Scottish National Team

[DavidMc]

SCOTLAND INTERNATIONAL SQUAD 2007

Back, from left: Scott Severin, Gary Caldwell, Lee McCulloch, Iain Turner, Craig Gordon, Neil Alexander, Allan McGregor, Stephen McManus, Graham Alexander, Russell Anderson.

Middle row: Tim Berridge (video technician), Michael McBride (physiotherapist), Philip Yeates (physiotherapist), Scott Brown, Graeme Murty, Gary Teale, David Weir, Steven Pressley, Christian Dailly, Kris Boyd, Craig Beattie, Dr John MacLean (team doctor), Prof Stewart Hillis (medical officer), Mark Stoll (masseur).

Front: Roy Aitken (coach), Chris Burke, Kenny Miller, Gary Naysmith, Andy Watson (coach), Barry Ferguson, Alex McLeish (team manager), Paul Hartley, Shaun Maloney, Jackie McNamara, Jim Stewart (goalkeeping coach).

History
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. The team has played international football longer than any other nation in the world along with England, who they played in the world's first international football match at Hamilton Crescent, Partick, in 1872.

Although a part of the United Kingdom, Scotland maintains its own representative side that competes in all the major professional tournaments, though not at the Olympics as Scotland lacks membership of the International Olympic Committee.

Some of Scotland's most famous results include, in the 1978 World Cup, beating one of the favourites, the Netherlands, 3-2 with Archie Gemmill scoring a famous goal, and in 1967, defeating the World Cup holders England 3-2 at Wembley Stadium.

Traditionally England have been Scotland's fiercest rivals, though in recent times there has been a lack of regular fixtures at senior level between the two teams, with Scotland winning the last encounter in 1999.

Hampden Park



Scotland play the majority of their home matches at Hampden Park in Glasgow. The current 52,000 capacity Hampden is only one of several historic stadiums to bear that name. In its heyday, Hampden regularly attracted crowds of over 100,000. In 1937, 149,415 fans attended a match between Scotland and England. Hampden is one of only two Scottish football stadiums to recieve a UEFA 5-star rating.

Some matches, particularly friendly games, are occasionally played elsewhere, often at Easter Road in Edinburgh, home of Scottish Premier League club Hibernian. There have been a few instances where competitive qualifying matches have been played outside of Hampden: Celtic Park, Ibrox Stadium, Pittodrie Stadium and Rugby Park all hosted matches during the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign. Similarly, Scotland played 2000 European Championship qualifying matches at Tynecastle Stadium, Pittodrie Stadium, Celtic Park and Ibrox Stadium until Hampden's refurbishment was completed. Scotland recently played the Faroe Islands in their first 2008 European Championship qualification match at Celtic Park, due to Hampden being hired out for a music concert on the same date.

Supporters

The Scottish team have become famous for their travelling support, known as the Tartan Army, who have won awards from UEFA for their combination of vocal support, friendly nature and charity work. The Tartan Army have in the past been awarded a Fair Play prize by the Belgian Olympic Committee, were named as the best supporters during the 1992 European Championship, and were rewarded with a similar accolade at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Allegations have been made against the Tartan Army that they carry a strong anti-English sentiment, often being open and highly vociferous in their support of England's opponents. Tartan Army members point out, however, that many England fans express the same sentiments about the Scottish team. It has also been suggested that there is nothing unusual in traditional rivals wishing to see one another defeated and that these matters should be seen purely in the context of good-natured sporting rivalry.


the tartan army on a recent trip to Milan