre, in which I arrived at around 10.30pm. It was straight back to the Hotel for me, I had work the following morning, and, I’d spent all my budget!

Right then everyone, after me “One Two Three Four, Scotland Get Battered……”