The one abiding memory of both Semi and Final is the very different rules applied by the SFA at Hampden to those applied by most SPL clubs.
I've often thought we've gone overboard on a plethora of Health and Safety issues that wouldn't have crossed our minds 50 years ago.
I well remember the days when segregation was unheard of, when fans crossed each other's paths on the way to the goal their team was shooting into. Maybe I was lucky, but I don't remember many fights, much taunting, yes, but little else than the kind of banter we get on the messageboards of all teams.
I'm not saying we should return to those days, I recognise it only needs one eejit to ignite a flame that could result in warfare. So segreagation should remain.
But my one all abiding memory of Hampden was the flags, the klaxon horns, the singing led off by much noise and anyone who said this didn't add to the excitment and atmosphere is surely from a different planet.
Yet at Dens, as well as most other SPL grounds, flags held aloft by wee puny sticks are banned. A flag without a stick is as much good as a car without an engine. You try to wave it aloft and it unfurls around your heid like the limp useless item it is.
And the horns that preceded every song, every chant, wonderful to hear, brought me back to the old days when the crammel was carried by most faithful fans. Birling a heavy wooden crammel around your head was a dangerous thing, anyone in close proximity was in danger of being seriously injured. Again, I mind of no such incidents. But the noise and the atmosphere generated by 20,000 crammel birling fans was awesome.
We go overboard with Health and Safety. Of course there's a risk that someone carrying a flag can poke you in the eye. There'a a much higher risk of a fan being brained by a Jamie Langfield shot at the pre-match kick about. If you read this, Jamie, you're owe me a bovril.
You can go to any extremes, hot pies shouldn't be sold, they can burn you if you bite into them too greedily as I do, and hot bovril accidentally couped over an unsuspecting guy sitting next to you can be very serious.
It's silly and it's killing the game. We're taking all the fun out and replacing it with absolutely nothing. The polis even tried to ban our fun loving Deewok. We plead for better atmosphere at Dens, for fans to sing more and to get behind the team. I cannae sing for nuts, but the sound of the horns at Hampden inspired me to reach for a few octaves higher than I thought I was capable of achieving.
I was present at a Dundee match this season when a fan and his bairns were put out because the bairn was blowing on a horn. What the hell's the problem with that? When the father refused to stop him they were chucked out. In my opinion he was only defending the right of his bairn to bring back excitement to our game.
I understand there are some, a very small minority in my view, who would complain at such noise. They're trying to turn football into a kind of ballet, a theatrical extraveganza with little or no noise. If they had their way clapping your hands would be banned as well. I know this is controversial but I'd gladly swop them for the noisy wee guys blowing their horns from start to finish.
Coming from my generation, I'd be willing to bet my last dollar that Peter Marr had a crammel in the 60's as I had and that if it were up to him the noise and clamour of the old days would return in a slightly modified form. Horns set off chanting and singing. No harm in that.
I was one who was disgusted when I heard Dundee had banned the Livvy drum, though Livvy allow it to be hammered out throughout games at their own ground. Some clubs have allowed it at their own home stadiums. I've heard fans complain on my own messageboard about the noise at Livvy, but I thought it was great.
So, in short, it's time to bring fun back into football. Let horns be blown in praise of Dundee F.C. Let flags be flown on sticks, let drums be beaten if need be. Crowds are going down all over Scotland outside the Old Firm. It's the boredom that's killing the game. Bring back the fun, the excitement, and let's sing to the tune of a klaxon horn.
If it's good enough for Scotland and Hampden, not to mention all over the world, surely it's not the great problem the SPL clubs think it is. Old fuddy duddies, get it sorted before the game dies completely.
I've often thought we've gone overboard on a plethora of Health and Safety issues that wouldn't have crossed our minds 50 years ago.
I well remember the days when segregation was unheard of, when fans crossed each other's paths on the way to the goal their team was shooting into. Maybe I was lucky, but I don't remember many fights, much taunting, yes, but little else than the kind of banter we get on the messageboards of all teams.
I'm not saying we should return to those days, I recognise it only needs one eejit to ignite a flame that could result in warfare. So segreagation should remain.
But my one all abiding memory of Hampden was the flags, the klaxon horns, the singing led off by much noise and anyone who said this didn't add to the excitment and atmosphere is surely from a different planet.
Yet at Dens, as well as most other SPL grounds, flags held aloft by wee puny sticks are banned. A flag without a stick is as much good as a car without an engine. You try to wave it aloft and it unfurls around your heid like the limp useless item it is.
And the horns that preceded every song, every chant, wonderful to hear, brought me back to the old days when the crammel was carried by most faithful fans. Birling a heavy wooden crammel around your head was a dangerous thing, anyone in close proximity was in danger of being seriously injured. Again, I mind of no such incidents. But the noise and the atmosphere generated by 20,000 crammel birling fans was awesome.
We go overboard with Health and Safety. Of course there's a risk that someone carrying a flag can poke you in the eye. There'a a much higher risk of a fan being brained by a Jamie Langfield shot at the pre-match kick about. If you read this, Jamie, you're owe me a bovril.
You can go to any extremes, hot pies shouldn't be sold, they can burn you if you bite into them too greedily as I do, and hot bovril accidentally couped over an unsuspecting guy sitting next to you can be very serious.
It's silly and it's killing the game. We're taking all the fun out and replacing it with absolutely nothing. The polis even tried to ban our fun loving Deewok. We plead for better atmosphere at Dens, for fans to sing more and to get behind the team. I cannae sing for nuts, but the sound of the horns at Hampden inspired me to reach for a few octaves higher than I thought I was capable of achieving.
I was present at a Dundee match this season when a fan and his bairns were put out because the bairn was blowing on a horn. What the hell's the problem with that? When the father refused to stop him they were chucked out. In my opinion he was only defending the right of his bairn to bring back excitement to our game.
I understand there are some, a very small minority in my view, who would complain at such noise. They're trying to turn football into a kind of ballet, a theatrical extraveganza with little or no noise. If they had their way clapping your hands would be banned as well. I know this is controversial but I'd gladly swop them for the noisy wee guys blowing their horns from start to finish.
Coming from my generation, I'd be willing to bet my last dollar that Peter Marr had a crammel in the 60's as I had and that if it were up to him the noise and clamour of the old days would return in a slightly modified form. Horns set off chanting and singing. No harm in that.
I was one who was disgusted when I heard Dundee had banned the Livvy drum, though Livvy allow it to be hammered out throughout games at their own ground. Some clubs have allowed it at their own home stadiums. I've heard fans complain on my own messageboard about the noise at Livvy, but I thought it was great.
So, in short, it's time to bring fun back into football. Let horns be blown in praise of Dundee F.C. Let flags be flown on sticks, let drums be beaten if need be. Crowds are going down all over Scotland outside the Old Firm. It's the boredom that's killing the game. Bring back the fun, the excitement, and let's sing to the tune of a klaxon horn.
If it's good enough for Scotland and Hampden, not to mention all over the world, surely it's not the great problem the SPL clubs think it is. Old fuddy duddies, get it sorted before the game dies completely.