Inspiration Pakistan: <i>Paani ka Bulbala</i>

The good old days? You must be joking; When you have been pinned against a crush barrier and have been part of a sway then the realisation dawned of how dangerous terracing could be. And there was the problem of how to get rid of the pints

The Herald December 30, 2000 | Brian Meek In the boys’ club to which I belonged during my formative years they had a song with the line “and there’s an affection in recollection”, which of course is absolutely true. Sport is the best example of that as old stagers re-tell the glories that they once witnessed.

I can wander down memory lane with the best of them, taking in the day Dennis Compton hit the winning runs which brought back the Ashes, Celtic lifting the European Cup, Lachie Stewart triumphing in the Commonwealth 10,000 metres, the two Grand Slams, the Ryder Cup victory at Valderrama. We could be in this part of the country for the rest of the festive season, let me warn you.

Yet I am wary, as all of my generation should be, of sounding like a Hovis advert. “We played football in the morning, rugby in the afternoon and cricket by the light of the street lamp. Oh – and it never rained in the summers.” There are enough bar-room bores without adding to them.

For there is always somebody ready to tell us about the good old days and how sport has changed for the worse. It is a lot of nonsense. Last week Kate Hoey, the latest in a long line of ineffectual Sports Ministers – do you remember the little cox that Maggie Thatcher appointed to the job? – sighed for the return of the standing terraces.

Well, I was on a lot of them, Kate, and they were not always the cheery, chummy, all-singing, all-celebrating choirs of your imagination. When you have been pinned against a crush barrier, when you have been part of a “sway”, when the guy in front of you fell down and you on top of him and the next person on top of you and you wondered if you would ever see blue sky again, then the realisation dawned of how dangerous the terracing could be. see here how to get rid of razor bumps

And there was of course the problem of how to get rid of the pints which had been consumed in anticipation of the big match and were now bearing sharply on the bladder. Easy. Do it on the spot or maybe even on the back of the coat of the bloke in front. That was what it was really like in the open enclosures.

And not just at football grounds. When Scotland played Wales at Murrayfield in 1975 around 104,000 paid to get in and thousands more climbed over the gates. At the end, a white-faced police inspector showed me round the stadium. “My God we were lucky,” he declared. It was the last of the non-ticket matches. go to web site how to get rid of razor bumps

Sports stadia today are better, safer, far more user friendly than they ever were. Talk about going back is ridiculous, not to mention totally irresponsible.

Jim McLean, always one for a merry quip, continued the rosy retrospective this week. Football, he moaned, is not what it was; the fans are badly treated, the game is dominated by what the television companies want, clubs are being run as businesses.

Now, as written here earlier this month, I have no desire to see the former Dundee United supremo banned from the game despite his devotion to shadow boxing. But he is another one who is living in the past.

Yes, football has changed; the players are no longer serfs for a start. Instead, because they are entertainers who can draw audiences of millions they are well-paid at the highest level during their short careers. Good luck to them.

Sure, television is a major influence because that is where the vast majority of people see their sport. I have no doubt that Jim thinks that is shameful, maybe even sinful, but it certainly is not going to change.

“What will happen,” asks McLean, “when television decides that it does not want to pay big money to show live matches?” Answer: nothing. Because that day will not come. The TV companies lay out big bucks to ensure big audiences, and live football does just that.

So what about the poor, downtrodden fans? These are the same supporters, presumably, who stood unprotected in all weather in tips of grounds throughout Scotland for most of McLean’s life. Spare us the crocodile tears.

Yes, the 6.05 kick-off on a Sunday is a nonsense and I hope we will see its demise soon. But let’s not kid ourselves – if football clubs are not run on the same strict financial discipline as any other business then they will fold. Maybe that is inevitable for there is at least an arguable case that there are too many professional outfits in any case.

When I said modern rugby was more entertaining to watch I was even ticked off by John Beattie, who is maybe a couple of years younger than my goodself. Well, I am unrepentant.

I believe, particularly at this time of the year, we should be looking forward not back. In football Scotland are trying to head for the finals of the World Cup again, in rugby we are anticipating an improved showing in the Six Nations, there is a thrilling Ryder Cup in prospect with Scotland’s Sam Torrance leading the Europeans, the Aussie cricketers are coming. There are reputations to be made, records to be broken, dramas to be played out.

Anyone not excited by this programme should take up basketwork.

Brian Meek