Scotland supporters always leave a lasting impression on the locals wherever they visit on their travels. Their eye-catching traditional attire, fun-loving nature and capacity for alcohol aren’t quickly forgotten. The Tartan Army have a reputation as international football’s greatest fans for a reason.
Followers of the national team won’t be visiting Belarus for their next World Cup qualifier on Monday because UEFA have banned their opponents from hosting games due to their government’s involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
They aren’t even being allowed through the turnstiles at the neutral ZTE Arena in Zalaegerszeg in Hungary next week because their eastern European rivals have been ordered to stage their “home” matches behind closed doors.
Denying a support which was voted the best at the Euro 2024 finals last summer by the German media outlet RTL the chance to cheer on their heroes in the important Group C fixture is a shameful decision which reflects badly on European football’s governing body.
But the people of Belarus will remember the kindness of Scotland fans long after the final whistle has blown al the same – not least the Children of Chernobyl.
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The Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal has been making donations to local charities in the towns and cities where the national team have played their away games for over 20 years and has now given away in excess of £300,000 to worthy causes in the four corners of the globe.
They will be handing over £5000 to the Friends of Chernobyl’s Children West Lothian shortly before the West of Scotland Tartan Army screening of the World Cup qualifier at the Rhoderick Dhu Pub on Waterloo Street in Glasgow on Monday night.
“When Covid came along back in 2020 and fans weren’t being allowed to attend games, we took a decision,” said Clark Gillies, the secretary of the appeal. “We agreed that we were going to continue to donate. The donations relieve the poverty, advance the education and promote the welfare of children in need in the countries Scotland play in. We wanted to keep that going.
“When this game against Belarus came along and we were told we wouldn’t be allowed to attend, we thought, ‘Well, we donated back during Covid, we're not going to let this one get away from us, we’ll try to find something’. After spending months researching possible options and talking with people from Belarus, we decided to donate to Friends of Chernobyl’s Children West Lothian
“Chernobyl is located near the city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, but over 70 per cent of the radioactive fallout from the disaster in 1986 landed across the nearby border with Belarus. Approximately 23 per cent of Belarusian territory was contaminated and over 400 towns and villages were affected. The lives of around 400,000 people, those who lived in the radioactive fallout zone, were impacted.
“Even today, nearly 40 years since the catastrophic events of that day, there are still ongoing health problems across the country. These include a rise in cancer rates, mainly leukaemia and thyroid cancer, birth defects and respiratory diseases and widespread immunity issues.
“Friends of Chernobyl’s Children West Lothian is an independent charity that was set up in 2010. They use every penny which they raise to directly improve the health, living conditions and social outlook of deprived children from Belarus whose lives have been directly affected by the disaster.”
“But the visits to Scotland provided ‘a month of love and care’ for each child. The visitrs allowed them to detoxify their immune systems, give them a break from their often desperate domestic conditions and allowed FOCC to provide any further support with health problems, normally through dental and optical checks, but also through further medical help.
“During the past five years or so, FOCC has continued to provide food parcels to children and their families who live in remote villages located around the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve exclusion zones. As these children live in poverty, often shut off from the outside world, they find themselves having to eat fruit and vegetables cultivated from land exposed to high levels of radiation.”
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Kenny Turnbull of Friends of Chernobyl’s Children West Lothian is indebted to the Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal and stressed the £5,000 will allow his organisation to continue to help Belarusian children despite the current political situation.
“The children over in Belarus live in remote villages, most of them in houses with no running water, with outside toilets,” he said. “They're eating food that they've grown themselves in the ground there, ground which has become contaminated since Chernobyl.
“So there's all sorts of issues out there to do with poverty, to do with what they eat, to do with nutrition. The radiation affects their immune systems and increases their risk of cancers. We take these children away from these areas and over to Scotland for a month a year to detoxify their immune system. We really just give them a more positive, happy outlook on life.
“Life is very hard for them out there. The temperature goes down to -30 in the winter, but they still go about their daily business, go to school and what have you. But they come to Scotland for what is called a month of love and care.
“They arrive with nothing, just what they're standing in. We do activities with them every day, they get clothes, they get vitamins, they get dental checks, optician checks, doctor checks. Then they go home with a full suitcase of clothes, vitamins, medicines, whatever. They come to stay with the same family five times up until they are 12.
“The situation in Ukraine had obviously not allowed us to visit Belarus and not allowed them to come here. But we’ve been providing food parcels to them every couple of months. We still keep in touch with them and support them. These funds from the Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal are very welcome and every penny will be put to good use.”
