Scotland’s Subbuteo team have perfectly imitated the senior football side by failing to qualify for the latter stages of the World Cup.
Like the national teams of bygone years, the squad were even humbled by a minnow along the way as every individual player, and the full team, were knocked out at the first stage.
Gareth Christie (33) from Abernethy, Scotland’s number two ranked player, said the failure was not entirely unexpected.
He said: ”We all had a great time, but couldn’t quite match up with some of the bigger nations. This was our first tournament in ten years, and the standard is so strong in other countries. We were up against some very experienced players.”
Hundreds of enthusiasts from across the world converged on Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium to take part in the 16th annual World Cup Sport Table Football.
Scotland lost in the team event 3-1 to Germany, and 4-0 to both Denmark and Malta.
And in another mirror image of the grass game, Gareth said a lack of young national talent is inhibiting success.
The freelance digital artist, who trains at the Tayside Kickers Table Football Club in Arbroath, said: ”Other countries have a stream of young players coming through, but in Scotland we don’t. Our youth structure is non-existent.
”Italy has over 1300 players, while we have only 40 playing competitively. It’s hard to keep up with these sides.”