Final Fever

A long and busy day out in Glasgow at the Scottish Cup Final. Dunfermline v Celtic at Barclay's Hampden Park. Nice to think that some distant member of my family owns/sponsors a football stadium. Their ticket app and system actually works really well, much to my surprise. Ticketing apps and apps in general and their silent domination of our lives are not my favourite things.

On reflection the best part was the pub time spent with family and friends in a sunny beer garden in Battlefield as a foot soldier in a muddled up army of fans. Many of whom, (mum, dad and the kids decked out for the day) don't really attend matches often so they don't quite know how to behave or react. They've not done the full training regime; seeing mid-winter muddy defeats or mind numbing goalless draws, but whatever, it all adds something to the atmosphere. I do alot of people watching. My SBS training kicks in.

Scottish football has a number of ingrained problems but I'm not going to list them here, it's only a game (?). Anyway we didn't win, for a variety of reasons. The starting line up had a few of us shaking our heads so we knew it was going to be a rough ride. Fan wisdom is a pretty much a gut driven thing but it often hits the mark. I've been watching Dunfermline home and away for over 60 years, I feel I've seen it all now. The consolation goal was well received when it eventually arrived but by the end I felt the weight of what was an emotionally draining experience; but not a bad one. My grandkids (the grown up ones) were joking that this might be my last cup final. The numbers certainly back that up. I like their dark sense of humour.