Scottish Cup

Ian's sister, Kayleigh, works for the Scottish Football Association...the governing body of football in Scotland (I know! Really, really cool). She is constantly getting us tickets to cool sporting events, like the friendly Scotland v. Denmark match and the Aviva International Match. Not only do we get to go to the events, she gets us fantastic seats!

This past weekend, we went to the Scottish Cup final. Some facts about the Scottish Cup:

• It is the main national cup competition in Scottish football
• It is a knockout competition
• The Scottish Cup trophy is the oldest national trophy in the world 

This year, two Edinburgh teams made it to the final match, Hibernian (Hibs) and Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). According to Wikipedia, it was the first time the clubs have met in a Scottish Cup Final since 1896...kind of a big deal.

The only big football game I have been to (other than Ian's Mercer games, haha) was a friendly match between Scotland/Denmark, so this past weekend was my first, real football match. Let me tell you, it was such a neat experience.

The whole event was completely different than American sporting events. 

First of all, the fans are separate the whole time. As soon as they arrive at the train station, they are put on specific trains, which unload at specific places. At the stadium, Hibs fans entered on one side, and Hearts fans entered on another. This is done to avoid fights between the teams! Once they enter the stadium, Hibs fans and are on one side, and Hearts are on the other, separated by a wall of police. 

The Hearts are on the left in red and the Hibs are on the right in green. The yellow are security!

We were in the middle of the action in the Hibs section! I happened to be seated next to Hibernian's number one fan! He was very, very passionate.

Another big difference is you are not allowed to drink alcohol at the game. They are really strict about having alcohol...apparently football passion plus alcohol is a bad combination.

I took a few videos of the pre-match festivities:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cVOIQ9-NtQ&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq3ZW6qNRxg&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_J-mvj2swA&feature=youtu.be

If you ever get the chance, GO TO A FOOTBALL GAME IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY. So much more exciting than any American sporting event!