O Flower of Scotland...

Something different again today. But was back very close to were I was yesterday.
But this time a very different "battlefield"....

Went to see Hampden Park. Home of Queen's Park and the National Stadium.



Now I have been here a number of times to see matches from when I was a wee boy in the old stadium. But I had never been on the stadium tour or at the museum so did that today.


The stadium here dates from 1903 although the stadium pictured above was rebuilt and reopened in 1999.

My best memory of this stadium dates back to 1984, going to see Scotland vs Iceland World Cup Qualifier with my dad, and Paul McStay's bullet of a shot. Was a fantastic goal. Scotland won 3-0 that day. Happy times. Favourite memory of Hampden ? Post up a comment.
Below are just some photos around the stadium "The Day".

I first went on the stadium tour whhich takes you behind the scenes of stadium. Above is quick photo of the "Away" dressing room. This is the traditional Celtic dressing room.

This is the indoor warm up area. Not a bad idea for a stadium in Scotland! :)

You can have a go at hitting the ball and it will measure the speed.

I won't embarass myself by telling you how pathetic my shot was but was comparable to some of the kids also on the tour :)

And then out into the stadium itself.
You can't help but get a wee thrill as you walk out the doors into the stadium. Maybe we all have that wee dream inside that it could have been us coming out before a capacity crowd singing Flower of Scotland.

This is the Home "Dugout" area at Hampden. Have a feeling at my age I'm going to have to give up on ever getting to sit here. Even as a sub.

I just liked this wee shot of the empty seats.

And now into the museum. This is a fantastic museum with so much memorabilia from over 100 years of football history in Scotland. Football is such an integral part of life in Scotland. When the Scotland team is playing well the whole country feels better. Some people say that the 1979 referendum on independence was rejected partly because of the bad 1978 World Cup performance!! Not sure if this is true but this museum does give you a flavour for our passion for the game both international and domestic.

Above is the Scottish Cup (or the Scottish Football Association Scottish Challenge Cup to give it it's full name) This competition was originally held in 1873-74 and the trophy is the oldest national trophy in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Cup

The museum covers the history of the game from it's very beginning in the mid 1800's and the formation of Queen's Park FC in 1867. Queen's Park FC are the oldest club in Scotland and one of the oldest in the world.

Above is a model of one of my defensive tackles from a 5 a side game I was in during the late 1980's. I had a moustache back then :)

A replica of the European Cup. This one actually donated to the museum by Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Scottish football hall of fame. People involved in the Scottish game who have made a major contribution are given this honour. Spent a lot of time here just reading all the life stories. Just in the front of shot here are Bobby Lennox, Henrik Larsson, Denis Law... an amazing list.

I liked this photo. Davie Cooper, Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson. Now there is a list. Davie Cooper and Kenny Dalglish were both heroes of mine when I played as a boy.

Although this is more my game :)

Have always been better at table football than the actual game itself.

Another nice exhibit. The cap given to Kenny Dalglish to mark his 100's cap for Scotland.

An exhibit talking about the history of kids playing football in the street. That is the joy of football. A ball and a couple of jerseys for goalposts and you got yourself a game.

The ball from the first game played at Hampden in 1903. Was between Queen's Park and Celtic.

Really is a cool museum for covering all aspects of the game. Here is one of the original turnstiles from Hampden. Can remember going through one of these many times.

I liked this exhibit. This is reconstruction of Archie Gemmill's goal against Holland in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. We needed to win by 3 goals to get out of the group section. Scotland were winning 2-1 when the ball broke to Gemmill. He jinked past 3 players and chipped the ball into the net. It was 3-1!!

Holland made it 3-2 a few minutes later. But that's Scottish football for you. Best goal ever scored in the World Cup? One of the best definitely and it will always have a special place in the heart of all Scots. Thank you Archie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3FvlWyyAKg

Talking of the 1978 World Cup above it the programme from the sending off party at Hampden. 25,000 fans turned out (including me and my family) to cheer the Scotland team before they went off to the World Cup in Argentina. We honestly believed we were in with a shout of winning it. It didn't turn out that way but I actually still have a copy of this programme above and I treasure it. It truly is a wee piece of Scottish history.

I also have a copy of this!! The 1982 Scotland World Cup Anthem "We have a dream".
Seeing all this stuff made me realise how much I miss Scotland being in one of the big tournaments. They really do get the whole country excited and each one makes it's own new memories. Fingers crossed we will be back in one soon.

The roll of honour of players with more than 50 caps for Scotland.

Now there is a list.

It not to be forgotten that Hampden is also the venue for many great concerts. Springsteen was here last week and Take That couple of weeks before. Above is Robbie William's shirt from one of his gigs here.

The sun was shining as I left Hampden. Was a great experience today. Another great museum to make you think of all your own great memories. This time of the beautiful game that is so much part of our lives in Scotland.

As sun was shining also popped back up onto the hill at Queen's Park on way back to get a brighter shot across the city.

Nice way to end the tour. A day for memories.

Be well, be happy!!