28 degrees and we’re all stuck inside. Such is life. It’s nearly enough to put you off watching the World Cup. Nearly, but not quite. These are the kind of days Homer Simpson would argue that cold beer  was  invented for. There now follows a highly selective history of Undaunted’s relationship with the World Cup.

In 1974 I was six and a half years of age. Colour TV was hardly unheard of but our next door neighbour had one. Six-and-a-half-year-old me pestered my two older brothers to bring me into Jack’s to watch game and then look at Jack’s big motorbike. Jack was a pilot so he liked that kind of thing. A character.

Fast forward four years and I was getting a handle on this world cup thing. I wasn’t at the Panini sticker album stage yet but I was getting close. Glossy magazines were becoming a large part of my life and you can imagine the utter excitement when I saw ITV advertising their World Cup magazine. The added excitement that you had to send away for it only enhanced the experience.

Of course once it arrived it was cut apart and stuck in my World Cup scrapbook. The thing that sticks in my mind is they had pictures of food from each country. The black forest gateaux appealed to my boyhood taste buds so Austria became my team. They were actually quite good.

On the field, our celtic soul brothers from Scotland swaggered into town believing they were going far. It ended tragically as they lost every game but this goal from Archie Gemmill lodged in my mind:

That game was on around 8pm LIVE from Argentina! Even better, we now had our own colour TV!!! Oh I remember the debates about 22 or 26 inches. Would 26 inch screen overpower us? A simple life considering we now have a whopper of a 50-inch flat screen in same place.

Fast forward to Espanna ‘82 and we all became honoury Ulster fans and Dana fans. Yes indeed. Billy’s boys had made it to Spain and were actually drawn in the same group as the host country.  You’re expecting me to show you Gerry Armstrong’s goal but instead let’s unleash our inner Dana and sing along with Yer Man:

The really odd thing I remember about the plucky lads was that they did their warm weather training in Brighton. I kid you not.

Of course Italy won and our doctor’s wife was delighted to see the lovely Italian PM bless himself.

And then 1990 arrived. Need I say more? Olé, Olé, Olé.

This vid sums it all up.

Be careful in the sun, ye hear. Wear sun cream!!!