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View Full Version : Winning the Scottish cup - what it means to me?



madhibby
20-05-2013, 09:30 PM
I am a 55 year old Hibby.

Why am I a Hibby? **** knows?

My older brother is a Jambos season ticket holder and my dad was an Aberdeen fan.

I lived as a lad nearer Tynescastle but a few of my mates were Hibs fans and getting a bus to Easter Road from Bruntsfield, as a maybe 10 year old, just added to the experience!

So to date I have seen us lose 4 scottish cup finals - Celtic as a wee boy (travelling through on the Hawkhill bus) to lose 6-1, losing to Rangers after a second replay (I was a student at university at the time and got done from Aberdeen to see us lose 3-2 in the last game, I do remember watching the first game at an Aberdeen University Halls of residence and being denied a certain penalty at 0-0 with ten minutes to go in the first game), losing to Celtic 3-0 under McLeish and then last seasons fiasco.

So our losses have been against teams that we might have been the underdogs to beat apart from the Jambos?

But if the gap is 40 years we should have got there more often? Hibs as a team with their support have underachieved?

So what does Sunday mean to me?

I know there are more important events in my life than the Hibees but I would want before I depart this earth see Hibs win the Scottish Cup.


Do I expect Hibs to win in Sunday? Probably not? But I want to see them compete and at least battle until they have given their all. With a bit of luck it could be our year.

And if we do lose I will stil be back next season with an expectation that Hibs well be stronger and much of our opposition weaker with the likelihood of success increased.

So come on Hibees,despite the odds, believe and make it happen!

clerriehibs
20-05-2013, 09:34 PM
I am a 55 year old Hibby.

Why am I a Hibby? **** knows?

My older brother is a Jambos season ticket holder and my dad was an Aberdeen fan.

I lived as a lad nearer Tynescastle but a few of my mates were Hibs fans and getting a bus to Easter Road from Bruntsfield, as a maybe 10 year old, just added to the experience!

So to date I have seen us lose 4 scottish cup finals - Celtic as a wee boy (travelling through on the Hawkhill bus) to lose 6-1, losing to Rangers after a second replay (I was a student at university at the time and got done from Aberdeen to see us lose 3-2 in the last game, I do remember watching the first game at an Aberdeen University Halls of residence and being denied a certain penalty at 0-0 with ten minutes to go in the first game), losing to Celtic 3-0 under McLeish and then last seasons fiasco.

So our losses have been against teams that we might have been the underdogs to beat apart from the Jambos?

But if the gap is 40 years we should have got there more often? Hibs as a team with their support have underachieved?

So what does Sunday mean to me?

I know there are more important events in my life than the Hibees but I would want before I depart this earth see Hibs win the Scottish Cup.


Do I expect Hibs to win in Sunday? Probably not? But I want to see them compete and at least battle until they have given their all. With a bit of luck it could be our year.

And if we do lose I will stil be back next season with an expectation that Hibs well be stronger and much of our opposition weaker with the likelihood of success increased.

So come on Hibees,despite the odds, believe and make it happen!

Means a stair heid to me, when I eventually surface on Monday!

ggtth

Islington Hibs
20-05-2013, 09:36 PM
Good post. 4th final in my lifetime too and the 3rd I will have attended. 14th final ever. Surely, surely one day.

Soldiersteve
20-05-2013, 10:03 PM
Mad Hibby, I'm 53 and with the exception of the Rangers final in 79 (Army posting) I was at these finals too. Dixie Deans broke my heart in 71 but last year was more painful! A lot of memories to be exorcised on Sunday when we finally win it! GGTTH:thumbsup:

HibeeMG
20-05-2013, 10:06 PM
If we win I'll cry. I'm talking the full on, can't speak, can't catch my breath, legs gone beneath me, full on sob.

That's what it'll mean to me.

bingo70
20-05-2013, 10:07 PM
Tbh not that much, I'd obviously love to win it but its something I've just assumed we'll never do, its a bit like asking what it'd mean to win the champions league! Always thought our cup record meant more to the jambos than it does to me, never bothered me we've never won it in so long.

I reserve the right to change my mind on Sunday though.

hibs4thecup1988
20-05-2013, 10:08 PM
Well I am 27. Got an 8 year old son that has probably been to Hampden more times than I ever had by his age.

Sunday... I would love to see us win. I think that if we were winning by a goal I probably won't look for the last 10 minutes. I was in tears at the semi...I dare to think what I will be like if we win it. I hope I get to find out though.

I think afterwards... drive home(if my legs allow it!)... drop my mates off. Go to my dads give him a cuddle, tell him "I told you so". Spend the next hour or so with my little one, explaining he has to take this in his stride because it is a very unusual event. Then head home. And watch the game, the celebrations and have a drink. Then get changed and head into town, absolutely hammered. Probably still be in town till I pick wee man up from school to go to Easter Road for the parade.

I personally have been at 3 finals...lost all three. (Celtic 2001, livi 2004, hearts 2012).

I am getting a tingling feeling thinking about sunshine on leith, 500 miles everything. Next 6 sleeps are going to be very very difficult.

COME ON HIBS!! DO IT FOR US!! :pfgwa:hibees:flag:

HibeeMG
20-05-2013, 10:10 PM
Well I am 27. Got an 8 year old son that has probably been to Hampden more times than I ever had by his age.

Sunday... I would love to see us win. I think that if we were winning by a goal I probably won't look for the last 10 minutes. I was in tears at the semi...I dare to think what I will be like if we win it. I hope I get to find out though.

I think afterwards... drive home(if my legs allow it!)... drop my mates off. Go to my dads give him a cuddle, tell him "I told you so". Spend the next hour or so with my little one, explaining he has to take this in his stride because it is a very unusual event. Then head home. And watch the game, the celebrations and have a drink. Then get changed and head into town, absolutely hammered. Probably still be in town till I pick wee man up from school to go to Easter Road for the parade.

I personally have been at 3 finals...lost all three. (Celtic 2001, livi 2004, hearts 2012).

I am getting a tingling feeling thinking about sunshine on leith, 500 miles everything. Next 6 sleeps are going to be very very difficult.

COME ON HIBS!! DO IT FOR US!! :pfgwa:hibees:flag:


You're barred!

:greengrin

Craig_in_Prague
20-05-2013, 10:18 PM
On one hand it doesn't mean a lot. On the other, it means so much..maybe everything. I wont be there on Sunday, but I will be watching with my 4 month old boy and hope he is one of the youngest ever hibees to be lucky enough to see hibs win the SC.. He has been lucky thus far.
In truth if we win it, I'll shed a tear for my Grandad who will be watching from above and be delighted for my Dad & Uncle & all other 'mature' hibees that haven't seen us win it yet.
For all of you, I hope I can party on your behalf..xx

GGTTH - we can do it.

Jones28
20-05-2013, 10:27 PM
What it will mean to me is just sheer joy. Total ecstacy. Watching with my dad and his cousin who's dad passed away before last years final. We said at that final that if we win its for your dad - the most committed hibee we all knew - and if not, when we win it will be.

Our bus will be bouncing there and hopefully back too. Back to speirs, head to leith and celebrate until the wee hours and then some.

Unfortunately I'm working on the Monday. Asked for it off but there you go, so would miss the parade.

Alex Trager
20-05-2013, 10:48 PM
Personally I think it will be a very unrealistic feeling if it happens. Now the nerves have become. I want it a lot. A serious amount. I said after we beat hearts it will happen this year, after the semi I felt like I will enjoy the party more than the game, and I don't think that that is the case. Now the game is around the corner I feel like the moment will take over, and emotion will too. Then the party will begin.
I appreciate that you guys are older and have had to suffer a lot more than me but it still feels the same.

MrRobot
20-05-2013, 10:50 PM
I don't think there will be many Hibs fans there who don't cry if we win.

Topographic Hibby
20-05-2013, 10:53 PM
I support Hibs down to the two most important influences in my family life.

In 2001, my father was too ill to go to Hampden that his season ticket entitled him to. So he let me go in his place. Some years before, he took me to the first game in 1979. The antics of those fun loving Rangers supporters piling bricks through Brunswick GPO Hibs bus windows on the road home made sure that neither of us saw the replays. I was too wee for 1972, but my old man went with yet another bunch of Leith posties.

My grandfather ran his own shop and had a wee bit of cash. If my dad was working shifts, he would treat me to a Centre Stand seat with him, usually a jaw-dropping European night in the 70s. He was at Hampden to see a certain-winners-Famous-Five Hibs side lose to Clyde in 1958. Told me some story about a Hibs player breaking his leg during the game, but still directing play and shouting at his team-mates from the pitch-side whilst getting the magic sponge. He was also there for the 1947 final, just back from some WWII service (not just Jambos that fought for K&C....). I'm not sure if he attended any finals before that. Funny thing is, he was born in 1902 (I kid you not!!), so it might have happened in his lifetime (although totally unaware!).

My father passed away in 2002, with my grandfather sometime in 1980. Neither of them saw Hibs lifting the Cup during their lifetime, so I'll be carrying on the family tradition of travelling through to Hampden, ever hopeful of a victory for the Original Greens.

I'll be thinking of them if the unthinkable happens, just like I did, high in the South Stand in 2007, when I turned to a jibbering, blubbering wreck when Sunshine on Leith came on. It was our first success at Hampden since my dad had passed away. The father/son/family thing is very important to me, that's why I was happy to help out a .net poster with a spare ticket last year.

This is what a SC victory means to me.

erskine-hibby
20-05-2013, 11:01 PM
1971 was my first trip to Hampden and barring a couple of really memorable occasions my trips there have been pretty painful. This, though, would utterly wipe out anything that has gone before, should we win, yes even last year's debacle. We have waited so long to win this thing that not to would simply be yet another year, but to win it?


Would mean EVERYTHING to me

IWasThere2016
20-05-2013, 11:02 PM
I'll be howling.

My 13 y-o won't know what's got into me - it's his first final. He was too wee for Livi and Killie (poor traveller when wee too) and thankfully I didn't take him last year.

Do I pre-warn him that I'll be a blubbering eejit if we win?

SolentHibee
20-05-2013, 11:30 PM
A bit off topic here.
It's very humbling to read Madhibby's post about his family's generations of waiting to see us winning this trophy. I don't have his legacy, as my dad was a jambo and I still find it strange, but grateful that I ended up being a hibee. I would not swap their success for the hard times we have had over the years.
I am 58 years old and have spent the last 33 years in the Army and so have spent a lot of years away from Edinburgh, coming home whenever I could, to 'glory hunt' at cup finals and attending ER whenever I could. I have bragging rights insofar as both my wife and I were at the 0-7 game; I still remember my walk back from Tynecastle and my dad telling me he would batter me if I said a single word about it.
I have seen a great Hibs team being hammered by Celtic and if it happens again, I can live with it; supporting Hibs actually transcends their results and what trophies they win, I am ready to put up with disappointment, my support for the team does not rely on them winning this trophy. I want us to win, but at the end of the day, if I die before they win it I didn't care, I don't support Hibs to win, I just support Hibs.
I don't care if people see that as defeatist.

malcky
20-05-2013, 11:55 PM
A bit off topic here.
It's very humbling to read Madhibby's post about his family's generations of waiting to see us winning this trophy. I don't have his legacy, as my dad was a jambo and I still find it strange, but grateful that I ended up being a hibee. I would not swap their success for the hard times we have had over the years.
I am 58 years old and have spent the last 33 years in the Army and so have spent a lot of years away from Edinburgh, coming home whenever I could, to 'glory hunt' at cup finals and attending ER whenever I could. I have bragging rights insofar as both my wife and I were at the 0-7 game; I still remember my walk back from Tynecastle and my dad telling me he would batter me if I said a single word about it.
I have seen a great Hibs team being hammered by Celtic and if it happens again, I can live with it; supporting Hibs actually transcends their results and what trophies they win, I am ready to put up with disappointment, my support for the team does not rely on them winning this trophy. I want us to win, but at the end of the day, if I die before they win it I didn't care, I don't support Hibs to win, I just support Hibs.
I don't care if people see that as defeatist.



I'm 49 years old and after losing my dad at 73 last December I will be very emotional,he took me to Easter Road when I was 4 and im so glad he did.After all our attempts in his lifetime to miss it by one year would be so sad. The whole 1902 thing doesn't really bother me any more but to be at Hampden on Sunday and see us lift the Scottish Cup it will be tears,tears and more tears.

The Harp
20-05-2013, 11:59 PM
Towards the end of last year's cup final fiasco and being 65 at the time, I reluctantly accepted, that just like my dad and my uncle before me, I would never see a Hibs captain lift the Scottish Cup. Just like last year, I'll be there again with my son and daughter and an old pal from our St Anthony's days.
My kids know what to expect should we win on Sunday. They were with me at our last two League Cup triumphs in '92 and '07 and I was an emotional wreck, both times. When the first couple of notes of Sunshine on Leith started up after we'd beaten Killie I dissolved in tears. I seem able to handle defeat a lot easier than I can victory. But IF we were to win the holy grail after all those years of trying, I shudder to think how I'll be. I expect there will be a lot of Hibees of my era who'll be in a similar state.
However, if every one of the greater greens gives his all on that park, I'll be a happy and proud man, whether we win or lose. And after it, I'll be ready for another roller coaster ride next season supporting the Hibs.

McPake6
21-05-2013, 12:27 AM
Surely...surely its the year, but it is hibs. C'mon Hibs, bring it home!!:thumbsup::flag::pfgwa

Pete
21-05-2013, 12:40 AM
It will be exactly the same as 07 was.

A cup is a cup and all this "over 100 years" stuff wasn't really and issue until hearts won their first trophy in almost 40 years in 1998. It's not about what you win, it's about who you are celebrating with.

Pete
21-05-2013, 12:42 AM
A bit off topic here.
It's very humbling to read Madhibby's post about his family's generations of waiting to see us winning this trophy. I don't have his legacy, as my dad was a jambo and I still find it strange, but grateful that I ended up being a hibee. I would not swap their success for the hard times we have had over the years.
I am 58 years old and have spent the last 33 years in the Army and so have spent a lot of years away from Edinburgh, coming home whenever I could, to 'glory hunt' at cup finals and attending ER whenever I could. I have bragging rights insofar as both my wife and I were at the 0-7 game; I still remember my walk back from Tynecastle and my dad telling me he would batter me if I said a single word about it.
I have seen a great Hibs team being hammered by Celtic and if it happens again, I can live with it; supporting Hibs actually transcends their results and what trophies they win, I am ready to put up with disappointment, my support for the team does not rely on them winning this trophy. I want us to win, but at the end of the day, if I die before they win it I didn't care, I don't support Hibs to win, I just support Hibs.
I don't care if people see that as defeatist.

Spot on.

Triumph and disaster? Impostors.

EdinMike
21-05-2013, 12:51 AM
It will be exactly the same as 07 was.

A cup is a cup and all this "over 100 years" stuff wasn't really and issue until hearts won their first trophy in almost 40 years in 1998. It's not about what you win, it's about who you are celebrating with.

Exactly, I'll be sitting at the game beside my Dad. Who whenever we find ourselves having one too many after a Hibs game always tells me that he needs to see us win it. Because his auld man didn't and he doesn't want me telling his story to my kids.

It means so much to me, I'm having mental blocks just thinking about what I'de do if we won. But I'de feel happier for him.

Pete
21-05-2013, 01:08 AM
Exactly, I'll be sitting at the game beside my Dad. Who whenever we find ourselves having one too many after a Hibs game always tells me that he needs to see us win it. Because his auld man didn't and he doesn't want me telling his story to my kids.

It means so much to me, I'm having mental blocks just thinking about what I'de do if we won. But I'de feel happier for him.

My Dad is sort of the same mate. He watched the famous five and was a regular during the seventies. He's seen league titles (just) and league cups, some great players and teams but the one thing he wants to see is the Scottish cup won.

I tell him not to worry about it and that's he's seen enough already (probably a lot more than we will ever see) but it's more of an annoyance for him I think.

He's coming on Sunday so here's hoping!

edinburghhibee
21-05-2013, 02:48 AM
I'm 27 my old man is 58 for as long as I remember he has never ever missed hibs playing in the Scottish cup, been to every round for the full 90 minutes every time even that game. He has seen hibs fail in this cup all his life but the beginning of every campaign you can always guarantee a shout of "HIBS FOR THE CUP".

This thing means everything to my old man, it's beginning to wear off on me too because I want to see the joy( or relief) on his face when we do it, because we will do it maybe not Sunday maybe not next season but we are hibs fans we don't expect to win anything.

I'm lucky to say ill be there on Sunday with my old man by my side and we both believe we can do it.

Reaper
21-05-2013, 05:30 AM
My family has had six generations of Hibs fans, now seven since my son was born in March. It means the world to us all but more than ever this year since my Grandad has been diagnosed with cancer and is unlikely to see anymore. His Grandad was there in 1902.

21.05.2016
21-05-2013, 05:47 AM
I would mean absolutely everything. I'll be with my auld man and my sister and I have no doubts that if we won it all three of us would be in floods along with 20k hibees lol!

Come on hibs, we believe you can do it, so send us into complete ecstasy (and a greeting mess) and win that cup :thumbsup:



:flag:

Hibercelona
21-05-2013, 05:59 AM
We're neither jinxed or hoodooed.

Past results have no affect on future results.

Just because we haven't won it those times, doesn't mean we wont win it this time.

We either will or we wont. But it'll have nothing to do with the past.

Hibs07p
21-05-2013, 05:59 AM
For some strange reason, I'm feeling totally underwhelmed by the whole occasion. I'm hoping we win it more than expecting to win it. I will be well oiled on Sunday, and if we do win, I think I will celebrate it not any differently than the 3 LC's I've seen us win. A cup win is a cup win, and I'll take whatever cups come our way. We'll see on Sunday though.

GGTTH

Pedantic_Hibee
21-05-2013, 06:15 AM
Win or lose, I'll be in tears. Fact.

Gatecrasher
21-05-2013, 06:19 AM
It means a lot to me, This is the sort of game that supporting our club is all about. If we win I will be over the moon and I don't know how long i will be on a high for, probably a very long time though. If we don't win I will be disapointed but the ST is already renewed for next season and we'll try again. Persevere.

ruthven_raiders
21-05-2013, 06:25 AM
If we win I'll cry. I'm talking the full on, can't speak, can't catch my breath, legs gone beneath me, full on sob.

That's what it'll mean to me.

Yep the same here, I'll just break down and cry thinking of my late dad who played for Hibs and my late mum. I will have my little kids and with me and the emotion will be overwhelming. If we get beat then there is always next year!

southsider
21-05-2013, 07:11 AM
This is my 7th attempt at winning the Scottish Cup in the final. 1972.....3 times in 1979....2001...and another one whom my memory escapes me. Goals for....4....goals against....17. but this time mainly thanks to LG and young Harris we can do it. GGTTH

pontius pilate
21-05-2013, 07:17 AM
I believe we will do it this year just something about this team the youngsters coming through etc etc ill be like many other hibbys cry laugh emotionally drained all through a mixture if jubilation and relief

Miguel
21-05-2013, 07:39 AM
My grandad, long dead now, was eight when Hibs last won. He wasn't there, but remembered it well.
His Dad would have been around at time of first cup won.
My Dad lived through us losing four finals, I'm on four and my oldest son two.
That's a lot of disappointment over more than a century!
If we win I will be thinking of all of them...

DaveF
21-05-2013, 07:50 AM
Tbh not that much, I'd obviously love to win it but its something I've just assumed we'll never do, its a bit like asking what it'd mean to win the champions league! Always thought our cup record meant more to the jambos than it does to me, never bothered me we've never won it in so long.

I reserve the right to change my mind on Sunday though.

Yep, I'm there too. Be over the moon to win it, but hardly going to lose sleep if we don't.

As long as the players give everything on the day and do the club proud - then, you just never know......

JeMeSouviens
21-05-2013, 09:02 AM
It will be exactly the same as 07 was.

A cup is a cup and all this "over 100 years" stuff wasn't really and issue until hearts won their first trophy in almost 40 years in 1998. It's not about what you win, it's about who you are celebrating with.

:agree:

When I was a lad I never made much distinction between the League Cup and the Scottish Cup. When we won the LC in 91 it was just such a surreal experience seeing Hibs players doing a lap of honour with a trophy. Of course that intensified our baiting of the Yams, who hadn't won anything since 19-canteen and every year that got bigger and bigger, 33, 34, 35 years in a rooooooowwww ... As soon as they won the cup in 98 that came back to bite us, especially with the centenary of 1902 looming. :rolleyes:

07 was magical because it was my kids' first trip to Hampden and fell just right for them to be old enough to appreciate it. Everything went right that day, SoL and all, and I don't think a win on Sunday will top it, tbh.

Otoh, it will be perfect for getting it right up my (strangely quiet recently) Yam neighbours. :devil: :aok:

hibee_girl
21-05-2013, 09:07 AM
Exactly, I'll be sitting at the game beside my Dad. Who whenever we find ourselves having one too many after a Hibs game always tells me that he needs to see us win it. Because his auld man didn't and he doesn't want me telling his story to my kids.

It means so much to me, I'm having mental blocks just thinking about what I'de do if we won. But I'de feel happier for him.

:agree:

I'm going with my grandad, just like we've been to every Hampden game together in last 13 years. I want us to do it so much for him, he turns 70 this year so if we do win that's his birthday present :greengrin

Mr White
21-05-2013, 09:11 AM
Third time lucky for me in Scottish cup finals hopefully. After seeing hibs win the skol in 91 with my dad, cis in 07 with my girlfriend (now wife) I'm hoping it's a natural progression on Sunday when I'll have my wee boy with me. To be the first hibees in 6 generations to see us win it would be totally overwhelming. I start to well up thinking about it and I'll be greeting like a bairn when we do it.

Pretty Boy
21-05-2013, 10:07 AM
Mixed emotions.

Joy at winning it, sadness for the people I would have loved to have been there with.

Mr White
21-05-2013, 10:09 AM
Mixed emotions.

Joy at winning it, sadness for the people I would have loved to have been there with.

:agree: me too.

Onion
21-05-2013, 02:37 PM
:agree:

When I was a lad I never made much distinction between the League Cup and the Scottish Cup. When we won the LC in 91 it was just such a surreal experience seeing Hibs players doing a lap of honour with a trophy. Of course that intensified our baiting of the Yams, who hadn't won anything since 19-canteen and every year that got bigger and bigger, 33, 34, 35 years in a rooooooowwww ... As soon as they won the cup in 98 that came back to bite us, especially with the centenary of 1902 looming. :rolleyes:

07 was magical because it was my kids' first trip to Hampden and fell just right for them to be old enough to appreciate it. Everything went right that day, SoL and all, and I don't think a win on Sunday will top it, tbh.

Otoh, it will be perfect for getting it right up my (strangely quiet recently) Yam neighbours. :devil: :aok:

07 was a very special final, easily the most enjoyable I've been to, but to win the Scottish Cup against the odds, against the SPL Champions on Sunday after all these failed attempts including 6-1, 5-1 catastrophes would be an incredible experience - a definite where-were-you moment in footballing history. A Hibs win would get world-wide coverage because of the opposition and circumstances.

Scouse Hibee
21-05-2013, 02:55 PM
As a supporter who saw Liverpool win everything, I had always had the "ah well I've seen my real team win the lot" attitude so anything Hibs manage to win is a bonus but doesn't concern me too much.
That didn't last long though, each and every final I have been to has been as important as any other final, winning the Scottish cup will be up there with the best of them for me and will be celebrated euphorically.

JeMeSouviens
21-05-2013, 03:27 PM
07 was a very special final, easily the most enjoyable I've been to, but to win the Scottish Cup against the odds, against the SPL Champions on Sunday after all these failed attempts including 6-1, 5-1 catastrophes would be an incredible experience - a definite where-were-you moment in footballing history. A Hibs win would get world-wide coverage because of the opposition and circumstances.

Yeah, I think you're right that it would mean more to the club in general. But the thread is about personal and for me it won't be like that magical first cup win with my boys there, which was the day they really got the Hibees bug.

Lester B
21-05-2013, 03:50 PM
I'm 49 years old and after losing my dad at 73 last December I will be very emotional,he took me to Easter Road when I was 4 and im so glad he did.After all our attempts in his lifetime to miss it by one year would be so sad. The whole 1902 thing doesn't really bother me any more but to be at Hampden on Sunday and see us lift the Scottish Cup it will be tears,tears and more tears.

Very similar to me mate, lost my old man last year at a similar age. Hope we do it for your old man, mine and all those who never got to see happen:flag:

One Day Soon
21-05-2013, 04:59 PM
Sitting here on a beautiful sunny afternoon with the birds singing in the garden and not a care in the world. My work is done for the day, wife and kids won't be home for an hour yet and all is right.

So I'm reading this thread and find myself at the keyboard with tears running down my face and that snotty nosed emotional way. Why? Why, why why?

The thought of the emotional release that would come with Hibs winning the cup. All those people who never lived to see it. All those people desperately hoping to see it. All those people wishing it for us. All those people desperately, desperately wanting us to fail.

I think back to my first game when George Best played against Partick Thistle and everything in between then and now. My pal's dad who invited me to go along to that first game with them and who is no longer with us.

The personal highs: Geebsie and that goal at Tynecastle, coming back to beat Celtic 4-3 in the Cup, that amazing European night against Athens, taking down Souness' Rangers in the sunshine, Charnley and McGinley scoring from the half way line, beating Rangers in the semi-final and then going on to lift the cup in summer snow at Hampden, meeting Pat Stanton, watching that great young team under Mowbray, the promotion campaign with McLeish and the sublime football and style of Sauzee.

The lows: relegation against Dundee United, seeing Berry crock Paul Wright on instruction from the bench, Stuart Beedie's haircut, Blobby, most of the gruesome football under Miller, watching our best young players disappear to the Ugly Sisters on a conveyor belt, having to beat 12 men in every Old Firm game, witnessing Romanov's Hearts turn one of the world's great and largely friendly football rivalries into a bitter and twisted parody with his hubris, seeing funny money at Rangers and Hearts stack the dice and pull the game down, watching the sectarianism dividend reward bigotry season after season, Mercer and the attempt to kill our club, chasing the Scottish Cup but never reaching it and following on and on in a triumph of hope over reason.

All of that and a lot more is pent up inside me. It is inside a lot of us. So to imagine a day when it is all released when we are all together to celebrate it is hard to do without becoming very, very emotional.

You can right an awful lot of wrongs with a single act of redemption. An achievement and a memory of that sort can never be taken away. I don't know if it will happen for us on Sunday but it will happen one day. That's why generations of us keep on keeping on. You just don't know what's going to happen next - but you care.

I just realised that I didn't list last year's defeat in the lows above. And when I think about it that's because losing the final to anyone, by any score, doesn't really matter to me at all. What really matters is finally winning it. That's why Sunshine on Leith is such an anthem for us now I think. It isn't just about Leith, it's also about moving from sorrow to joy. It's the song of our pilgrimage together and its about community and belief. About the club that wouldn't die. We will sing it until we win it, we will sing it when we finally win it and we will sing it long after we eventually win it.

So what does Hibs winning the Scottish cup mean to me? Quite a lot really.

Hermit Crab
21-05-2013, 06:02 PM
Means a stair heid to me, when I eventually surface on Monday!

ggtth

I'll be saying to her on Sunday morning I'm away out see you Tuesday :D

kevo1875
21-05-2013, 06:53 PM
I will be crying as i watch the guys lift the cup that's so befitting this fantastic club we all love ggtth

Eyrie
21-05-2013, 07:00 PM
Don't know how long it will take to sink in that we've finally done it, but when it does I will be on a high for weeks.

hibs4thecup1988
21-05-2013, 07:04 PM
I'll be saying to her on Sunday morning I'm away out see you Tuesday :D

Tuesday? Haha. I've told her not to expect me till the Wednesday or thursday. She said "oh grow up". SACKED. Hahahaha

YehButNoBut
21-05-2013, 07:23 PM
My first SC final was in 1972, I was 13 and my dad took me through was my first experience of such a massive crowd, over 106,000, and went with great expectation as we had a great side at the time and many thought we had a good chance to win, we were gubbed 6-1.

Have been to every SC final since (only 3 in 41 years, which puts the 2 in a row into perspective) with the nearest to a win against Rangers in 1979 when we were robbed of a pen in the 1st game and probably should have beaten an average Rangers side, never went to the 2 replays.

I will not be going on Sunday so I'm hoping I'm the jinx and we will finally win the bloody thing.

It will mean so much if we win, but if it goes against us (whilst the disappointment will be huge) it will not diminish one bit my feelings for Hibs and we'll just keep trying again and again until one time it surely must happen............................................ .........................................then again maybe not. :pfgwa

GreenCastle
21-05-2013, 07:41 PM
Sitting here on a beautiful sunny afternoon with the birds singing in the garden and not a care in the world. My work is done for the day, wife and kids won't be home for an hour yet and all is right.

So I'm reading this thread and find myself at the keyboard with tears running down my face and that snotty nosed emotional way. Why? Why, why why?

The thought of the emotional release that would come with Hibs winning the cup. All those people who never lived to see it. All those people desperately hoping to see it. All those people wishing it for us. All those people desperately, desperately wanting us to fail.

I think back to my first game when George Best played against Partick Thistle and everything in between then and now. My pal's dad who invited me to go along to that first game with them and who is no longer with us.

The personal highs: Geebsie and that goal at Tynecastle, coming back to beat Celtic 4-3 in the Cup, that amazing European night against Athens, taking down Souness' Rangers in the sunshine, Charnley and McGinley scoring from the half way line, beating Rangers in the semi-final and then going on to lift the cup in summer snow at Hampden, meeting Pat Stanton, watching that great young team under Mowbray, the promotion campaign with McLeish and the sublime football and style of Sauzee.

The lows: relegation against Dundee United, seeing Berry crock Paul Wright on instruction from the bench, Stuart Beedie's haircut, Blobby, most of the gruesome football under Miller, watching our best young players disappear to the Ugly Sisters on a conveyor belt, having to beat 12 men in every Old Firm game, witnessing Romanov's Hearts turn one of the world's great and largely friendly football rivalries into a bitter and twisted parody with his hubris, seeing funny money at Rangers and Hearts stack the dice and pull the game down, watching the sectarianism dividend reward bigotry season after season, Mercer and the attempt to kill our club, chasing the Scottish Cup but never reaching it and following on and on in a triumph of hope over reason.

All of that and a lot more is pent up inside me. It is inside a lot of us. So to imagine a day when it is all released when we are all together to celebrate it is hard to do without becoming very, very emotional.

You can right an awful lot of wrongs with a single act of redemption. An achievement and a memory of that sort can never be taken away. I don't know if it will happen for us on Sunday but it will happen one day. That's why generations of us keep on keeping on. You just don't know what's going to happen next - but you care.

I just realised that I didn't list last year's defeat in the lows above. And when I think about it that's because losing the final to anyone, by any score, doesn't really matter to me at all. What really matters is finally winning it. That's why Sunshine on Leith is such an anthem for us now I think. It isn't just about Leith, it's also about moving from sorrow to joy. It's the song of our pilgrimage together and its about community and belief. About the club that wouldn't die. We will sing it until we win it, we will sing it when we finally win it and we will sing it long after we eventually win it.

So what does Hibs winning the Scottish cup mean to me? Quite a lot really.

Great post - especially the parts in bold :agree::thumbsup:

Bishop Hibee
21-05-2013, 08:51 PM
If we won the cup I would have a tear in my eye as McPake lifted the cup looking at my own boys and thinking about my dad and my grandpa who never saw it happen. It would be one of the greatest days of my life.

Nailsea Hibby
21-05-2013, 09:26 PM
Posted by girlfriend of 'Nailsea Hibby' :)

''15 years ago I'd not heard of Hibs,or been north of Manchester...........then I met a guy fae Edinburgh - a Hibbee! He went up in 2001 as I watched on the TV as Celtic beat Hibs :( After going to as many matches as we could whilst up on holiday, we made the 1000 mile round trip to Hampden, this time with the kids, for the LC final of 2004 - that hurt! :boo hoo:We were up in 2005 for the LC semi...........no!!!!:boo hoo:and again in 2006, this time, head in hands saying 'not again!' :( My partner said quietly 'You'll get used to it....that's being a Hibee' :( We were there in 2007 for Victory & Euphoria!! :thumbsup: but also for last years SC final where my heart was broken :(

My partner tells me how his Grandad never saw Hibs lift The Cup & neither did his Dad, they were both Hibees, both now sadly gone. I never met either of them, but if I get to see Hibs lift the cup I'll think of them & wish they were there to see it too.

Will I cry when we sing 'Sunshine On Leith'? - Undoubtedly!! When I think about Sunday I panic, then start to hope but stop myself coz it's all too much!!! :s What does it mean to me?.................

Everything! GGTTH :partyhibb:) ''

Stringer
21-05-2013, 09:32 PM
I don't live for the Scottish cup as a hibee, I prefer we get into the group stages of the Europa league.

calumhibee1
21-05-2013, 10:54 PM
Mixed emotions.

Joy at winning it, sadness for the people I would have loved to have been there with.

Sums it up perfectly for me.

JohnStephens91
22-05-2013, 01:34 AM
Sadly my grandfather passed away, it was in 1994 and on the same day Hibs beat Aberdeen 3-1 at Easter Road. Only being two at the time I obviously hadn't been at a Hibs game, but I already owned my own scarf which I still carry to this day. My dad went to that game with his uncle and at full-time he turned to my dad and said 'They won for your dad son' and this match was on February 5th 1994.

This season when we played Aberdeen it was two days before the 19th anniversary of my granddads passing and my dad only told me the story about Aberdeen and the significance of the date. It was touch and go for a while as to whether we won or not with the penalty save and the Aberdeen pressure, but we hung on. At full-time me and my dad were in tears for the significance of the date and the fixture. It was probably the most poignant moment of the cup run and to me demonstrated why the cup is so special.

It makes us remember the loved ones we no longer have in our lives physically, but only emotionally, and it is through this avenue that their spirit lives on as a supporter of our great club. Winning the cup would mean everything to me now, especially after the poignancy of the Aberdeen game and how much it meant. My granddad may not be there in person and I may not have ever been to a game with him, but the scarf he has given me is still my regular scarf at the football and no doubt at full-time there will be tears in it irrespective of the result.

I will be there with my dad, many will not be, and for that I am grateful because there is no other person I'd want to be at the football with more than my dad. No doubt he'd have the same wish to be there with his dad. The cup for me is the epitomises everything it means to be a Hibs fan, the hope, the fall, the doom, the gloom, the ecstatic, the glory, the unexpected, the dream, a family of supporters all connected through a sheer collective love of the club.

Alex Trager
22-05-2013, 04:54 AM
I know when I have 'the dream' that it means a lot to me. When I was younger I used to have it a lot about the derby. The dream is when I do t get to go to the game for one reason or another, last night I was too drunk apparently and then my mum turned it off the tele and Hibs scored twice. I was in tears not getting to at least see it on tele. It is definitely starting to dawn on me this cup final is around the corner.

Pedantic_Hibee
22-05-2013, 06:04 AM
I don't think any of us will truly realise what it means until we win it.

I'll genuinely lose the plot if we win it. Scoops and Brooster may argue that I lost it a long time ago however.

GlenrothesHibee
22-05-2013, 06:04 AM
Sadly my grandfather passed away, it was in 1994 and on the same day Hibs beat Aberdeen 3-1 at Easter Road. Only being two at the time I obviously hadn't been at a Hibs game, but I already owned my own scarf which I still carry to this day. My dad went to that game with his uncle and at full-time he turned to my dad and said 'They won for your dad son' and this match was on February 5th 1994.

This season when we played Aberdeen it was two days before the 19th anniversary of my granddads passing and my dad only told me the story about Aberdeen and the significance of the date. It was touch and go for a while as to whether we won or not with the penalty save and the Aberdeen pressure, but we hung on. At full-time me and my dad were in tears for the significance of the date and the fixture. It was probably the most poignant moment of the cup run and to me demonstrated why the cup is so special.

It makes us remember the loved ones we no longer have in our lives physically, but only emotionally, and it is through this avenue that their spirit lives on as a supporter of our great club. Winning the cup would mean everything to me now, especially after the poignancy of the Aberdeen game and how much it meant. My granddad may not be there in person and I may not have ever been to a game with him, but the scarf he has given me is still my regular scarf at the football and no doubt at full-time there will be tears in it irrespective of the result.

I will be there with my dad, many will not be, and for that I am grateful because there is no other person I'd want to be at the football with more than my dad. No doubt he'd have the same wish to be there with his dad. The cup for me is the epitomises everything it means to be a Hibs fan, the hope, the fall, the doom, the gloom, the ecstatic, the glory, the unexpected, the dream, a family of supporters all connected through a sheer collective love of the club.

Great post

Sir David Gray
22-05-2013, 08:37 AM
Since we beat Falkirk, I've allowed myself to imagine a few times about winning the cup and seeing James McPake go up the stairs to lift the cup and the thought of finally experiencing that moment just fills me with emotion.

If we win it on Sunday, I won't be in control of my emotions and I'm fairly sure I will break down in tears, particularly when Sunshine On Leith starts playing.

Winning on Sunday would be the greatest moment in my life, bar none, and it would only be topped by the birth of a child.

NOLA
22-05-2013, 09:01 AM
if we win this cup thing your talking about then #allwillbebarry ;)

SeanWilson
22-05-2013, 09:11 AM
Sitting here on a beautiful sunny afternoon with the birds singing in the garden and not a care in the world. My work is done for the day, wife and kids won't be home for an hour yet and all is right.

So I'm reading this thread and find myself at the keyboard with tears running down my face and that snotty nosed emotional way. Why? Why, why why?

The thought of the emotional release that would come with Hibs winning the cup. All those people who never lived to see it. All those people desperately hoping to see it. All those people wishing it for us. All those people desperately, desperately wanting us to fail.

I think back to my first game when George Best played against Partick Thistle and everything in between then and now. My pal's dad who invited me to go along to that first game with them and who is no longer with us.

The personal highs: Geebsie and that goal at Tynecastle, coming back to beat Celtic 4-3 in the Cup, that amazing European night against Athens, taking down Souness' Rangers in the sunshine, Charnley and McGinley scoring from the half way line, beating Rangers in the semi-final and then going on to lift the cup in summer snow at Hampden, meeting Pat Stanton, watching that great young team under Mowbray, the promotion campaign with McLeish and the sublime football and style of Sauzee.

The lows: relegation against Dundee United, seeing Berry crock Paul Wright on instruction from the bench, Stuart Beedie's haircut, Blobby, most of the gruesome football under Miller, watching our best young players disappear to the Ugly Sisters on a conveyor belt, having to beat 12 men in every Old Firm game, witnessing Romanov's Hearts turn one of the world's great and largely friendly football rivalries into a bitter and twisted parody with his hubris, seeing funny money at Rangers and Hearts stack the dice and pull the game down, watching the sectarianism dividend reward bigotry season after season, Mercer and the attempt to kill our club, chasing the Scottish Cup but never reaching it and following on and on in a triumph of hope over reason.

All of that and a lot more is pent up inside me. It is inside a lot of us. So to imagine a day when it is all released when we are all together to celebrate it is hard to do without becoming very, very emotional.

You can right an awful lot of wrongs with a single act of redemption. An achievement and a memory of that sort can never be taken away. I don't know if it will happen for us on Sunday but it will happen one day. That's why generations of us keep on keeping on. You just don't know what's going to happen next - but you care.

I just realised that I didn't list last year's defeat in the lows above. And when I think about it that's because losing the final to anyone, by any score, doesn't really matter to me at all. What really matters is finally winning it. That's why Sunshine on Leith is such an anthem for us now I think. It isn't just about Leith, it's also about moving from sorrow to joy. It's the song of our pilgrimage together and its about community and belief. About the club that wouldn't die. We will sing it until we win it, we will sing it when we finally win it and we will sing it long after we eventually win it.

So what does Hibs winning the Scottish cup mean to me? Quite a lot really.

:top marksnearly had me in tears!! GGTTH:flag:

Lester B
22-05-2013, 10:45 AM
For me here is why:

It’s Leith in the late forties. My grandparents live with my dad, aunt and recently born uncle in Crown Street. My great grandmother lives opposite and my grandad’s sister not far away. Every male in the family is called John or Alex. My granddad was born and brought up in Leith but has no interest in football but his brother in law Alex McGregor is a dyed in the wool Hibby. ‘Uncle Alex’ and my great aunt can’t have kids but love their nephews and niece. Uncle Alex calls round and asks John, my dad, if he wants to come with him to the Hibs match. Dad plays football in the street and accepts gladly. I don’t really need to tell you who is in the Hibs Team. This little boy goes to see the match and is hooked for life. Lawrie Reilly becomes his hero along with so many others. He gets a programme each time and cuts out pictures from the papers and pastes them into old school books. In 1958 my dad wins a competition in the Evening Dispatch and gets a pair of Lawrie Reilly’s boots as the prize.

Uncle Alex dies in 1966 and my dad is with him when he passes. I never met Alex. I am born three years later and I’m taken to Easter Road before I go to primary school. I keep scrapbooks and programmes. I am raised on stories of the Famous Five, Joe Baker, Willie Hamilton and dozens more. There are good times and bad times at Easter Road. You were there as I was, I’m sure.

In the late nineties my dad donates the boots to the Historical Trust but phones me first to check that I am happy that he is doing so. Typical dad. In 2005 we go to a match to hospitality on me and he shows me the boots in a display cabinet, full of quiet pride. We have table number 9. Lawrie Reilly’s table. Dad was always quiet and unassuming so his son deliberately takes the seat opposite Lawrie so dad has to sit next to his hero who he has never met. Mr Reilly (‘just call me Lawrie son’) is delighted to meet ‘the laddie who won the boots’ and before and after the match dad sits with his hero listening to stories and smiling from ear to ear. Apart from the birth of his grandchildren I never saw him happier. Dad died in April last year and when I visit my mum I sometimes go upstairs to look at the programmes and scrapbooks. It makes me feel even closer to him.

Uncle Alex never saw Hibs lift the Cup. Nor did my dad. I might see it on Sunday. I might not. I may never see it. Would it mean a lot to me? Of course. Would I cry? Like a baby. I’ve made a pact with my mates that if we win it I will meet them on the corner of Crown Street for my dad. I made that pact last year too. I may have to make it again.

So for all the departed Hibbies I would love it to happen and I think every person reading this will have memories of someone and stories better than mine. We were lucky; lucky that the men and women who came before us taught us to love a football team and especially lucky that it was this one. Win or lose come Monday we will still be Hibbies. And that’s good enough for me.

Good luck to us all on Sunday!

Dan Sarf
22-05-2013, 11:22 AM
For me here is why:

It’s Leith in the late forties. My grandparents live with my dad, aunt and recently born uncle in Crown Street. My great grandmother lives opposite and my grandad’s sister not far away. Every male in the family is called John or Alex. My granddad was born and brought up in Leith but has no interest in football but his brother in law Alex McGregor is a dyed in the wool Hibby. ‘Uncle Alex’ and my great aunt can’t have kids but love their nephews and niece. Uncle Alex calls round and asks John, my dad, if he wants to come with him to the Hibs match. Dad plays football in the street and accepts gladly. I don’t really need to tell you who is in the Hibs Team. This little boy goes to see the match and is hooked for life. Lawrie Reilly becomes his hero along with so many others. He gets a programme each time and cuts out pictures from the papers and pastes them into old school books. In 1958 my dad wins a competition in the Evening Dispatch and gets a pair of Lawrie Reilly’s boots as the prize.

Uncle Alex dies in 1966 and my dad is with him when he passes. I never met Alex. I am born three years later and I’m taken to Easter Road before I go to primary school. I keep scrapbooks and programmes. I am raised on stories of the Famous Five, Joe Baker, Willie Hamilton and dozens more. There are good times and bad times at Easter Road. You were there as I was, I’m sure.

In the late nineties my dad donates the boots to the Historical Trust but phones me first to check that I am happy that he is doing so. Typical dad. In 2005 we go to a match to hospitality on me and he shows me the boots in a display cabinet, full of quiet pride. We have table number 9. Lawrie Reilly’s table. Dad was always quiet and unassuming so his son deliberately takes the seat opposite Lawrie so dad has to sit next to his hero who he has never met. Mr Reilly (‘just call me Lawrie son’) is delighted to meet ‘the laddie who won the boots’ and before and after the match dad sits with his hero listening to stories and smiling from ear to ear. Apart from the birth of his grandchildren I never saw him happier. Dad died in April last year and when I visit my mum I sometimes go upstairs to look at the programmes and scrapbooks. It makes me feel even closer to him.

Uncle Alex never saw Hibs lift the Cup. Nor did my dad. I might see it on Sunday. I might not. I may never see it. Would it mean a lot to me? Of course. Would I cry? Like a baby. I’ve made a pact with my mates that if we win it I will meet them on the corner of Crown Street for my dad. I made that pact last year too. I may have to make it again.

So for all the departed Hibbies I would love it to happen and I think every person reading this will have memories of someone and stories better than mine. We were lucky; lucky that the men and women who came before us taught us to love a football team and especially lucky that it was this one. Win or lose come Monday we will still be Hibbies. And that’s good enough for me.

Good luck to us all on Sunday!


Thank you for this. Beautifully put.

Lester B
22-05-2013, 11:48 AM
Sitting here on a beautiful sunny afternoon with the birds singing in the garden and not a care in the world. My work is done for the day, wife and kids won't be home for an hour yet and all is right.

So I'm reading this thread and find myself at the keyboard with tears running down my face and that snotty nosed emotional way. Why? Why, why why?

The thought of the emotional release that would come with Hibs winning the cup. All those people who never lived to see it. All those people desperately hoping to see it. All those people wishing it for us. All those people desperately, desperately wanting us to fail.

I think back to my first game when George Best played against Partick Thistle and everything in between then and now. My pal's dad who invited me to go along to that first game with them and who is no longer with us.

The personal highs: Geebsie and that goal at Tynecastle, coming back to beat Celtic 4-3 in the Cup, that amazing European night against Athens, taking down Souness' Rangers in the sunshine, Charnley and McGinley scoring from the half way line, beating Rangers in the semi-final and then going on to lift the cup in summer snow at Hampden, meeting Pat Stanton, watching that great young team under Mowbray, the promotion campaign with McLeish and the sublime football and style of Sauzee.

The lows: relegation against Dundee United, seeing Berry crock Paul Wright on instruction from the bench, Stuart Beedie's haircut, Blobby, most of the gruesome football under Miller, watching our best young players disappear to the Ugly Sisters on a conveyor belt, having to beat 12 men in every Old Firm game, witnessing Romanov's Hearts turn one of the world's great and largely friendly football rivalries into a bitter and twisted parody with his hubris, seeing funny money at Rangers and Hearts stack the dice and pull the game down, watching the sectarianism dividend reward bigotry season after season, Mercer and the attempt to kill our club, chasing the Scottish Cup but never reaching it and following on and on in a triumph of hope over reason.

All of that and a lot more is pent up inside me. It is inside a lot of us. So to imagine a day when it is all released when we are all together to celebrate it is hard to do without becoming very, very emotional.

You can right an awful lot of wrongs with a single act of redemption. An achievement and a memory of that sort can never be taken away. I don't know if it will happen for us on Sunday but it will happen one day. That's why generations of us keep on keeping on. You just don't know what's going to happen next - but you care.

I just realised that I didn't list last year's defeat in the lows above. And when I think about it that's because losing the final to anyone, by any score, doesn't really matter to me at all. What really matters is finally winning it. That's why Sunshine on Leith is such an anthem for us now I think. It isn't just about Leith, it's also about moving from sorrow to joy. It's the song of our pilgrimage together and its about community and belief. About the club that wouldn't die. We will sing it until we win it, we will sing it when we finally win it and we will sing it long after we eventually win it.

So what does Hibs winning the Scottish cup mean to me? Quite a lot really.

Wonderful!

TrickyNicky
22-05-2013, 11:53 AM
Wow, there are some truly marvellous stories, thoughts, feelings and anecdotes on this thread!

I'm not sure what I'd do if we won it!

When we won the LC in 2007, I was in a pub here is Sydney with loads of fellow Hibby's and found myself walking out the pub after 2 minutes of celebrating the final whistle, don't know why, just had to go for a long walk.

Last year I had pals in the house who weren't even Hibs fans, just pals from all over- wearing mah tops in support of me, who stayed to the bitter end ( 3am I think !)

When the whistle blew, my wee laddie ( 6yo at the time ) who had been stood in the hall-way, in the dark, tears streaming down his face, watching the last half an hour in silence, came in the lounge room tae give me a cuddle.
I'd taken him through to his bed so he didn't have to watch anymore - he'd got back up and watched it to the bitter end through a gap in the door.

Like most of us, family is why we want it so bad.

For the ones we miss, for the ones we have lost and for the ones we have right now.

Although we huvnae won much, The Hibs family has a lot to cheer aboot if ye ask me!

TrickyNicky
22-05-2013, 11:55 AM
Sitting here on a beautiful sunny afternoon with the birds singing in the garden and not a care in the world. My work is done for the day, wife and kids won't be home for an hour yet and all is right.

So I'm reading this thread and find myself at the keyboard with tears running down my face and that snotty nosed emotional way. Why? Why, why why?

The thought of the emotional release that would come with Hibs winning the cup. All those people who never lived to see it. All those people desperately hoping to see it. All those people wishing it for us. All those people desperately, desperately wanting us to fail.

I think back to my first game when George Best played against Partick Thistle and everything in between then and now. My pal's dad who invited me to go along to that first game with them and who is no longer with us.

The personal highs: Geebsie and that goal at Tynecastle, coming back to beat Celtic 4-3 in the Cup, that amazing European night against Athens, taking down Souness' Rangers in the sunshine, Charnley and McGinley scoring from the half way line, beating Rangers in the semi-final and then going on to lift the cup in summer snow at Hampden, meeting Pat Stanton, watching that great young team under Mowbray, the promotion campaign with McLeish and the sublime football and style of Sauzee.

The lows: relegation against Dundee United, seeing Berry crock Paul Wright on instruction from the bench, Stuart Beedie's haircut, Blobby, most of the gruesome football under Miller, watching our best young players disappear to the Ugly Sisters on a conveyor belt, having to beat 12 men in every Old Firm game, witnessing Romanov's Hearts turn one of the world's great and largely friendly football rivalries into a bitter and twisted parody with his hubris, seeing funny money at Rangers and Hearts stack the dice and pull the game down, watching the sectarianism dividend reward bigotry season after season, Mercer and the attempt to kill our club, chasing the Scottish Cup but never reaching it and following on and on in a triumph of hope over reason.

All of that and a lot more is pent up inside me. It is inside a lot of us. So to imagine a day when it is all released when we are all together to celebrate it is hard to do without becoming very, very emotional.

You can right an awful lot of wrongs with a single act of redemption. An achievement and a memory of that sort can never be taken away. I don't know if it will happen for us on Sunday but it will happen one day. That's why generations of us keep on keeping on. You just don't know what's going to happen next - but you care.

I just realised that I didn't list last year's defeat in the lows above. And when I think about it that's because losing the final to anyone, by any score, doesn't really matter to me at all. What really matters is finally winning it. That's why Sunshine on Leith is such an anthem for us now I think. It isn't just about Leith, it's also about moving from sorrow to joy. It's the song of our pilgrimage together and its about community and belief. About the club that wouldn't die. We will sing it until we win it, we will sing it when we finally win it and we will sing it long after we eventually win it.

So what does Hibs winning the Scottish cup mean to me? Quite a lot really.

That's a beauty!

Seveno
22-05-2013, 11:57 AM
I have a shared history with many contributors on here, sharing a few highs but more heartbreaks. Words cannot express how I will feel if we win but reading some of the stories on here brings me close to tears. I know that I'll be totally unable to control my emotions if we win.

Lester B
22-05-2013, 11:58 AM
I know that I'll be totally unable to control my emotions if we win.

No one will. And there is nothing wrong with that :aok:

TrickyNicky
22-05-2013, 12:02 PM
For me here is why:

It’s Leith in the late forties. My grandparents live with my dad, aunt and recently born uncle in Crown Street. My great grandmother lives opposite and my grandad’s sister not far away. Every male in the family is called John or Alex. My granddad was born and brought up in Leith but has no interest in football but his brother in law Alex McGregor is a dyed in the wool Hibby. ‘Uncle Alex’ and my great aunt can’t have kids but love their nephews and niece. Uncle Alex calls round and asks John, my dad, if he wants to come with him to the Hibs match. Dad plays football in the street and accepts gladly. I don’t really need to tell you who is in the Hibs Team. This little boy goes to see the match and is hooked for life. Lawrie Reilly becomes his hero along with so many others. He gets a programme each time and cuts out pictures from the papers and pastes them into old school books. In 1958 my dad wins a competition in the Evening Dispatch and gets a pair of Lawrie Reilly’s boots as the prize.

Uncle Alex dies in 1966 and my dad is with him when he passes. I never met Alex. I am born three years later and I’m taken to Easter Road before I go to primary school. I keep scrapbooks and programmes. I am raised on stories of the Famous Five, Joe Baker, Willie Hamilton and dozens more. There are good times and bad times at Easter Road. You were there as I was, I’m sure.

In the late nineties my dad donates the boots to the Historical Trust but phones me first to check that I am happy that he is doing so. Typical dad. In 2005 we go to a match to hospitality on me and he shows me the boots in a display cabinet, full of quiet pride. We have table number 9. Lawrie Reilly’s table. Dad was always quiet and unassuming so his son deliberately takes the seat opposite Lawrie so dad has to sit next to his hero who he has never met. Mr Reilly (‘just call me Lawrie son’) is delighted to meet ‘the laddie who won the boots’ and before and after the match dad sits with his hero listening to stories and smiling from ear to ear. Apart from the birth of his grandchildren I never saw him happier. Dad died in April last year and when I visit my mum I sometimes go upstairs to look at the programmes and scrapbooks. It makes me feel even closer to him.

Uncle Alex never saw Hibs lift the Cup. Nor did my dad. I might see it on Sunday. I might not. I may never see it. Would it mean a lot to me? Of course. Would I cry? Like a baby. I’ve made a pact with my mates that if we win it I will meet them on the corner of Crown Street for my dad. I made that pact last year too. I may have to make it again.

So for all the departed Hibbies I would love it to happen and I think every person reading this will have memories of someone and stories better than mine. We were lucky; lucky that the men and women who came before us taught us to love a football team and especially lucky that it was this one. Win or lose come Monday we will still be Hibbies. And that’s good enough for me.

Good luck to us all on Sunday!

:flag:

Craig_in_Prague
22-05-2013, 12:02 PM
9968

My wee boy will wonder why daddy is greeting so much he might flood Prague.

JeMeSouviens
22-05-2013, 12:11 PM
For me here is why:

It’s Leith in the late forties. My grandparents live with my dad, aunt and recently born uncle in Crown Street. My great grandmother lives opposite and my grandad’s sister not far away. Every male in the family is called John or Alex. My granddad was born and brought up in Leith but has no interest in football but his brother in law Alex McGregor is a dyed in the wool Hibby. ‘Uncle Alex’ and my great aunt can’t have kids but love their nephews and niece. Uncle Alex calls round and asks John, my dad, if he wants to come with him to the Hibs match. Dad plays football in the street and accepts gladly. I don’t really need to tell you who is in the Hibs Team. This little boy goes to see the match and is hooked for life. Lawrie Reilly becomes his hero along with so many others. He gets a programme each time and cuts out pictures from the papers and pastes them into old school books. In 1958 my dad wins a competition in the Evening Dispatch and gets a pair of Lawrie Reilly’s boots as the prize.

Uncle Alex dies in 1966 and my dad is with him when he passes. I never met Alex. I am born three years later and I’m taken to Easter Road before I go to primary school. I keep scrapbooks and programmes. I am raised on stories of the Famous Five, Joe Baker, Willie Hamilton and dozens more. There are good times and bad times at Easter Road. You were there as I was, I’m sure.

In the late nineties my dad donates the boots to the Historical Trust but phones me first to check that I am happy that he is doing so. Typical dad. In 2005 we go to a match to hospitality on me and he shows me the boots in a display cabinet, full of quiet pride. We have table number 9. Lawrie Reilly’s table. Dad was always quiet and unassuming so his son deliberately takes the seat opposite Lawrie so dad has to sit next to his hero who he has never met. Mr Reilly (‘just call me Lawrie son’) is delighted to meet ‘the laddie who won the boots’ and before and after the match dad sits with his hero listening to stories and smiling from ear to ear. Apart from the birth of his grandchildren I never saw him happier. Dad died in April last year and when I visit my mum I sometimes go upstairs to look at the programmes and scrapbooks. It makes me feel even closer to him.

Uncle Alex never saw Hibs lift the Cup. Nor did my dad. I might see it on Sunday. I might not. I may never see it. Would it mean a lot to me? Of course. Would I cry? Like a baby. I’ve made a pact with my mates that if we win it I will meet them on the corner of Crown Street for my dad. I made that pact last year too. I may have to make it again.

So for all the departed Hibbies I would love it to happen and I think every person reading this will have memories of someone and stories better than mine. We were lucky; lucky that the men and women who came before us taught us to love a football team and especially lucky that it was this one. Win or lose come Monday we will still be Hibbies. And that’s good enough for me.

Good luck to us all on Sunday!


That's the best yet!

(But I'd gladly swap a win on Sunday for your Dad and Uncle Alex's 3 league titles. :wink:)

Hibby Gav
22-05-2013, 12:13 PM
Sitting here on a beautiful sunny afternoon with the birds singing in the garden and not a care in the world. My work is done for the day, wife and kids won't be home for an hour yet and all is right.

So I'm reading this thread and find myself at the keyboard with tears running down my face and that snotty nosed emotional way. Why? Why, why why?

The thought of the emotional release that would come with Hibs winning the cup. All those people who never lived to see it. All those people desperately hoping to see it. All those people wishing it for us. All those people desperately, desperately wanting us to fail.

I think back to my first game when George Best played against Partick Thistle and everything in between then and now. My pal's dad who invited me to go along to that first game with them and who is no longer with us.

The personal highs: Geebsie and that goal at Tynecastle, coming back to beat Celtic 4-3 in the Cup, that amazing European night against Athens, taking down Souness' Rangers in the sunshine, Charnley and McGinley scoring from the half way line, beating Rangers in the semi-final and then going on to lift the cup in summer snow at Hampden, meeting Pat Stanton, watching that great young team under Mowbray, the promotion campaign with McLeish and the sublime football and style of Sauzee.

The lows: relegation against Dundee United, seeing Berry crock Paul Wright on instruction from the bench, Stuart Beedie's haircut, Blobby, most of the gruesome football under Miller, watching our best young players disappear to the Ugly Sisters on a conveyor belt, having to beat 12 men in every Old Firm game, witnessing Romanov's Hearts turn one of the world's great and largely friendly football rivalries into a bitter and twisted parody with his hubris, seeing funny money at Rangers and Hearts stack the dice and pull the game down, watching the sectarianism dividend reward bigotry season after season, Mercer and the attempt to kill our club, chasing the Scottish Cup but never reaching it and following on and on in a triumph of hope over reason.

All of that and a lot more is pent up inside me. It is inside a lot of us. So to imagine a day when it is all released when we are all together to celebrate it is hard to do without becoming very, very emotional.

You can right an awful lot of wrongs with a single act of redemption. An achievement and a memory of that sort can never be taken away. I don't know if it will happen for us on Sunday but it will happen one day. That's why generations of us keep on keeping on. You just don't know what's going to happen next - but you care.

I just realised that I didn't list last year's defeat in the lows above. And when I think about it that's because losing the final to anyone, by any score, doesn't really matter to me at all. What really matters is finally winning it. That's why Sunshine on Leith is such an anthem for us now I think. It isn't just about Leith, it's also about moving from sorrow to joy. It's the song of our pilgrimage together and its about community and belief. About the club that wouldn't die. We will sing it until we win it, we will sing it when we finally win it and we will sing it long after we eventually win it.

So what does Hibs winning the Scottish cup mean to me? Quite a lot really.

It can't be said better.....Hibs Class
GGTTH

Lester B
22-05-2013, 12:14 PM
That's the best yet!

(But I'd gladly swap a win on Sunday for your Dad and Uncle Alex's 3 league titles. :wink:)

I like to think the two of them are sitting somewhere still moaning about the final against Clyde. The number of times my old man moaned about that......:rolleyes:

WHUHibs
22-05-2013, 12:46 PM
9968

My wee boy will wonder why daddy is greeting so much he might flood Prague.

Craig what a gorgeous boy you have,,you and mum must be very proud..will be in Prague in month and give you a shout hopefully to celebrate a win:-)

tartanhibee
22-05-2013, 12:58 PM
My love affair with hibs first started in 1985 when I first went to Easter road with my uncle, at first I wasn't really sure about the whole thing but I remember how big the stadium was and we had seats in the old main stand hibs got beat 3-2 but I didn't know at that point what a massive part of my life hibs would become and I had just got on the longest roller coaster ride ever.

In October 1985 I went to Hampden for my first final I remember being upset at getting beat but not that badly. By 88/89 season I was a regular at ER and went to away games when my uncle was able to take me.

In 1990 I remember my uncle taking me to the usher hall to sign the petition for hands of hibs and I had a t-shirt (which I still have).

In 91 it was back to Hampden with my uncle for my second final for me to see my team win silverware for the first time in my life I was dressed head to toe in green and white and still can see my hero Keith Wright score the second. What feeling to win the cup and standing outside Frasers with my gran and uncle to watch the parade was amazing.

I followed hibs everywhere throughout the nineties and shed a tear in the ground in 98 when Dundee Utd relegated us My uncle wasn't there that day.

Season 98/99 what a fantastic year going to new grounds and winning every week then finally winning the league at firhill on the bank holiday weekend it was Easter I think.

In 2001 my first ever scottish cup final my mum remarried on the Friday before the final so me and my uncle had to make our way from Gretna back to Edinburgh to catch the royal nip bus. My mums reception was at the hibs club after the final and I never went as I didn't feel like a party.

Through the noughties there has been some highs and lows no more so than in 2009 when both my uncle and my gran died having never seen us win that bloody cup as my gran would call it. I took a belonging of each to the final last year so they could share it with me but hey to no avail.

I will make my way to Hampden on Sunday full of hope and have a belonging of my gran and uncle with me so if we do win it they can share my sheers delight. On Friday I will visit the crematorium to have a team talk with my gran and uncle and thank them both for making me the hibby I am today.

Anyway back on track what does winning the scottish cup mean to me? ( it's kinda a big deal)

basehibby
22-05-2013, 12:59 PM
I would feel immensely priviledged to see Hibs win the Scottish Cup. I've had two uncles who were very dear to me who died in their 70s having grown up and followed Hibs all their lives and never got to see such a thing. If Hibs win I will relish every moment of it for them and blow a kiss skywards at the final whistle.

Craig_in_Prague
22-05-2013, 01:02 PM
Craig what a gorgeous boy you have,,you and mum must be very proud..will be in Prague in month and give you a shout hopefully to celebrate a win:-)

thank you! Yes, we are proud and feel blessed every day.

I have watched every round of the cup with the wee man next to me; hopefully the lucky streak lasts 1 more game! Though at the moment I am not expecting to be watching with him around, want the wife and wee one out the flat. I will be in a wreck and they are best to be out ;-)
but I do wonder if he brings luck...

greengnome
22-05-2013, 01:55 PM
I am a 55 year old Hibby.

Why am I a Hibby? **** knows?

My older brother is a Jambos season ticket holder and my dad was an Aberdeen fan.

I lived as a lad nearer Tynescastle but a few of my mates were Hibs fans and getting a bus to Easter Road from Bruntsfield, as a maybe 10 year old, just added to the experience!

So to date I have seen us lose 4 scottish cup finals - Celtic as a wee boy (travelling through on the Hawkhill bus) to lose 6-1, losing to Rangers after a second replay (I was a student at university at the time and got done from Aberdeen to see us lose 3-2 in the last game, I do remember watching the first game at an Aberdeen University Halls of residence and being denied a certain penalty at 0-0 with ten minutes to go in the first game), losing to Celtic 3-0 under McLeish and then last seasons fiasco.

So our losses have been against teams that we might have been the underdogs to beat apart from the Jambos?

But if the gap is 40 years we should have got there more often? Hibs as a team with their support have underachieved?

So what does Sunday mean to me?

I know there are more important events in my life than the Hibees but I would want before I depart this earth see Hibs win the Scottish Cup.


Do I expect Hibs to win in Sunday? Probably not? But I want to see them compete and at least battle until they have given their all. With a bit of luck it could be our year.

And if we do lose I will stil be back next season with an expectation that Hibs well be stronger and much of our opposition weaker with the likelihood of success increased.

So come on Hibees,despite the odds, believe and make it happen!


I am 57, followed the team in the green of Hibernian all my days (Thanks Dad)... Seeing my beloved Hibby's win the SC would mean everything at this point in time, Yes, I would die a happy man, knowing it was done in my time on God's earth!!!! GGTTH :flag:

The Harp
22-05-2013, 11:12 PM
Lester B - I salute you. That's one of the best-written, most heartfelt posts I've ever read on Hibs.net.
I hope all our departed loved ones are rejoicing up there on Sunday. It'll be some guest list that's for sure.

Lester B
23-05-2013, 08:35 AM
Lester B - I salute you. That's one of the best-written, most heartfelt posts I've ever read on Hibs.net.
I hope all our departed loved ones are rejoicing up there on Sunday. It'll be some guest list that's for sure.

Thank you sir! Very kind.