Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 18 on 8/1/2005.

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More important than life or death

Scotland might not be achieving much on the sports field right now, but the passion for soccer is undimmed. Neil Gunn reports

The immortal Bill Shankly when asked was football a matter of life and death replied: “No, it’s much more important than that.” There are many Scots today who would still echo that sentiment.

In the late 19th and early 20th century football developed a mass following among the working class of Scotland’s industrial heartland. It offered, for the thousands who thronged to the grounds on a Saturday to watch their favourite team, a chance to escape the drudgery and monotony of their daily lives.

For the lucky few ‘with magic in their feet’ it meant a way out of the pit or the factory. Sir Matt Busby, one of football’s greatest managers, summed it up nicely: “shout down any pit and up will come a footballer.”

Some form of football has been around for centuries. The Greeks played a form of the game known as harpaston and other medieval societies including the English, Chinese, Italians and Scots all had their own versions.

The modern game in Scotland owes its existence to a small Glasgow club. Not only did it pioneer the game in Scotland, they took their expertise south of the border and further afield to Ireland, Denmark, Holland and Belguim.

It started with a chance meeting between a group of Speyside workers who came to the city for their highland games and a number of boys from the YMCA. Their get-together in a Glasgow park led to a game of football and from that encounter in 1867 emerged Queens Park Football Club.

Queens Park Football Club proudly boast they are the ‘pi.....

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By Neil Gunn

Section : Scottish Trends

Page number : 56