Andy Murray, 11th September and Scotland’s feelgood factor
Scotland’s 116 year wait to win a tennis Grand Slam is finally over. In a nail-biting 5 set victory over Novak Djokovic at Flushing Meadows in the early hours of this morning, Dunblane’s Andy Murray became the first Scottish born winner of a tennis Grand Slam title since Harold Mahony in 1896. It’s not OTT to say that this ranks as one of Scottish sports greatest ever achievements. Well done Andy Murray from all at Bella Caledonia
As an aside, after Andy Murray’s great victory today, I’ve also been thinking this is an important historical date for Scots. Recall, it was on this day in 1297 that a victorious Scottish army led by William Wallace and a certain ANDREW MURRAY defeated an invading English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
It was also on 11th September in 1997 – exactly 700 years after Stirling Bridge – that Scots overwhelmingly voted for the return of our Parliament. The date of the 1997 referendum was no coincidence. Following the Oscar-winning triumphs of Mel Gibson’s much-loved and critically acclaimed movie Braveheart – it won 5 Oscars in 1996 for Best Picture, Best Director, Cinematography, Sound Effects Editing and Makeup – a little historical synchronicity was deemed acceptable, even by Devolutionists like Donald Dewar and co.
Of course, not everywhere associates 11th September with good fortune – Chile and New York especially come to mind – but for Scots its been a talismanic date. So here’s some morning-after-the-night-before thoughts:
Alex Salmond: how about making 11th Sep 2014 the date for our Independence Referendum?
Andy Murray: how about some more grand slam victories for us to celebrate. Wins at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows in 2014 would be especially appreciated for the pre-referendum feelgood factor…
Craig Levein: see the World Cup finals in 2014? Ach, never mind.
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Nice one Kevin, and a good perspective. This piece chimes with my own blog earlier today. Being a proper journalist, of course, you have more actual facts than me.
PS. My blog here. http://ayeright.com/2012/09/sporting-loyalties-and-andy-murray/
Andy won on the 10th. US time. Sorry.
11 years since the most outrageous and blatant fascist coup in America, still shocks me we went to war and killed over a million people all because of those pathetic pictures of fake cartoon planes melting into the World Trade Centre like it was made from butter, then the 3 buildings subsequently blown to kingdom come by high powered explosives. Interesting to note also that 3,000 of the alleged victims don’t show up on the social security index in the US.
Anyway, back to the tennis….
muckletoon – Have just read/watched the following link re
the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32421.htm
Feelgood factor… just let Craig Levein ruin that one.
Well done Andy Murray though. Good auld Scottish grit.
Done.
September 11th is also the day when Catalans celebrate their national day – the Diada. This year one and a half million people came onto the streets in Barcelona calling for independence – Catalunya, a new state in Europe.