At The Home of Real Fitba

TO Bellsdale Park, home of Beith Juniors, for the first round draw for the Scottish Cup and to find the Beith committee-members present unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Their club last played in the "big" Scottish Cup in 1937, when they were walloped 4-0 at Love Street by St Mirren. Winning the Stagecoach West of Scotland Superleague last season got them another crack at the big prize.

"Firstly, I want a home draw", said Beith boss Johnny Miller. Well the wee man got his wish when former St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson pulled their name out of the glass bowl.

But ex-Celt Tommy Coyne, who was drawing the away teams, didn't do so well for Beith, when he paired the North Ayrshire side with Emirates Scottish Junior Cup holders Linlithgow Rose.

"At least, it guarantees one junior team in the second round and we have home advantage, but, it will be a hard match", said Miller.

With so many glorified pub teams from the lesser "senior" leagues in the first round, draw it's a shame that two of the bigger names were paired together, but junior fans will be confident that Bo'ness United, the East Superleague champions, can see off Selkirk when they venture into the heart of rugby country on 25 September.

Now, I have never had any prior dealings with SFA George Peat and it is to my shame that I have perhaps been influenced by the thinking of fellow scribes, who have dealings with him. I thought him a stumbling block to progress, the last of the discredited old guard - then I spent five minutes or so with him and discovered: he is NOT against change in Scottish football; he would WELCOME the introduction of the pyramid some of us have been seeking for years and he wants to see the more progressive clubs from outwith the top 42 getting a chance to progress.

Great.

However, he did point out that there is a lot of indifference about change among the junior ranks, where clubs are happier guddling about in the midden they've inhabited for years and fearful of what change and attempting to better themselves might bring.

That's typically Scots. It has always been thus.

As the lairds and clan chiefs cleared the Highlands, the more-ambitious sailed off to colonise Canada, advance Australia fair, put fresh zeal into New Zealand and subjugate large tracts of sub-Saharan Africa.

The moderately-ambitious went south to make Glasgow the Second City of the Empire or headed into England where one Scot arriving in even the most mundane medium-sized town would immediately double the average IQ.

The rest, they stayed at home and became subsidy junkies.

Same in football - the great early English teams were choc-a-bloc with Scots, a trend which has only passed in recent years, as the sons of the rest became what's available.

Maybe there's something to be said for taking Scots out of Scotland; something in the water here apparently holds us back.