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Scotland have qualified for the men’s football World Cup for the first time in 28 years after beating Denmark 4-2 at Hampden Park. Five Scotland fans who were at the game or watching from afar share their reactions to the result.
‘My shed had cowped over – that’s how seismic this was’
Jan Lee was at Hampden Park with her husband, Adam, watching a game that she says “had it all”. “Normally you can point to one or two big events like a penalty, a sending off or an absolute wonder goal, but they were all in there,” she says.
“The support was magnificent and the crowd did not stop cheering the team on. Despite the jitters, they kept up a near-constant barrage of songs. You could almost feel the noise.”
When Scotland won, there was understandably very high emotion. “There were tears and hugs,” says Lee, 44, a solicitor who lives in Edinburgh. “In fact, just about everybody within hugging distance threw themselves at us.
“When I got home I saw that my shed had cowped over, that’s how seismic this was, and I couldn’t sleep as my ears were ringing from the noise. I’ve got the usual hoarse throat and I’m pretty sure I can no longer hear several frequencies.”
Lee says she has already booked time off next year for the World Cup and is determined to cheer on the team. Until then, she says, she “can’t stop watching the replays”.
‘I was on my knees on the living room floor’
John Wards, 46, who lives in Banbury, Oxfordshire, watched the match with his eldest son, who is 17, while his stepdad sent messages on WhatsApp from Scotland.
“I was running around the house screaming, from about the first goal at the start of the game to the last goal when I was on my knees in the living room hugging the boy,” he says.
“I am from near Aberdeen and was the same age as my eldest will be next year, the last time Scotland were in the World Cup in 1998, and I keep saying to him it’s not always like this and to enjoy it as he might be an old man like me the next time this happens.”
Wards, a chief technology officer at a startup, says he will probably watch the World Cup at the village pub with his eldest, who will be 18 by then. “As for my middle kid, he isn’t into football. And my youngest supports England – don’t ask!”
Euan bought tickets for the Hampden Park game just after the final whistle of the match at home against Greece last month and he’s very happy he did.
“It was incredible to be there,” says Euan, a researcher who grew up in Birmingham but has lived in Glasgow for the past eight years. “I am so glad I went. I’ve never seen anything like it or experienced a live game like it. I am 27 and I don’t think I’ll see such a remarkable or significant game again in my lifetime.”
After the game, Euan was cold, his throat was hoarse from all the singing and he felt quite “raw”, but he says: “The energy of the crowd just lifted you.
“Everyone was shouting and cheering and going a bit mad. Football fans often get a bad rap but it was all very good-natured. We walked all the way up from the stadium into the town, which is about 45 minutes, with this big crowd of people streaming up from Hampden Park. Cars were honking their horns and people were leaning out of their windows and cheering.”
Although he won’t be travelling to see Scotland in the World Cup, he will be supporting them from afar.
“This game was immense,” he says. “I had lost belief that I would see it with this generation of players – and I lost belief several times during the game. It was never going to be easy, and it never looked easy, but we’ve done it, against the odds. No one can take that away.”
‘Colours are more vivid and winter is so much better now’
Ryan Wilkinson says he is “still on a high” after watching Scotland’s victory.“I feel absolutely fantastic,” he says from his home in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. “Colours are more vivid and winter is so much better now.”
Wilkinson, 52, a manager at Royal Mail, watched the game at home with his English wife.“I was living through every minute,” he says. “I didn’t think I was shouting that loudly at the TV but apparently I was – I even set the dog off barking. It took an hour for my heart rate to go below 100 after the match. I was so happy, beyond words, and very emotional.”
Wilkinson, who is originally from Livingston in West Lothian, describes himself as a “longsuffering supporter of Scotland”. “I remember the 1998 World Cup. I was running a pub in Stoke and watched Scotland lose to Brazil,” he says. “The pub was empty and there were these buckets of vodka drinks on promotion. I cracked them open and drowned my sorrows, I was inconsolable. But now I cannot wipe the smile off my face. I am bouncing around.”
He says he has been “racking up” air miles and is tempted to use them to travel to watch Scotland in the World Cup.
‘The venue exploded’
Ann Falconer, 58, was watching Bob Mould rocking Òran Mór in Glasgow at the time of the game, “but half the audience had their phones on the match live scores”, she says. “At two-all there was a quiet resignation setting in, but after the fourth goal the venue exploded with cheers and people jumping for joy. I’m not sure Bob knew why there was such an increase in applause and appreciation mid-song.”
The celebrations spilled out into the street after the gig. “It was a really special atmosphere. The pub we were in had people singing ‘Scotland’s on fire’ to the tune of Freed from Desire by Gala, as well as Caledonia, Loch Lomond and Dignity. Good-natured Danish fans congratulated us and joined in the celebrations.”
Falconer has followed Scotland since she was 10. “I remember the pain of Ally’s Army in Argentina 1978. It has felt like a lifetime of high hopes and then seemingly predictable lows for Scotland.
“To be honest, I thought we’d lead until the last minute and then typically concede a late goal. It was such a joy and novelty that it worked out the other way.”
‘Whatever happens, it’ll be a rollercoaster’
“I went into the game with a positive feeling,” says Jonathan Sharp, 48, a Scottish university lecturer living in Germany. “And even when Denmark kept equalising, I felt it was in the stars for Scotland this time.”
Sharp watched the match online with his two sons, who support their parents’ countries, Scotland and Germany. “The younger one is only eight, and when I told him Scotland had qualified for the World Cup he kind of shrugged his shoulders,” he says. “In his memory it’s kind of a foregone conclusion that Germany qualifies.”
His older son was slightly more impressed. “He’s turning 13 and I’ve told him stories about watching Mexico 86 with my dad, so I think he’s starting to get into the Tartan Army culture, if I can call it that. When he supports Germany, he expects success – at least the semi-finals – whereas with Scotland he has more of a siege mentality. He’s got used to the fact that every game is a do-or-die situation.
“Most of my German friends don’t watch the qualifiers, and many don’t even watch the group games in tournaments – they only tune in once it gets to the knockout rounds. The way I see it, being a Scotland fan is so much richer. Last night was a cup final for us. And now we’ve got the World Cup to look forward to. Whatever happens, it’ll be a rollercoaster, and that’s what it’s all about.”
