One day at the end of June 2006, six Scotland supporters - known to each other as Jay, Minty, Panda, Wullie, Joe and Graham - headed north to Aviemore for the first ever Tartan Army Gathering.
It was a cracking weekend. A great time was had by all - with plenty of great memories, random photographs and new friends being made. But one "symbol" stood out from the weekend. A symbol that seemed to now be associated with the lads forever...
On the Saturday morning Jay and Panda found themselves sitting drinking outside in the sun, with Panda devouring a massive greasy cheeseburger. Following the final bite Panda announced he was far too full to keep drinking. Shocked by this disturbing claim, Jay began to rant about how he'd heard that the acids in pineapples helped digestion, and so the duo headed off to Tesco to find some pineapple.
With no tinned pineapple in site, the lads found themselves carrying a whole fresh pineapple to the supermarket knives section. However, it was quickly discovered that the knives available would result in arrests. And so, after some deliberation, the decision was reached just to buy the pineapple anyway. Bit random.
By the end of the Saturday night, the pineapple had featured in lots of photos - and not just ours! The pineapple had become something of a lucky charm, will many folk kissing it for luck in the hope it would help Portugal overcome England in the World Cup! By the Sunday, folk were recognising the now-battered pineapple which was carried through Aviemore on the Tartan Army March.
And so, which many folk now recognising the lads as "the guys with the pineapple" it seemed only right to honour both the original pineapple and the first ever Tartan Army Gathering by forming the Pineapple Tartan Army.
We've managed to keep in touch with a decent amount of folk from the Gathering - many of whom we see at Hampden and abroad - but if you happened to notice the pineapple that great weekend, feel free to get in touch! These days the symbol of the original pineapple has long been replaced with the Pineapple TA flag - which has made it's way across Europe in the past two years, and will continue to do so in the future!
Long live the pineapple! |
