Inside Scotland's Euro 2024 welcome: Aviemore vibes, McGinn and an oompah band, Hearts trackie plus beer jokes
It was quite the scene that greeted Clarke and Co in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Scotland were treated to a spectacular welcome to their Euro 2024 Alpine retreat as Steve Clarke’s squad arrived at a resort that might be twinned with Aspen, Colorado but shares many similarities with Aviemore.
Perhaps some of Scotland's more outward-bound minded players might have remarked on the resemblance as their bus pulled into Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the squad's base for Operation Reach the Second Stage for the First Time. This could yet prove the ultimate adventure.
Garmisch and Partenkirchen are separated by a river and were united, not entirely happily, following a decree from Hitler in 1935 ahead of hosting the following year’s Winter Olympics. The Bavarian resort can already lay claim to some sporting history, though it's not necessarily something locals wish to shout about.
The area is also known for a series of witch trials in the late 1500s, when up to 10 per cent of the local population were either garrotted or burned alive. There’s some turbulent history beneath the cloud-capped mountain peaks surrounding the towns. Some turbulent weather too.
Major Elisabeth Koch probably hadn’t intended for the welcome mat to be rolled out while running for cover from an epic electric storm that rumbled and crackled down the valley at the foot of the Zugspitze, Germany’s tallest mountain, an hour or so before the Scotland party were due to touch base.
But the weather event passed quickly, as tends to happen at such an altitude. On top of everything else that's happened, Clarke did not want to run the risk of a lightning bolt adding to his already lengthy injury list.
The only danger, it turned out, was John McGinn pulling a hammy as he gamely joined in with some Bavarian dancing on stage while an oompah band honked away. He even made a good attempt at the high kick flourish at the end. Harry Kane dressed up in lederhosen had nothing on this.
Clarke was interviewed on stage, as was Andy Robertson. The manager said he sensed it would be a special place and such a feeling had been confirmed by the warmth of the greeting. His skipper promised a lot of beer would be drunk before quickly adding that such epic consumption would not be by the players, only the Tartan Army. Scottish footballers falling out of bars is a thing of the past it would seem. The only potential controversy might be the state of the training pitch in a place where torrential downpours seem commonplace and the river looks ominously high. Major Koch later soothed fears. "The training pitch is only 400 metres from here, it is new and the drainage is fantastic, so we have no worries with the weather," she said, confidently.
Still, the reception, scheduled to be outdoors, had to be quickly moved indoors due to the threat of more heavy rain. The message was quickly relayed around town(s) - head to Bayernhalle on the Garmisch side of the Partnach river. Hundreds did. The impressive hall has been built into the side of a cliff and was decorated with stuffed bears and ancient farming implements.
“Who is from Garmisch? Who is from Partenkirchen? And finally, who is from …Scotland!” asked the MC as he sought to keep people entertained after a delay to the players' arrival.
Andrew Syme, who was interviewed on stage in a kilt, is from Scotland but has now settled in the area. Originally from Aberdeen, he arrived in 1994 after graduating from Stirling University. “And I never came back,” he later told The Scotsman.
He now has two children, Emma and Jack. They will be supporting both Germany and Scotland on Friday evening when the countries kick off Euro 2024.
Syme has the top job in the country – literally. He is the manager of the restaurant at the summit of the Zugspitze. “A cable car ride every day and a nice view!” he said. There are worse jobs.
His love affair with this part of the Alps started when he came to Garmisch-Partenkirchen on holiday from the north-east of Scotland. “I used to go skiing and I fell in love with the area. It was always my plan to come here. I didn’t care what I was doing, I just wanted to live and work in the Alps, it was my dream.”
He could not believe it when he heard the Scotland football team might be joining him in his Alpine idyll. "At first it was just amazing to qualify," he said. "I had looked sat the group and thought it was going to be tricky. And then came confirmation of the opening game against Germany - what an honour! And then to find out they were coming here, it just seemed to get better and better.
In November the rumours started: ‘do you know the Scotland team are coming here?’ Then it was official and it was just a matter of counting down the days after that.” Now the likes of Scott McTominay and Andy Robertson were walking just yards away from him and his wide-eyed children.
Someone else caught the eye. A tall man in a Hearts tracksuit top. Dr Nicolas Keilbach had driven for three hours from his house near Lake Constance to see the players and he was not disappointed either.
He revealed his Jambo leanings stem from his time studying medicine in Edinburgh. He managed to get a photo with Lawrence Shankland, who had spotted the Hearts badge. The good doctor had brought his young daughter Olivia all this way to see the players too.
“I did the whole season when they finished second in 2005-06 and when they won the cup too, against Gretna,” he said. He last saw Hearts in November at Ibrox. “The games are not my only goal when I come over, I like to see my friends too of course,” he said.
One suspects Scotland will be making plenty of new friends here. The bold John McGinn already has. He and his teammates will be welcome back long after they have kicked a last ball in this tournament. And their names will now be forever etched in the town's Golden Book, which the players all lined up to sign before the close of the ceremony.
Containing mostly the scrawl of Alpine skiers and mountaineers, the hefty ledger will now bear the signatures of Scotland’s class of 2024. And who knows? These footballers might yet be history makers.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.