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Scotland fan view: Our gratitude to Gardner and the rest of the Scotland team who started it all

Scotland took on England at Hampden in a match to commemorate 150 years since first meeting of the sides at West of Scotland Cricket Club.

The Scotland v England match
Scotland fans display a tifo reading '150 Years of History, Rivalry and Passion' during the 150th anniversary heritage match between Scotland and England. Image: SNS.

“The Englishmen were on the average twelve stones, and the Scotch ten stones.”

So recorded what passed for a match report in this very title back in 1872, and so began the story of Scotland’s international footballers trying to punch above their weight.

Read through 21st century eyes, it is extraordinary that such an ultimately significant event should, in its own time, have received such perfunctory notice, squeezed between the minutes of an education board meeting and a proposal to treat the Tory leader to a banquet at citizens’ expense.

Some things never change, but football has blossomed wildly since that seed was planted in Hamilton Crescent.

Scotland v England match celebrates anniversary of first meeting of the sides

The full magnitude of what they started never became apparent to those eleven slight Scotsmen during their lifetimes, and not only because – conditions being as hazardous as they were – five of them would be dead within 16 years of that first match.

So though their contributions to the national team were brief and their names scarcely familiar, this anniversary stands as an opportunity to salute those pioneers who charted the path for all Scotland’s footballers to follow.

Fans in the stands holding a giant banner paying tribute to former Scotland manager Craig Brown
A banner paying tribute to former Scotland manager Craig Brown. Image: PA.

Without them, without the concept whose enormously stirring potential they demonstrated, we may never have had the rest.

The Wembley Wizards, Baxter’s keepy-up, Dalglish megging Clemence, the Tartan Army on the crossbar, Gemmill’s goal, David Narey’s toepoker, the Swedish policewoman, those glorious few minutes of hope in 1996, McFadden in Paris, boogieing in Belgrade: we owe them all to the establishment of football as a game pitting nation against nation.

A young Scotland fan in the stands with the flag painted on his cheeks and a flag in his hand
A young Scotland fan in the stands during the international friendly match at Hampden Park. Image: PA.

Gardner, Ker and Taylor; Thomson and Smith; Smith, Leckie, Rhind, MacKinnon, Weir and Wotherspoon.

Your efforts that Saturday generated no countable return, and nor did much of the 150 years since. But the country, and the world, has derived enjoyment far beyond the measure of scoresheets.

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