IT was the dream that became a nightmare. Scotland’s 1978 World Cup campaign in Argentina can still make the Tartan Army weep … now often, but not always, with laughter.
The only home nation at the finals, manager Ally MacLeod insisted we were good enough to win it and we would certainly come home with a medal. And we believed him.
Instead, the team which had been given an open-top bus tour in front of 25,000 fans at Hampden Park before they even left, came home from Argentina to an empty airport after a debacle of a tournament featuring humiliating defeat, organisational shambles and a failed drugs test.
But for some Scotland fans who travelled to South America, the tournament was not a complete disaster after they found love on the other side of the world.
Fraser MacKay was a successful small businessman in Edinburgh in the 1970s, running popular clothes shops.
As a committed fan, the lure of being part of Ally’s Army was too great.
“I had two or three mates I travelled with and we went to Thomas Cook to book up,” said Fraser, then 31, who is featured in a new BBC Scotland documentary being screened this week, Scotland ’78: A Love Story.
“We all gathered in this café-bar Soracaban and I noticed this girl Roxanna. We made eye contact and she beckoned me across.”
Despite the language barriers, the pair hit it off, unlike the Scotland team.
A shock 3-1 defeat by Peru was followed by Willie Johnston failing a drugs test and being sent home in disgrace.
By the time of the next fixture, against supposed whipping boys of the group Iran, the dream had become a nightmare. A dismal 1-1 draw left Scotland clutching at straws just to stay in the tournament.
And despite Archie Gemmill’s wonder goal against Holland, the 3-2 win wasn’t enough and the team were heading home.
Fraser joined the rest of the demoralised fans returning, leaving on the same day Roxanna also went back to the family home.
Back home in Scotland, Fraser couldn’t get Roxanna out of his mind.
“I returned to Cordoba that December to spend some time with Roxanna and her family,” said Fraser, who is now retired.
But it still took some time for the pair to know they were right for one another.
“We fell out of touch for six years until she visited Europe with her sister and spent time with me.”
“She then went to Spain and a year later she came back for another visit.
“It was then that we decided to get hitched having rediscovered our feelings for each other.”
The lovestruck couple married in 1987, have been together ever since and have two sons, one 30, the other 29.
Roxanna, 60, is a social carer. Although the couple live in Edinburgh, the pull of Argentina is still strong.
“I’ve been back to Cordoba about 10 times, maybe more,” said Fraser, currently back with Roxanna where it all began.
Scotland ’78: A Love Story, Wednesday, BBC1 Scotland 9pm
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