Same old, same old

Same old, same old
(Informal)

“Used to say that a situation or someone’s behaviour remains the same, especially when it is boring or annoying:”

Cambridge Dictionary

I started to look back over some of the earliest of the posts to this online journal – to those composed in early 2012 – thinking to re-discover the very first occasion within these scribblings upon which I reluctantly drew attention to my ongoing and painful support for the Scottish rugby XV!

I recall bemoaning the fact that being a follower of these tartan-toting sportsmen involved endlessly repeated rounds of rose-tinted and entirely unreasonable optimism – followed rapidly by by dejection and misery when the Scots yet again failed to live up to the unwarranted expectation.

It is almost worse when they actually start to look as though they know what they are doing – to exhibit some flair for the game – to unearth at last at least one truly world-class talent… At that point they catch the eye of those commentators who would dearly love to see a challenge to the boring prospect of any of the other home nations yet again lifting the annual trophy – and would happily pay good money to watch the Scots rekindle the flame of 1990 (yes – it was that long ago that the Scots famously beat England at Murrayfield to win their last Grand Slam).

(In a small aside at this point I must make reference to an opportunity sadly lost! For the last years of my employ at my last school in the UK before ‘retiring’, the headship of the institution was in the capable hands of a man who – amongst his other obvious talents – had played rugby for England. As it happens the Calcutta Cup fixture in 1990 – in which both Scotland and England had the chance of taking the Grand Slam – was his last match in international colours for England. I always meant to tease him about it but never quite plucked up the courage so to do).

This melancholy musing naturally reflects Scotland’s performance thus far in this year’s Six Nations tournament. I wrote of the famous win against the odds at Twickenham but a few short weeks back but have since been silent on the matter within these pages. One need not search too hard to discover why. The Scots lost by a single point to the Welsh at Murrayfield – having at one stage been well in front before having a man sent off. The French game was then postponed because of positive COVID tests amongst the French squad. Finally – this very morning the Scots lost once again at Murrayfield… this time by a mere three points to the Irish. To be honest the Scots did not deserve to win today. Their line-out barely functioned and they gave away far too many needless penalties.

Where the Scots are concerned it is yet again a sad case of ‘Same old, same old’!

As I said at the top of this post – I started to look back to see when it was that I very first mentioned the painful predicament of supporting Scottish rugby…

…but then I lost the will to live!…