On Saturday evening, it was difficult not to get drawn into the scenes erupting all around one half of Hampden Park, as a sea of red exploded in a cathartic mix of relief, joy and pent-up emotion that had been building for 35 years.
As chance would have it, the print press were seated in the Aberdeen side of the national stadium, close enough to see the grown men cry, the parents bearhugging their offspring just a little too tight for the kids to actually enjoy the moment (or breathe) and that instant where all the misery and expense that comes with following a club that doesn’t win very much is finally rewarded.
Every last pound spent on cold, greasy pies and watery Bovril, every last hour schlepping around the country, this was what it was for. It was brilliant.
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It was also hard not to feel just a little jealous. I have attended five such occasions supporting my team. Not since 1991, when I was eight, have I seen them win. And when I did, I was probably too young to really appreciate it.
Instead, I was the kid being hugged too tight, as my dad grabbed my brother and I under each arm and banged our heads together after every goal. Entirely uncharacteristically for Motherwell, they would have to score four, wouldn’t they?
I have also witnessed both sides of the Old Firm win trophies on many, many occasions. Mostly professionally, but also, more’s the pity, more times than I would have cared to as a punter too.
One thing I have heard and read quite a lot since the weekend as the wonderful videos of the Aberdeen celebrations have circulated around social media is that ‘it just means more’ to fans of non-Old Firm clubs.
Or probably more specifically, given the recent domestic domination that Celtic have enjoyed, that a Scottish Cup win for Aberdeen on Saturday meant more than it would have to those in the other half of Hampden.
And you know what? I think that’s probably true. But it’s all about the context.
Would a Scottish Cup win mean as much to Aberdeen next May as this one did? It would mean a great deal, sure, but no, it wouldn’t.
Such has been the run of Celtic success that even trebles have become a somewhat regular occurrence, but even if securing another on Saturday probably wouldn’t have meant quite as much to their fans as that one singular Scottish Cup did to the Aberdeen support, I well remember the scenes back in 2017 when the shoe was on the other foot.
The explosion of joy, the noise, the passion, it was all there around the green and white half of Hampden back then as Tom Rogic’s mazy run and finish in the dying embers of the season delivered an ‘Invincible’ treble-winning campaign for Celtic. You can’t tell me that feat – that moment - didn’t mean as much to the Celtic fans as Saturday’s victory did to their opponents.
What may move fans of one club may not move fans of another quite so much. Making history might mean something different to each.
For Celtic fans, any one Scottish Cup win amid a sea of them may not particularly stand out in the mind, or carve out a special place in the heart. A treble might. A European trophy definitely would. That’s just the reality of differing expectations.
No Celtic fan will likely forget Adam Idah’s last-gasp goal to win the cup last year, mind you, but that is in large part because the triumph was over Rangers. Again, context. How long would the euphoria of a penalty shootout win over Aberdeen last? A few hours? The memory of it probably not much longer.
By contrast, no Aberdeen fan who was at Hampden on Saturday will ever forget it. Even as a neutral, neither will I.
Celtic’s routine swatting aside of Inverness to win the cup under Ange Postecoglou, on the other hand? I can barely recall it. I remember the equally predictable triumphs over Motherwell in both League Cup and Scottish Cup a few years prior, but had it not been for my personal stake in those games, would they even register? I wonder, in fact, how fondly even Celtic fans recall these contests.
In the words of my dear old dad, had Motherwell won either of those cups, you wouldn’t have seen me for a week. He passed on last year, and he never did get to see his team win another trophy. I’m glad we got to share that one though, all those years ago, even if a dull headache was the price.
In football, no one’s joy is more worthy than anyone else’s. It’s out there on offer for any of us.
It was Aberdeen’s turn on Saturday, and it was glorious.
And it is the promise of these moments, whatever they may be to your club and however distant they may seem, that keep us all coming back.
