The World Cup Days…

Calton Athletic has a long tradition of travelling to the major football tournaments. This all started in Italia 90 when Scotland qualified the Calton boys decided they would go and support them. 17 recovering drug addicts made the planes, trains and automobiles style voyage to their first World Cup making their way from Glasgow to the small Italian town of Pele!

Next up was USA 94 when 22 recovering addicts made the hop over the Atlantic to stay in Orlando. This time there was no Scotland to support but that didn't dampen the spirits. The trip was great with the boys meeting the Republic of Ireland squad when Paddy Bonner spotted us after a training session. This meeting was reported on the news back home late that day.

Now on to England for Euro 96 when the under 18 football team came along for the trip. There were 32 people on the trip and were based in Romford just outside London. We managed to get tickets for the Holland and Switzerland games and enjoyed a fantastic time as ambassadors of Calton Athletic and Scotland.

Next stop was France 98 when Calton Athletic descended on the French Riviera. There were 40 of us and we stayed in Antibes which is not far from Monaco. The Calton Athletic lads backed Scotland at the Morocco game and although we were beaten that day that was no excuse to stop the fun.

The next voyage was to Euro 2004 in Portugal. We were situated in the middle of the riots that afflicted the tournament. Of course, we were all sober and enjoyed watching all the hangovers dying at breakfast while we were planning what to do that day. The only game that we got tickets for was the Greece and Russia game. Greece ended up going on to win the tournament. could some of our spirit rubbed off?

The last journey we were on was Germany 2006 when we all headed to Prague and travelled over the border for games. Although there was no Scotland again, we still enjoyed ourselves!