Gary Sutherland

This season-long odyssey around every senior Scottish football ground provides a fascinating snapshot of our national game and culture, with Gary Sutherland's witty insights making it an entertaining read. It's hard not to question his sanity as he heads off for a second lower-league game in as many days during the deep midwinter but it's these unglamorous assignments that provide the best parts of Hunting Grounds as the author encounters eccentric diehards who are also prepared to brave the elements – all for their love of their team. Going to matches has become a sterile experience at many grounds in the top flight as clubs increasingly view their fans as consumers but it's a different world at some of the outposts we stop at on our journey with the author. He perfectly captures both the chaos and charm of lower-league football, with a farcical clash at wind-blown Gayview providing a fitting end to the adventure. As someone who regularly flirted with hypothermia while playing boys' club football once or twice as season next to the sea in Arbroath, I can testify to the madness of building a football stadium in such close proximity to the North Sea.… (más)

Despite living in Scotland for all but two of my 37 years, I've yet to sample the delights of the many festivals featured in this entertaining book. That made it even more interesting as it shone a light on customs and curiosities I had never heard of. Gary Sutherland is a wonderful tour guide for the uninitiated, especially as he also approaches each event as an outsider, despite having lived just a stone's throw away from the one held in the dreaded Broch, which neighbours his home town. In many ways this is a deeply personal journey for the author as he embarked on it not long after losing his father. That adds great depth to some of the chapters, especially the one when he heads over into the Broch and finds himself won over by the people he jokingly ridicules.
The humorous observations made about the strange Scots he encounters make this an entertaining read. The more bizarre the festival, the more interesting the story and I'm now desperate to see the poor guy who turns himself into a walking hedge every summer for the amusement of folk in South Queensferry. The most mundane event chronicled in the book is arguably one of the most popular but the fact the author is one of the few Scots present at a Highland Games perhaps sums up its lack of appeal to those who see caber tossing and haggis eating contests as something of a tired stereotype. Buckfast-drinking teenagers and folk eating fish suppers off the ground offer a more contemporary take on Scottish society and this book celebrates them in all their glory. Well worth checking out.… (más)