The Road To Hampden Starts Here!

For some amateur and semi-professional clubs, the road to Hampden and cup glory started here in the rather unusual surroundings of Buchanan Galleries shopping centre in Glasgow. This was the first time the draw for the Scottish Cup had taken place in a venue like this, it usually takes place at the national stadium, and curiosity got the better of me and I went along for a look.

It attracted a fair amount of interest from the public and was well attended with TV crews, reporters and photographers. I went along with a friend from London who I met in George Square en route. A long story how he ended up in Scotland but short of Brad, Angelina and kids walking about without minders, I couldn't have been more shocked when I spotted him taking photos of the American cars.

He said that he had never heard of any of the teams and I told him about the changes introduced a few years ago which give teams from the amateur ranks the chance to compete with professional teams from the Scottish leagues. So today, teams with great names like Inverurie Loco Works, Civil Service Strollers and Fife's own Burntisland Shipyard found out their opponents for the 1st round. If they can win a few games, then they will be in the blue bag you see here with the teams from the SPL.

I got right down the front for my blip today. I even politely said excuse me to one of the TV crews to squeeze in beside them. It helped that all the press photographers were crouching down at the front, so I got a decent view. Sure there shots are better than this one right enough.