Tartan Spartans Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1990 FIFA World Cup

The 1990 FIFA World Cup took place in Italy. Scotland qualified for the tournament by finishing second in their European (UEFA) qualification group. In the draw for the tournament that took place in December 1989 they were placed in Group C along with Brazil, Costa Rica, and Sweden. In their first match they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica, before beating Sweden 2-1 in their second game, a 1-0 defeat to Brazil in their final match saw them finish the group in third place with two points. The team failed to qualify for the knockout stages though as their points total was not enough for them to go through as one of the four best ranked third-placed teams. The tournament was won by West Germany, who defeated Argentina 1-0 in the final.

Roy Aitken was a utility player who could play as either a defender or midfielder, he was also the team captain for the tournament. He represented his national side on 57 occasions between 1979 and 1991 and scored one goal. He Aitken began his playing career in the youth team at Celtic in 1973 before moving up to the first team in 1975, he remained with Celtic until 1990, making over 480 appearances for the side and scoring 40 goals. In January 1990 he joined English side Newcastle United and would also go on to play for Scottish teams St Mirren and Aberdeen before retiring from playing in 1995. In February 1995, he was appointed manager of Aberdeen, having previously held the role of player-assistant manager since joining the club in 1992. He was sacked by Aberdeen in November 1997 and moved into coaching, working with teams such as the Maldives national team, and English sides Leeds United and Aston Villa.

Answer: 1990 FIFA World Cup

Jim Leighton was a goalkeeper and played in 91 international matches for Scotland from 1982 to 1998. He played in three world cup tournaments in 1986, 1990 and 1998, and was a non-playing squad member in 1982. He began his professional career with Aberdeen in 1977 and won seven domestic and two European titles with the club under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson.

In 1988 Leighton left Aberdeen to join Ferguson at Manchester United. He remained at the club until 1992 before returning to Scotland to join Dundee, in 1993 he moved to Hibernian before rejoining Aberdeen in 1997.

He retired from playing in May 2000.

Answer: 1990 FIFA World Cup

Stuart McCall was born in Leeds, England but qualified to play for Scotland through his Scottish father. He played in midfield and made 40 international appearances for Scotland, scoring once, his only goal coming at the 1990 World Cup against Sweden. He joined English Third Division side Bradford City in 1980 and made his first-team debut for them in 1982; he remained there until 1988 before moving to Everton. In 1991 he was signed by Scottish Premier Division champions Rangers and during his seven years at the club he won 10 domestic titles. In 1998, McCall returned to Bradford City on a free transfer and was made club captain by manager Paul Jewell.

He then joined Sheffield United in 2002 and remained with them until he retired from playing in 2005. After his retirement he was made assistant manager to Neil Warnock at Sheffield United; and held the role until the end of the 2006-07 season. In June 2007, he was appointed manager of Bradford City, this was to be the second of his four spells in charge of the club, his first was in 2000 when he was caretaker manager for two games, his second spell in charge ended in 2010 when he left the club by mutual consent. He returned to Bradford for a third term in June 2016 before being sacked in February 2018. His fourth and final spell at the club was from February 2020 to December 2020. In between his spells as Bradford City manager, he also held managerial roles at Scottish side Motherwell (2010-14), Rangers (2015) and English side Scunthorpe United (2018-19).

Answer: 1990 FIFA World Cup

Ally McCoist's playing position was as a striker. He made his debut for Scotland in 1986 against the Netherlands and played his final game for them against Estonia in 1998. In total he won 61 international caps and scored 19 goals. He began his domestic career in 1979 playing for Perth-based side St Johnstone in the Scottish League First Division. In 1981 he was signed by English side Sunderland and remained with them for the next two seasons. In the summer of 1983, McCoist returned to his homeland and joined Scottish Premier Division side Rangers.

He spent the next fifteen seasons playing for them and during his time there helped them to win the Scottish Premier Division on ten occasions, this included nine successive league titles between the 1988-89 and 1996-97 seasons. He also won nine Scottish League Cup winner's medals and one Scottish Cup winner's medal with them. In his fifteen seasons with Rangers he made a total of 581 appearances and scored 355 goals in all competitions. In 1998, he joined fellow Scottish top-flight side Kilmarnock and played the final three seasons of his career with them. His final game was against Celtic in May 2001.

Between 2004 and 2011, McCoist worked under with his former Rangers manager Walter Smith, firstly as part of the coaching staff for the Scottish national side which Smith managed, then in January 2007 when Smith returned to Rangers as their manager, McCoist joined him there as assistant manager. At the end of the 2010-11 season Smith retired as Rangers' manager and McCoist succeeded him in the role. He remained in charge for the next three and a half seasons. His final game as manager was in December 2014. In addition to his footballing achievements McCoist has forged a successful career in television, some of his roles include, working as a football commentator and pundit for a variety of media outlets and between 1996 and 2007 he was a team captain on the BBC TV quiz show "A Question of Sport".

Answer: 1990 FIFA World Cup

Alex McLeish was a central defender. He won 77 caps for Scotland and played in three world cups during an international career that began in 1980 and ended in 1993. He spent the whole of his domestic career, which lasted from 1978 to 1995, playing in Scotland; the majority of which was spent with Aberdeen (1978-1994). In his seventeen seasons with the club he won a multitude of league titles and trophies, these include, the Scottish Premier Division on three occasions, the Scottish Cup five times, two Scottish League Cup, as well as both the European Cup Winners' Cup and European Super Cup on one occasion each. In the summer of 1994 McLeish joined Motherwell to take on the role of player-manager. He ended his playing career after one season with them, but continued as their manager until 1998 when he resigned to take over as manager at Edinburgh-based club Hibernian.

McLeish remained at Hibernian until 2001, when he was recruited by Rangers, where he stayed until the end of the 2005-06 season. In January 2007, McLeish was appointed manager of the Scotland national team. He resigned from the role in November 2007 after Scotland failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 Championship. Between 2007 and 2013 McLeish held managerial roles with English sides Birmingham City, Aston Villa, and Nottingham Forest. His next role was with Belgian club Genk who he managed during the 2014-15 season, this was followed by a 10 week stint as manager of Egyptian Premier League club Zamalek in 2016. In February 2018, he was reappointed as Scotland manager, but he was sacked in April 2019 after losing seven of his twelve games in charge.

Answer: 1995 Rugby World Cup

The 1995 Rugby World Cup was staged in South Africa. Scotland automatically qualified for the tournament as they had reached the quarter-finals at the previous World Cup in 1991. They were placed in Pool D with France, Tonga, and the Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire). In their first match, Scotland defeated the Ivory Coast 89-0, and then followed it up with a 41-5 victory over Tonga in their second game. They suffered a 22-19 defeat to France in their final group match but their two wins meant they had done enough to finish second in the group and qualify for the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals they faced New Zealand, but a 48-30 defeat in Pretoria saw them exit the tournament. The tournament was won by host nation South Africa, who defeated New Zealand 15-12 in the final.

Craig Chalmers was a Fly Half who began his playing career with the Scottish Borders side Melrose in 1987. He would also go on to play for fellow Scottish teams Border Reivers, Edinburgh Rugby, and Glasgow Warriors during his club rugby career. He made his Scotland debut in 1989, representing his country 60 times and scoring a total of 166 points for them. He was also selected for the 1989 British & Irish Lions tour of Australia and played in one of the three tests against the hosts. He retired from playing in 2003 and took up a coaching role with Melrose the following year.

Answer: 1995 Rugby World Cup

Damian Cronin was born in West Germany but qualified to play for Scotland because his grandparents were from Musselburgh, a coastal town near Edinburgh. His playing position was as a Lock / Second Row forward. He played for Scotland 45 times and scored five tries in an international career that lasted from 1988 to 1998.

He played the majority of his domestic rugby career in England, playing for club sides Bath, London Scottish, and Wasps. He also had a short stint playing in France for Bourges.

Answer: 1995 Rugby World Cup

Gavin Hastings played at Full Back. He made his international debut in the 1986 Five Nations Championship against France and scored all of Scotland's points in an 18-17 victory. He was captain of the Scottish side at the 1995 World Cup and finished the tournament as the second highest points scorer with 104 points. Scotland's quarter-final defeat to New Zealand in the competition was to be Hastings' final international match.

He ended his Scotland career with 61 caps, 20 of these as captain. He also toured with the British and Irish Lions on two occasions, firstly to Australia in 1989, and in 1993 he captained the side on their tour to New Zealand.

Answer: 1995 Rugby World Cup

Bryan Redpath playing position was as a Scrum-half. He played domestic rugby in Scotland, France and England, for Melrose, RC Narbonne and Sale Sharks respectively. He played for Scotland 60 times between 1993 and 2003, appearing at three world cups in 1995, 1999, and 2003 where he captained the side.

In 2005, after retiring from playing he moved into coaching and since then has held a variety of coaching and director of rugby roles within the game, working with English club sides such as Gloucester, Sale Sharks, Yorkshire Carnegie and London Scottish.

His son Cameron is also a Scottish international and made his debut in the 2021 Six Nations Championship against England, where he played at Inside Centre.

Answer: 1995 Rugby World Cup

Doddie Weir played as a as a Lock / Second Row forward. He made 61 international appearances for Scotland between 1990 and 2000 and played at three world cups during that time. In 2017 he set up the "My Name'5 Doddie" foundation after he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND) the previous year.

The foundation's takes its name in part from the number 5 shirt that Doddie wore during his playing career. The charity's aim is to raise awareness of the disease and organise fundraising events to raise money for research into finding a cure.

In 2018 the Doddie Weir Cup was established. The trophy is contested between Scotland and Wales. Doddie Weir died from MND in 2022, aged 52. At the time of his death, the My Name'5 Doddie foundation had raised over £8 million.

Answer: 1999 Cricket World Cup

The 1999 Cricket World Cup was staged predominantly in England, with 37 of the 42 matches in the tournament being played at English grounds. Of the five remaining matches, two were played in Scotland, whilst Wales, Ireland, and the Netherlands hosted one match each. Scotland qualified for the 1999 World Cup by finishing third in the 1997 ICC Trophy, and in doing so, they took the last of the three qualifying spots that were available for the tournament. The twelve teams at the World Cup were split into two groups of six, Scotland were placed in Pool B along with, Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the West Indies. Sadly for Scotland they lost all five of their group matches and failed to progress to the next stage of tournament. The tournament was won by Australia, who beat Pakistan by eight wickets in the final.

John Blain was a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler. He was Scotland's most successful bowler at the 1999 World Cup, taking 10 wickets at an average of 21.00 in his five matches, his best bowling figures in the tournament were 4/37, taken against Bangladesh. He also scored 15 runs with the bat at an average of 3.75 and had a highest score of 9. He played a total of 33 One Day Internationals for Scotland between 1999 and 2009. He took 41 wickets at an average of 28.60 with best bowling figures of 5/22, with the bat he scored a total of 284 runs at an average of 14.94, and had a highest score of 41.

Answer: 1999 Cricket World Cup

Alec Davies was a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. He played in all five of Scotland's matches at the 1999 World Cup, scoring 83 runs at an average of 20.75, with a highest score of 32 against Bangladesh. These five matches would be the only One Day Internationals that Davies would play for Scotland as he retired from playing international cricket later that same year.

Answer: 1999 Cricket World Cup

Nick Dyer was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-spin bowler. He played a total of five One Day Internationals for Scotland, all of these at the 1999 World Cup. Dyer took five wickets in the tournament at an average of 23.40, his best bowling figures for the competition were 2/26, taken in the match against Bangladesh.

In addition to his cricketing achievements, Dyer was also an accomplished squash player and represented Wales at international level.

Answer: 1999 Cricket World Cup

Gavin Hamilton was a left-handed batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler. He made his One Day International debut in Scotland's opening match at the 1999 World Cup against Australia. He was Scotland's highest scoring batsman during the tournament with a total of 217 runs in his five matches at an average of 54.25, and he had a highest score of 76 against Pakistan. He took three wickets in the tournament at an average of 49.67, with his best innings figures being 2/36, also in the match against Pakistan.

In July 2009, Hamilton took over as Scotland's captain and scored a century in his first match in charge against Canada. He led the side until June 2010 when he handed over the reins to Gordon Drummond. He played two further matches for Scotland before retiring from international cricket in August 2010. He played a total of 38 One Day Internationals for Scotland between 1999 and 2010, he scored 1231 runs at an average of 35.17, this included two 100s, seven 50s and a highest score of 119.

Answer: 1999 Cricket World Cup

George Salmond was a right-handed batsman who was also Scotland's captain for the duration of the 1999 World Cup. He only played in five One Day Internationals during his career, all of these coming in this tournament. He scored a total of 57 runs in the competition at an average of 11.40, with a highest score of 31 on debut against Australia.