We Made Them Angry

Tom Brogan

Description

We Made Them Angry is the story of Scotland's journey to and participation in the 1982 World Cup in Spain. The task for Jock Stein's men was to exorcise the demons of the disastrous campaign in Argentina in 1978. With the final squad containing some of the finest footballers playing on both sides of the border, Scotland looked in fine shape to do just that. But after a successful qualifying campaign, obstacles began to spring up. A ticketing disaster, a World Cup group draw fiasco, a threatened boycott of the tournament by the UK government due to the Falklands War, and of course there was no one better at beating Scotland than Scotland themselves. However, none of that would stop the Tartan Army from having a good time - not with Scotland stationed in the Costa del Sol. The group provided three pulsating games where the Scots faced minnows in New Zealand (who provided a shock), the world's most exciting and glamorous team in Brazil (who received a fright), and a dramatic but calamitous exit against the Soviet Union.

Sujets

• History of sport

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 25 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781801502535
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Tom Brogan, 2022
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Print ISBN 9781801500906
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Contents
Introduction
1. Stockholm to Belfast: Qualifying 1980/81
2. A point at Windsor Park: Qualification achieved
3. A Fiasco in Madrid: The group stage is drawn
4. We Have a Dream: Recording the World Cup song and finding a formation in Valencia
5. Preparations Continue: A change of hotel in Spain and a win over the Dutch
6. Back to Belfast: Stein continues to tinker, and a boycott threat emerges
7. The Final Preparations: The Falklands crisis escalates and the Home Internationals conclude
8. The 22: A warm-up in the Algarve
9. The Scare: New Zealand
10. The Toe-poke: Brazil
11. The Collision: USSR
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Photos
For my mum, Catherine Brogan
Introduction
MY VERY first football memory, I realise, sounds apocryphal, as it s one of the greatest moments in Scottish football history. It was 11 June 1978. The night before, our television at home blew up as my dad watched World Cup hosts Argentina play Italy. Dad was frantic as, not 24 hours later, Scotland were due to play Holland in their final group match. If Scotland could win by three goals then they would qualify for the latter stages of a World Cup finals for the first time in their history. It wasn t a game to be missed.
On the day of the match, Dad called my uncle Pat to ask him if, or, more accurately, tell him that my dad and my mum would be coming round to his house to watch the game. To this day, Pat has very little interest in football; this is probably why my dad would use him as a patsy in the days when big match tickets were allocated in postal ballots to increase his own chances of landing a pair. I ve been sent two tickets for the Scotland-England game, he once said to Dad, bewildered. No, you haven t! They re mine! my dad announced, having neglected to inform him of his plan.
At my uncle and aunt s house, I was handed some toys and played in the corner of the living room as the match progressed. As I vroom-vroomed my motor cars, I was suddenly shocked to hear my dad roar as I had never done before. I had heard him shout at me, but this was different; this was a roar of delight. More pressingly, I was fearful, as in leaping from his chair, Dad had sent it rocking backwards, bumping into the lamp stand, which was now tumbling towards me. I threw myself out of the way as it crashed on to the floor. I was now intrigued as to what exactly had turned him delirious. I came out from behind the chair to look at the television. What I saw was a replay of Archie Gemmill s famous second goal that night; winding past the Dutch defenders and lifting the ball over the keeper into the net then wheeling away with that raised fist that said so much about the Scottish attitude.
By 1982 I was fully committed to the Scotland cause, despite not yet attending an international match. Spain 82 was my first full televised World Cup finals. Anecdotally, I hear that the World Cup that means the most to people is the one that occurs around when they would be ten or 11. It s certainly true for me because, as a ten-year-old, it was a tournament I fully invested in. The afternoon and evening kick-off times contributed to my being able to see every match I wanted to.
When Scotland walked out into the heat of Malaga to line up against New Zealand, I clearly remember being sat in front of the television full of hope and expectation. It was a tournament that taught me all about being a Scotland fan, in just three games across eight days. There were high hopes and crashing lows.
We went into the lead in each match and began to believe, before switching off, or in the case of Brazil just being outclassed and having our hopes pushed into a dirty puddle and trampled over.
It wasn t just the Scotland games I watched that summer. Bryan Robson scoring after 27 seconds against France (I didn t even have to look up the time before writing that), the Kuwaitis walking off the field, Gerry Armstrong sending Northern Ireland into the second round, Maradona being sent off, Italy s sensational win over Brazil, the thrilling and yet horrifying France-West Germany semi-final that went on long into the night, and the final with Marco Tardelli s unforgettable celebration. Through it all, it never occurred to me that you could pick a more successful nation to follow, to admire and support evermore. No, you were Scottish, you had Scotland and the hopes and the heartache was what came with that.
I hope this book in some way captures some of the highs and lows of what it is to be a Scotland fan. - the puzzlement of why we had some of the continent s best players yet struggled to beat a team of amateurs and part-timers, how we could take the lead against the best team in the world but only make things worse for ourselves, and how, when the opposition struggled to break down our defence, we helped them out.
1
Stockholm to Belfast: Qualifying 1980/81
I was forced to watch from the bench as there ensued the worst 45 minutes of defending I had witnessed from a professional footballer.
Willie Miller
THE FERRY from Stranraer docked in Belfast at 7am on Wednesday, 14 October 1981. Around 150 Scottish football supporters poured out on to the street. Throughout the day, thousands more came by sea, road and rail. One group of fans had combined their travel with their accommodation by coming over in a caravanette. Many more had looked up long-lost friends and relations in the city and were staying overnight with them. Some supporters, preempting the result, even had banners with the words Espana 82 .
Special leave for the 1,500 Scottish soldiers in Belfast hadn t been arranged, but those off duty were expected to make up a section of the anticipated 30,000 crowd. Rod Stewart was looking at ways to get out of interviews in London to promote his new single, Young Turks , so he could attend the game. He is as aware as anyone of the risks involved in going to Belfast, a spokesman for his agents told the Belfast Telegraph . But that would not put him off. He would go to any lengths to try to watch Scotland play.
They were all eager to witness Scotland secure the point that would take them to the World Cup finals in Spain the following summer. We don t have a single excuse to put forward if we don t succeed, manager Jock Stein said. We ll be wary, of course, because organisation is such a vital part of the game today, but we want to win this one and go to the finals with a flourish.
It was a fixture that caused much concern when the draw for the World Cup qualifying sections was made in Zurich two years earlier. Scotland went into the draw as top seeds by virtue of qualifying for the finals in 1974 and 1978. Also in Pot A were England, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands and West Germany. Scotland were placed in Group Six. The first team added to the group was Sweden, followed by Portugal. Then came Northern Ireland. It was a draw the SFA could well have done without. Due to the political situation in the country, Scotland had not sent a team to play in Northern Ireland since April 1970, despite repeated requests from the Northern Ireland FA to do so. Since then, the nine annual Home International Championship matches had all taken place at Hampden Park.
The boycott, instigated in 1972, was not inconceivable. That year was the worst year of the Troubles . January saw Bloody Sunday in Derry, in which 14 marchers against internment were shot dead by the British Army. The early months also saw a bomb in Callender Street, Belfast, injuring over 60 people; a bombing of the Abercorn Restaurant, where two were killed; a car bomb in Lower Donegall Street killing seven and injuring around 100; and a series of shootings in April killing members of the Official Irish Republican Army and several British soldiers.
Northern Ireland began to play all their Home Internationals away from their own country. England and Wales shifted their 1973 Home International fixtures from Windsor Park to Goodison Park, Liverpool. By 1974, however, things were beginning to get back to normal in the city. A February 1974 letter from the Irish FA to their Scottish counterparts outlined that club matches had gone on in Belfast without a single incident; European club matches had taken place; a Canadian XI played in Belfast without problem; and assurance had been given from European Championship opponents Yugoslavia, Sweden and Norway that they would play their matches at Windsor Park. While they gave the request due consideration, it was the SFA s opinion that the civil unrest had not improved significantly enough for them to change their mind. Secretary Willie Allen told the press, Scotland will not go to Windsor Park during the present Troubles.
It would be 16 April 1975 before Northern Ireland played another game in Belfast. In addition to Glasgow, they played home matches in Hull, Coventry, London, Liverpool and Sheffield, with 18 consecutiv