CALCUTTA COUP
Rugby fan Iain snaffles match ball booted into the stands as Scotland celebrated famous win over the Auld Enemy
SCOTLAND’S historic Calcutta Cup victory over England will be a treasured memory for most fans.
But oil worker Iain Cooper will have more reasons than most to remember the 25-13 Six Nations win on Saturday.
When the ball was launched into the stands at the final whistle as Scotland defeated England for the first time in 10 years, Iain managed to catch it.
And he now has a souvenir to treasure forever.
Iain’s girlfriend Erin Linton has proudly tweeted a picture of him posing with the ball shortly after full-time.
Iain, from Arbroath, says the memento will be treasured “for generations”.
The 38-year-old, who has played for Arbroath Rugby Club for 20 years, caught the ball out of instinct as it flew through the air towards him.
He said: “To be honest, I don’t know who threw the ball.
“Erin and I were caught up in the moment, chatting to people, and I wasn’t even looking at the pitch.
“I saw the ball out of the corner of my eye, coming at me from the left, and it was an instinctive reaction to reach out grab it.
“Suddenly, I had the matchwinning ball in my hand.”
Erin posted on Twitter: “What a day, what a game and @Coops_79er ends up catching the match ball from the Calcutta Cup winning game.”
With the ball deposited for safekeeping, Iain, who works as a sales manager for Aberdeen oil and gas company TAM International, joined the thousands of fans who partied the night away in the capital.
And before the evening was out, there was another surprise on the way for the couple.
They found themselves meeting former Grand Slam winner Craig Chalmers, one of Iain’s childhood heroes.
Iain said: “As somebody who has followed rugby for a lot of years, I was just so fortunate. I kept pinching myself.
“Craig Chalmers played in the 1990 Calcutta Cup victory and was one of the players I watched when I was going to schoolboy rugby. “It just seemed to be my day. “This is one of those things that will be passed down for generations.”