A diehard Scotland fan at Euro 2024 has revealed the extreme lengths he goes to follow the Tartan Army regularly.
Despite living in Perth, in Australia, Daryll Falls, 48, travels to every Scotland away fixture and when qualification to the competition in Germany was confirmed immediately booked a 9,000-mile trek around the world.
“When I’m not working I’m flying to Norway, France, Spain or Cyprus,” he told the Express. “The football is the only thing I miss about being Australia.”
As well as being great fun, traveling to Germany offers the Scotland fan a chance to meet up with many of his old friends.
One of those is Daryll’s mate Graeme Mutch who has travelled from even further, making an 11,000-mile trip from New Zealand.
Graeme was even more excited to arrive at Euro 2024 as it was the first time he’d been able to watch the Tartan Army at a big competition.
“I’ve never been to a major tournament because I missed 1998 through illness,” Graeme, 51, explained.
“It’s taken 24 hours for me to get here. But it’s worth it, I’ve not seen some of these boys for 40 years – but it’s just like being straight back into it.
“The jet lag takes you a few days to get over, but it’s what you do for Scotland.”
Before moving to the other side of the globe the two friends had some wild times watching the national team play abroad.
The pair laughed as they recalled partying so hard they never made it out of their Faroe Islands hotel.
However, whilst Graeme is still nursing a pint his pal Daryll now watches the Tartan Army teetotal.
“I’ve retired from drinking,” he explained. “It’s different being sober because I’m normally a car crash [if drunk] and [me and Graeme] were a nightmare together.
“Some of the games we never even went to because we were that drunk. We’ve been right around the world watching Scotland, it’s crazy.
“[Being sober] gives a different perspective, I still have fun, but you’re more cautious in what you do. It’s an eye opener being on the other side and seeing what [the ones drinking] get up to.”
Watching football around the world is also the reason Daryll met his wife, a Brazillian he encountered in a Rio De Janeiro bar during the 2014 World Cup.
Despite being sober, his trip to Germany has been everything he hoped it would, the only downer being the performance of the Scottish team.
“It’s been really good apart from the football,” Daryll continued. “I mean, I knew we weren’t going to get a result against Germany. But the display, there was just no heart. It was disappointing.
“It’s the usual story for the Scottish fans. The football sucks [but the craic] is unreal, that next level.”
Both men are booked to travel home after the final group game versus Hungary, but they hope a couple of victories see them prolonging their wild tour with the Tartan Army.
