You have to be in it to win it.
If you decide to stop, quit, or give up, you get the chance to have peace, relaxation or rest at the expense of purpose and satisfaction of work and the chance for something extraordinary. I've written about this here before, but this week requires it to be written about again.
In 1978, when the FIFA World Cup was going on in Argentina, Scotland had to win against Holland by 3 goals to qualify from the group stages for the first time in their history (everyone knows how that went). During that match, a young Archie Gemmill, a Nottingham Forest player of Scottish descent, scored one of the greatest, if not at that time, the greatest goal the Scots player had ever scored. It put Scotland 3-0 up in the game and qualified for the next stages. They would go on to sling that away with the most ridiculous goal conceded, but in the moment where Archie Gemmill scored, I was 6 years old, I never watched the goal as far as I can remember, I just watched my dad celebrating the goal.
It had a deep and profound effect on me, watching the joy that my dad was experiencing while watching that goal; he was hugging a pillow to his chest. I can remember where he was, where he sat, how he stood up. I might have created that memory afterwards, but it's clear as day to me.
And so I was always a Scotland fan. My dad was a Rangers supporter, having been brought up a Protestant in Scotland. My mum was a Catholic, and therefore the children were brought up as Catholics and therefore Celtic supporters, and so my dad and I shared our football for the Scotland team. He took me to see Richard Gough score a header from a corner in 1985 at Hampden, when Scotland beat England 1-0, my first experience of Scottish football.
I would go on to represent my country. Massively proud. Viscerally Scottish.
I was so proud to be Scottish, I am so proud to be Scottish, I always want to represent being Scottish.
And so, following the Scottish football team is a huge passion of mine, and I was able to take Callum to the Euros last year, and again I wrote here about the extraordinary experience of sharing the goal against Switzerland together, which was a dream of mine, but the point of this is about being in the game and staying in the game.
On Tuesday night this week, Scotland played Denmark with a chance to qualify for the World Cup finals next year in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. It was an unlikely possibility for everyone who was a Scotland fan. We've been there for decades, glorious in defeat, almost and nearly, never having the opportunity to be able to provide the quality to take us past teams that are at least on paper, much better than us.
I'd actually thought on Tuesday that I would not watch the first half, because I have so much to do that I thought when I turned the TV on at halftime to see Scotland 2-0 down, I would know that there was no point in watching anymore, and then I gave myself a talking to and reminded myself that anything was possible, and you have to be in it to win it.
And so I sat down and watched as Scotland kicked off in an absolutely raucous atmosphere at Hampden, Full of possibility. What happened is well-reported. Even as it got to 81 and 85 minutes, I knew Scotland were going out, and I was going to be disappointed. I was consoling myself with the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about getting tickets or flights or paying the money for Callum and me to go to another major championship abroad.
And then it happened.
The thing that Scotland supporters and the Scottish nation have been waiting for, for about 30 years. When we got the rub of the green, when it came our way, when we had the moments of magic that sent a nation into ecstasy.
This is not about football; it's about staying the course. It's about believing in a cause, believing in the thing that you love and sticking with it. It's about hoping that you may get a chance, which will be fleeting, to celebrate and also to give yourself the opportunity to dream for another 6 or 7 months, before, inevitably, something will happen to bring you back down to earth.
We're not supposed to be happy all the time; we're not supposed to feel joy all the time. Life is a wave of up and down, of high and low, of happy and sad. Not too high with the highs and not too low with the lows.
But difficult not to be too high after staying in the game on Tuesday and seeing what happened.
Blog Post Number - 4353
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