April 17, 1937 - Hampden was the world's biggest football stadium and - believe it or not - Scotland were one of the world's greatest teams.
That afternoon, almost 150,000 fans poured through the south side of Glasgow and into the national stadium to watch Scotland trounce the 'Auld Enemy' on our own turf.
The first all-ticket international game, 149,547 spectators - mainly Glaswegian - would help set the European attendance record for an international fixture, the largest crowd in Hampden's illustrious history.
Yet, in the 3-1 British Home Championship victory, it wasn't all plain sailing for Scotland, with the team falling a goal behind to a 40th minute Freddie Steele goal.
However, an early second half goal from Preston's Frank O'Donnell in the 47th minute, followed by a double from Rangers' Bob McPhail led to Scotland winning the game 3-1.
Although it's always nice to recall the times when Scotland has hat makes the enormous crowd size all the more incredible is the fact that the match was a dead rubber fixture with no real significance.
Wales had already won the British Home Championship, making the match effectively nothing more than a friendly. It's a testament to the dedication of the fans - and the fierceness of the rivalry - that nearly 150,000 would come out for a friendly.
As if that wasn't enough it is also estimated that around 70,000 other people wanted to watch the match but were locked outside the ground.
After that day, would be another 25 years before England lost again in Scotland...but at least plenty were there to watch that historic win!
So if you ever doubted for one minute that Scotland is fitba daft, all you need to do is look at these statistics to know that we can't get enough of the beautiful game.
Originally published on May 17 2019
