THE TARTAN ARMY

"When we read about British Football Fans visiting foreign lands we tend to curl up with embarassment at the antics of them, however, once you have read the following story I am sure you will have a completely different picture of them and be proud of our Scottish fans". Editor

More than 800 football tops collected by Scottish football fans were given as a present to the children of Bubamara football school.

“Football game cannot exist without football fans. Fans enjoy the game the same like the players in the field. They both share the same joy and passion of the game” said Predrag Pasic, manager of Bubamara, in front of hundreds of young football players.

“Tonight, we are honoured to welcome Scottish football fans, best football fans in the world, who collected football strips for you, football players of Bubamara children’s football school” added Pasic and was greeted both by the kids and their parents. Bill Austin, the main organizer of the Appeal, said to the kids and their parents: “I am glad to present to you, these football strips on behalf of Scottish football fans. This comes as a gift from the people of Scotland, to you the children of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I hope they bring you joy and best of luck”.

Smiles and joy on children’s faces were just everywhere when they received the gifts from Scotland, while their parents cheered them from the stands of the Olympic Hall Zetra where Torvil and Dean won the golden Olympic medals twenty years ago.

Many of them were proudly showing their new football tops, posing for a photograph beneath a big Scottish saltire flag. Next to each other, there were tops of Celtic and Rangers, Hearts and Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen and many others.

I can only add that it was great to see so many happy kids tonight. Once again, Scottish football fans proved to be the best in the world. Once again - Tartan Army are the best ambassadors for Scotland!

One of the happy kids was Kemal Karic, a 12-year old boy who lost his leg in a mortar explosion which killed his mother in 1992. He was only three months old at the time. The Tartan Army has collected almost £5,000 for his new prosthesis. “Scottish fans are the best!” said Kemal who was delighted by his new football top.

Special mention was given to the kids with special needs from the The Christine Witcutt day-care centre, funded by Edinburgh Direct Aid, who received a full set of football kits. The Centre is currently struggling with the funding of its activities, and EDA has launched an Appeal to try to raise enough funds for the next two years. The Centre was visited and helped by fans of Hearts FC last year, prior to the UEFA Cup match vs FC Zeljeznicar.

Besides the kids from Sarajevo, the strips were given to football coaches, representatives of Bubamaras in other places of Bosnia, Lukavac and Novi Grad. The football school has expanded its activities to include all the communities and nations in post-war Bosnia, in order to bring the divided communities together.

Once again, big THANK YOU to everyone who took a part in this great action.

McMirza, editor scotlandia.com (Extract from www.scotlandia.com)