The majority of the time I don’t give a fig about football and am hard pressed to understand why some people take it so seriously to the point of violence, however it was very hard to ignore the excitement over yesterday’s big match in Scotland. There were flags flying out of windows, strung up in gardens and trailing from cars. And there was the whole Strip for Scotland wherein you were to wear a Scotland football top and send positive vibes to the team on the big day. That was a relief because I thought it was another kind of stripping entirely and it is way too chilly for that in November!

The Scots were always going to be the underdogs but the manner in which they were beaten was nothing short of a tragedy. A Scots player is fouled and the referee gives a free kick to Italy which leads to them scoring the winning goal. I don’t know much about football rules but even I’m scratching my head at that one! What makes it even worse is this same referee has done this before to Scotland! When the free kick was given their was a deafening roar of disapproval from the Tartan Army and the referee made himself the most wanted man in the country for all the wrong reasons. It was like adding insult to injury because the Italians had already been caught spying on the Scottish team as they were training for the match in an example of poor sportsmanship.

During the match, the streets of the big cities were deserted as Scots gathered round their televisions or went down to their the local pub to watch the match. The Tartan Army were understandably disappointed by losing in such a way but it didn’t deter the party atmosphere and I suspect their will be a few sore heads this morning!