At the recent World Cup, although Scotland was once more not there, Scots were, six in all, four in the Australian squad of twenty-six, two Scots-born, at least two Scots-qualified and two in the Canadian number, one of each. It wasn't a full team but it is a measure, if a somewhat sad one, of an enduring Caledonian contribution to the current World game.

But this blog's interested is in the historical, in the how of football has established its pre-eminent position in today's global sport, and its obsession the shining of a full spotlight in the role, the crucial role, Scots played, often literally, in the achievement. And in the process six seems to be an important number, not least because it represents the majority of any team. In the World Cup's first iteration the American team that reached the semi-final, player and management, achieved that number. And across the border amongst the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame's the fourteen "Teams of Distinction" are Perthshire-born David Forsyth's one of 1888, the Calgary Callies of 1907 and the Toronto Scottish of 1933 and in the fifteen "Organisations" of the same are Vancouver St. Andrews, Calgary Callies once more and Edmonton and Toronto Scottish. And the Canadians go further. They have chosen players to make up "best" teams, two from the hundred years from 1912, the year of the official foundation of the Canadian national team, one from 1912 to 1962, the other from 1963 to 2012. And whilst the latter is cosmopolitan as Canada has become the former is another matter. It contains six "Scots",