The beautiful game. Loved by millions across the globe.
Its presence has bridged gaps in society for hundreds of years and brought joy to players and fans alike.
If you’re a fan of football, there’s a good chance you believe no other sport can match it when it comes to drama.
And one aspect in particular highlights than the highs and lows better than any other.
Yes, the dreaded penalty shootout.
But could it be that the inclusion of the decisive kicks was actually approved in an Inverness hotel of all places?
Jackpot for Inverness man
Often described as the beautiful game’s lottery, one avid fan came across his own jackpot by pure chance.
Web developer Garve Scott-Lodge, who originally hails from Cromarty, had started creating a dedicated website for Inverness.
When creating the site, he searched high and low for some key moments in the city’s history.
By chance, Mr Scott-Lodge uncovered a document outlining the minutes of a meeting at the-then Caledonian Hotel, now the Mercure, where officials had gathered to approve changes to the rules of the beautiful game.
It was here the use of penalty kicks to determine a tied match was sanctioned by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
Coincidence 40 years on from that fateful meeting
An IFAB spokesman confirmed that Inverness was indeed where the shootout was incorporated.
He said: “We can confirm that the penalty shootout (kicks from the penalty mark) was officially sanctioned at the 1970 IFAB Annual General Meeting in Inverness, following a proposal by Fifa.”
The Scotland men’s national team may have a flawless record in shootouts, but fans of England, the Netherlands and Italy now have a particular city to focus their ire on.
Mr Scott-Lodge said: “I was churning through eBay looking for postcards and all sorts of ways looking for photos of Inverness in order to put them onto this website.
“I somehow stumbled across this PDF of the minutes of the meeting in Inverness.”
The day Mr Scott-Lodge came across the meeting’s minutes was spookily on June 27, 2010 – one day out from being exactly 40 years on from the meeting.
He recalls settling down to watch England take on Germany in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
He added: “I just remember being really amazed that I had discovered the document.
“The fact it was 40 years, almost to the day, that was a big shock for me.”
Trivia for the pub
Mr Scott-Lodge never did anything with the information.
It had been uploaded to the now defunct Inverness site, however, with little traffic, the site was closed down soon after its launch.
“I always thought this is a great bit of trivia for me to tell people in the pub,” he added.
“I had mentioned it to a couple of friends over the years but never really promoted it much, so it didn’t become common knowledge.
“On Monday, one of the folks I follow on Twitter tweeted a BBC article about Tottenham Hotspur coming up to play an Inverness select. I think it mentioned that they stayed in the Caledonian Hotel.
“I just replied to my friend saying ‘I know a really good bit of trivia about the Caley Hotel’.”
On the 27th of June 1970 twenty-five men from 8 countries met in the recently rebuilt Caledonian Hotel, Inverness.
The decisions they took there on that day have caused both anguish and elation to millions, possibly billions of people worldwide.
— Garve Scott-Lodge (@G4rve) September 20, 2021
“I am a big football fan. I am a Ross County fan and I am very much into facts and figures about Scottish football.
“It is a huge interest to me but it wasn’t how I discovered it.
“I was purely searching for any information I could find about Inverness and pictures. It wasn’t even the Caley Hotel, it was just Inverness in general.”
Finding has merged the histories of football and Inverness
Mr Scott-Lodge is delighted to have found a piece of local history that has had such an impact on so many across the globe.
He added: “I am really pleased to have found this that brings local history and football together.”
Penalties – cruel fate or jubilant celebrations?
Penalty shootouts have brought much joy and heartbreak over the years.
For Scotland supporters, well it could not be any better.
In the skewed route to Euro 2020, although it was played in 2021, Scotland competed in their very first international shootout in the playoff route – followed up just days later by their second.
Scoring all 10 of their kicks, Scotland progressed past Israel and Serbia – with a lot of thanks to goalkeeper David Marshall – to put an end to a 23-year absence from a major tournament.
South of the border, the outcome of penalty shootouts is felt in a different manner.
Often the heartbreak of exiting competitions for our English foes has been due to penalties.
Perhaps no harsher than in the summer when Italy took the Euro 2020 crown at Wembley after defeating England on spot kicks.
The first-ever international penalty shoot-out in football took place in Scotland.
Airdrie dumped English top division leaders Nottingham Forest out of the inaugural British Texaco Cup in 1970 at Broomfield.
Great thread! Just a few months later as a 10 year-old kid, I was at the @AirdrieoniansFC v Nottingham Forest Texaco Cup game which was settled by a penalty shootout, the first game in Scotland to be decided with that way.
— Sandy Sneddon (@SandySneddon) September 21, 2021
Aberdeen’s last success in the Scottish Cup was secured from 12 yards.
Brian Irvine was the hero that day, stepping up and writing his name into the history books as The Dons claimed the cup at Hampden in 1990.
