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When Ross scored his hat-trick he believed there had to be two official timekeepers for it to stand. On the day of the match against Nairn, the referee was the only timekeeper. For 40 years he could only watch as other men claimed the title of world’s fastest hat-trick. But he was wrong about the need for two timekeepers and, when he finally submitted his claim in 2004, the Guinness Book of Records confirmed he was the fastest. A record that still stands today.
When Ross was interviewed by the Daily Record in 2004 he thought the record would never be broken as modern goal celebrations made it next to impossible to score, kick-off and score twice again in just 90 seconds. He said:
“There was no kissing in those days. When you scored, you just ran back to the halfway line, the captain patted you on the head and said, ‘well done, son’, and you got on with it.”
Yet for all the fame scoring a hat-trick brings to a player, the hat-trick is not a football phrase. A hat trick started in cricket when a hat was awarded to a bowler who managed to take three wickets.
It seems apt then that the team with the fastest hat-trick to their name are also a team based on borrowing from the past. Ross County’s stadium is Victoria Park (now the Global Energy Stadium), named after the team they succeeded, Dingwall Victoria United. Their badge is a stag’s head based on the regimental badge of the Seaforth Highlanders – at the time, their local regiment. But despite their borrowing they haven’t yet got a song to call their own.
On the Ross County message board (OverTheBridge.info) the fans have started a debate about what songs they can add to the Ross County songbook. One fan commented:
“How about a some early ‘Oles’ when we start passing/lumping the ball about?”
Has there been a better description of Scottish football than “Passing/lumping”? I think the no-nonsense Tommy Ross would have approved.
Yet, despite the debate, the fans missed Ross County’s finest (and possibly only) musical moment. In 2010 they defeated Neil Lennon’s Celtic in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup to clinch a place in the final, where they lost 0-3 to Dundee United.
While the semi-final defeat of Celtic is considered their greatest victory sadly instead of a trophy the fans only memento of the final day was this song and the dream that if Ross had been on the pitch to score his hat-trick that day they might have stood a chance.
You can relive the excitement leading up to the final with their song ‘On The Way To Final’:
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About the Author
After too many years as season ticket holder at Parkhead, Andy Todd renounced the SPL three years ago to support Queens Park. One team is a rank bunch of amateurs who play in a state of the art stadium and the other is…(I think we can all see where this is going).
Andy has been performing comedy for 18 months but is currently ‘between gigs’ while he writes a book on Scottish property law to be published in Summer 2012. Its potential audience will be less than 300 but his mum will be very proud.
Follow Andy on Twitter: @toddandy
Check out Andy’s website: www.toddandy.com
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