@Jennifer1984 Said 
I've only been to Scotland once and even then, I didn't see much of the country. From what I did see, though, I thought it was a lovely country.
I gathered the opinion that the
average Scot likes a drink, but probably no more so than people in any other part of the world map you care to stick a pin in.
It has long been popularly believed that Glasgow is a place where excessive alcohol abuse exists.... Perhaps if Glasgow were taken out of the equation, then Scotland would drop right down the league table of alcohol abuse. Perhaps Jim or the other Scots here would like to comment on that.
Unfortunately, Scotland's image has been tarnished by the antics of their football fans.... particularly when they visit England.
There used to be an annual football tournament between the four home nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). This meant that every other year, England would host the Scots at Wembley, and this would bring a horde of drink fuelled Scots south, rampaging around London, causing mayhem, violence and damage to the capital.
In 1977, around 25'000 Scots rampaged across Wembley Stadium, tearing up the pitch, pulling the goalposts down, and fighting running battles with police. Ordinary people had their cars smashed in the streets, the Scottish fans used peoples gardens as toilets, people were beaten up in the streets. Muggings were rife as those who had spent all their cash resorted to violent robbery to get more money for drink. There was such mayhem, that the English FA afterwards tried many ways to prevent Scots coming to London in the future.
And in 1977.... they won the match..!! Goodness knows what they would have done if they'd lost. 1977 was one of the worst examples of the biannual Scottish invasion, but it wasn't the only one. These mass invasions by rampaging, drunken Scots got so bad that, in the end, the Home Internationals were cancelled. They haven't been played for about 20 years. Isn't it sad, that a tournament that had endured for more than a hundred years should be ended by the violence of out-of-control drunks.
They tried to claim that their "celebrations" were all in high spirits, but there was nothing good spirited about the trail of destruction they left behind them. Every other year, London had to count the cost. It got to the point where people living near Wembley Stadium would board up their houses when the Scots were due in town. And the Scottish fans revelled in this reputation...!!!
It was all drink fuelled. They would come to Wembley, consume vast quantities of alcohol and then, for some peculiar reason best known to themselves, they seemed to think that a football match was a re-enactment of the Battle of Bannockburn. The Scots have this strange trigger in their heads that, put them in the presence of the English and they psychologically regress by 700 years.
The destruction of Wembley was an act of mindless, senseless vandalism and the images flashed around the world showed a people out of control on drink.
But is that a fair reflection on the Scottish people as a whole..? I don't think so. It shows that they can't hold their drink. It shows that they have an attitude problem towards the English. It shows that they can't be trusted to behave like civilised human beings when visiting London (strangely, the behaviour of Scottish fans everywhere else in the world has become impeccable in recent years.... but let them loose in London and it is definitely "red alert" time).
I think the image of the Scottish football fan, when they visit England, does immense damage to Scotland's image and this and the reputation of Glasgow, are probably the two biggest single factors in creating an overall unfair impression that the whole country is a nation of drunks.
His name isn't Jim, you have been told that before.
Jul 25, 2010 @ 07:21:14
