All eyes on the football fairytale

PREMIER league football clubs lie beaten at their feet. The best-paid stars of Scottish football have been humbled before them. Now the giant-killers Ross County make their debut in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park today.

Last month a mass exodus of 7,000 supporters went to Glasgow for the semi-final against Celtic and left the town of Dingwall largely deserted. Today up to 20,000 County fans – four times the population of Dingwall – will take over the centre of Glasgow.

Their team’s opponents are Dundee United, a doughty side from an area not exactly renowned for celebration. Indeed, the last time this team won this trophy 100 years ago the event was understood to have unleashed a curse. Dundonians have a strange sense of humour and this may be a joke. But it can be hard to tell in Dundee what is a joke and what is a burst of tears.

Ross County supporters have made no secret of their jubilation just at getting to the final. Supporters have already recorded a Cup Final song, We’re on Our Way. Lady GaGa, eat your heart out. The enduring appeal of football is that money does not always guarantee success and that the game can spring such great surprises.

In the case of Ross County it has been to reveal talented players with hearts of lions. May Hampden roar today.