Scotland! Where men are men even if the men wear skirts! And where they get cranky if you point out that they are wearing a skirt. Where the entire cuisine is based on a dare! (Although there are some alternative explanations of what a 'haggis' actually is). Where they make fine whisky. (Which they spell funny). And the people wearing the skirts get crankier if 'whisky' is involved. These are called 'pub fights'. Home of the claymore, a 'hand and a half' sword with an average blade length of 45 inches. (Not recommended for opening letters). Not the home of Mel Gibson, even though he made that movie carrying a claymore. But Scotland is most recently famous for something entirely different.
Scottish FA chief executive David Taylor said the sanction was "the most bizarre thing" he had encountered during his tenure, but promised to speed up the ball boys' response.
France coach Raymond Domenech complained about the slow return of the ball after their Group B defeat at Hampden on October 7 and said it had disrupted their pattern of play.
"It surprised us to be charged with such an offence," Taylor told the BBC Web site on Sunday. "It's the most bizarre thing I've encountered with Scotland. We brief the ball boys during the game."
He added: "We'll need to make sure before the next game, which is against Georgia at home in March, even if we're 1-0 up with five minutes to go, even if the players are saying 'do you have to give the ball back so quickly?' that they do it."
Scotland won with a 67th minute Gary Caldwell goal. Taylor said: "Our ball boys failed to deliver the ball back after the goal. It was strange to end up with a disciplinary charge against us for it."
Perhaps if the ball boys ate less haggis and wore shorts they could speed things up a bit. Oh, and the claymores are rather heavy. Leave those in the locker room.
