Poland

The Times ( London ) phoned. The question posed; ‘would the West of Scotland Tartan Army be supporting Poland in the 2006 World Cup?’
There I faced the dilemma of the headline ‘The Tartan Army wish Poles harm...shocker’ if I said ‘no’.
What a responsibility, I chose the safe option and the Times ( London ) ran a story with the subtext of Scots support Poland and therefore the thousands of Poles in Scotland were assured of of our undying loyalty. Scotland’s  almost permanent absence in major football finals had already been assured.
Three days later BBC 5 Live phoned asking where was the best pub to broadcast live from a pub in Scotland where the Tartan Army would be showing undying love for Poland in the first tie against Germany of all teams, the hosts. Calmly I suggested a pub in Inverness where I assumed there was a sizeable Polish community.
2 days later The Warsaw Metro phoned for an interview reference Westa’s  support for the gallant Polish Team. I duly obliged with a few well chosen words, they also requested I send a photo for which I posed in front of a home made red and white flag.
The next day I was phoned by a Warsaw Radio Station where Westa’s  support was now obviously big national news. The journalist had just urgently booked a flight and was now asking if I could meet him in Edinburgh where he would broadcast live from a pub full of The Tartan Army supporting Poland. I apologised and wished him ‘arra best’ and suggested a well known Tartan Army Edinburgh pub. He however gave me an hours notice and interviewed me for live broadcast.
I quickly checked the Net and was able to expand upon my love of Deyna, Boniek as my favourite ever footballers. The best ever  Pole and definitely Scotland’s favourite was of course the 1973 goalie Jan Tomaszewski who single handedley, mind you he had 2 gloves, put England out of the World Cup at Wembley.
Football did not come home that night by the way. Brian Clough called him a clown, we in Scotland however  celebrated a national hero of 2 countries, Poland and Scotland.
So, having assured the nation of Poland the  undying support of Scotland and wishing them all the luck of lucky Scottish heather they finished second bottom of the group and went home to think again.
Oh, did I mention the Latvian Football Association phoning me in 2004 asking for the support of Westa  in the Euros? I duly obliged. They finished bottom with a draw against a very poor German team as their only point. Scotland did not qualify.

Hamish