Tartan Army stalwart reveals remarkable home video collection charting 50 years filming Scotland’s iconic moments

A Scotland football fan who has captured nearly 50 years of travelling with the Tartan Army on home video has opened up his collection of remarkable films for the first time – revealing a lifetime spent at the heart the nation’s most iconic moments.

Tartan Army stalwart Ronnie McDevitt’s priceless treasure trove of footage contains never-before seen angles of some of the nation’s most famous football moments, from the joy of Scotland’s famous 1977 victory over England at Wembley and qualification for seven major tournaments to the tragedy of legendary manager Jock Stein’s death in Cardiff after Scotland beat Wales to qualify for the 1986 World Cup.

Ronnie attended his first Scotland match in 1976 aged 15, and has since been to well over 100 away matches including seven major tournaments around the globe armed with his trusty Super 8 camera – although he hasn’t counted the total number.

The 62-year-old Dunfermline amateur filmmaker has shared his collection of candid shots that tell the story behind the nation’s most famous scenes for the first time in a documentary short to be shown on BBC Scotland’s fan-led football show A View From The Terrace this Friday.

In the documentary, Ronnie tells of filming the Tartan Army and Scotland at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, World Cup 1986 in Mexico, World Cup 1990 in Italy, and World Cup 1998 in France, and at European Championships in England in 1996.

His remarkable films – grainy, with no audio, and recorded on some of the earliest home video tech – provide a unique perspective on what being a member of the Tartan Army was like on the terraces in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990, and early 00s – long before nearly all fans carried HD cameras in their pockets on mobile phones.

The nature of the early technology presented several challenges, including only being able to film for minutes at a time. On one occasion in 1988, Ronnie was left panicking after realising his camera had stopped recording just after Mo Johnston netted versus Norway.

Ronnie, who experienced more highs and lows with The Tartan Army during Scotland’s 2-0 defeat to Spain in Seville last night, said: “It was a World Cup qualifier in Oslo and we won 2-1. I got Paul McStay’s first, and then the ball came to Johnston and I was pleased with myself as I was filming. I looked down in shock as the camera had stopped and I didn’t know if I got the goal – it was a long wait to get home and process it. Thankfully it cut out just after he tucked it away.

“There’s nothing quite like recording your team scoring – it’s just incredible getting the crowd reaction and the joy.”

On that tragic night when Stein lost his life in Cardiff in 1985, Ronnie explained how it went from being one of the happiest moments with the Tartan Army, to one of the saddest within moments.

He said: “We got an overnight train and were there long ahead of the match. We had to get a result to qualify and went behind to a Mark Hughes goal. I climbed a floodlight pylon to get a perfect shot of our penalty to equalise. It was a massive relief when the final whistle went.

“I got back to the hotel to drop my camera off and was told what had happened to Stein. It was a massive shock – people were stunned. I was filming the players applauding the crowd at the end and they wouldn’t have known what had happened.

“It’s always a strange feeling when you film something that’s significant. You watch it several times and its importance grows over time. We appreciate Jock Stein more now for the legend that he was. The significance of the film grows with that.”

He added: “When I look back at the films there’s a lot of joy, but also sadness as there’s an increasing number of people who are no longer with us. When I first started going to games I was just a guy with a camera. When I look back at it with hindsight, I can see the value in it.”

Jordan Laird, Executive Producer of A View From the Terrace and co-founder of Studio Something, said: “Ronnie is like the Tartan Army’s Forrest Gump – almost every great (and not so great) moments for our national team over the past 50 years, Ronnie was there, and he has the incredible shots to prove it.

“Nowadays everybody has a camera phone and videos are all over social media before the game has even finished. What is incredible is that these images have been sitting in a box in a loft somewhere, they are a national treasure that should be enjoyed.

“Being a football fan is really about those trips and away days with pals and family, memories that are signposted by football results, looking back more often than not we remember who we were with as much as what happened on the park and Ronnie’s films encapsulate that.”