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The home game against Aberdeen was a novel experience for me. I watched it with someone who had never been to a match before. We had with us Mademoiselle Christelle Le Cointe who is working as a French assistant in Brannock and Taylor High Schools. She learned the importance of football because the kids were always talking about it. Christelle had seen football on TV before as she had watched the World Cup but she had never seen a game in the flesh. She decided not to try a pie before the match, having heard about the meat quantity (or lack of it!), in the grease sodden pastry. At first Christelle thought that they were fruit pies and seemed bemused at the thought of eating meat in the middle of the day. Her reaction to bovril was a bit stronger "You drink beef ? You make joke with me ?" When we got into the Davie Cooper stand my mum was telling Christelle where everything was when one of the stewards decided to try out his French. He explained how he used to play boules on the Cote d'Azur and was waiting at the end of the match to find out if she enjoyed the game.
The game started and we took the initiative, although Booth scored against the run of play. When Coyne equalised late in the half I was relieved. Imagine taking someone to their first game and getting beat! (I think this happened to me although I was too young to remember). A couple of moments later, we were denied a seemingly stone wall penalty but Sportscene proved the ref to be correct. The crowd were not to know this and booed, jeered and whistled consistently to half time. "They do not like him?" Christelle asked, bemused at the crowd's sudden hostility. The second half started and we soon got the goal we deserved. Christelle even stood up and applauded as Lambert ran around with his shirt over his head. She thought Paul Lambert was a French man because of his name. This was not the only name that intrigued her "Qu' est-ce que c'est Mee-oo" and "Qui est Doogay ?" were only two of the Fir Park mysteries that puzzled her. The final whistle blew on an entertaining day and she stated "So now you are happy?". Having badly needed the win, we were.
When we got back home, Off the Ball was on the radio. I wonder what she thought of Tam Cowan? Christelle joined us for the traditional post match curry and sampled Indian food for the first time. The kashmiri korma was devoured and so was a sizeable chunk of naan bread . That proved to be as popular as the game had been. The day had many firsts! C'etait sensas!
Derek Wilson