OFFSET YOUR WORLD CUP TRAVEL WITH GREENERTRAVEL
Date: 5th June 2026
Football Transplants
By Donald C Stewart
The plane has departed to the States, with a Fletcher rather than a Gilmour, this 2026 World Cup is our singular obvious focus.
But we are not just in one World Cup…
Now, Duncan MacAulay and David Mckay are unfamiliar names. They shouldn’t be. Duncan MacAulay is behind the establishment of a Scottish football team which over last weekend, took on the might of Wales, Northern Ireland and England in a four nations tournament before they finalise their preparations to go off to their World Cup in Frankfurt in September.
Serving as a warm-up the team ended up at the weekend with the Scotland team battling to the final before losing to England.
You won’t have heard of MacAulay and Mckay because this is a unique team. Not getting the coverage or mentioned in SFA or SPFL dispatches, whilst the excitement of the end of season overcame us and we look forward to watching the summer in America, Mexico and Canada, they are no less important.
Duncan MacAulay established the Scottish transplant football team following a recognition that of the 4 home nations 3 had one, but Scotland didn’t. He has had a transplant and knew the importance of fitness following the operation. And so, he established and set up the Scotland team, and they now are looking forward to a 2026 that is as vital as and as important as Hearts’ run-in to the end of the season and Scotland’s appearance at the World Cup.
David Mckay is the Steve Clarke of the team whilst his son Sam plays for it. When David was just five years old, his father David donated his kidney to ensure that he was going to live. Now 16 he is bearing the fruits of that donation and will represent his country with his father on the sidelines, no doubt shouting instructions as a proud dad always should.
Scotland have already qualified for the World Cup as they won the tri-nations tournament in Dublin in April so like other World Cups, the Cerebral Palsy World Cup, the Homeless World Cup for example, Scotland hopes to have another chapter of success.
It’s overly clichéd to say that they’re already winners because they have survived a tough time in their lives. I can only imagine what it was like, but I know that the healing powers of football is something we see time and again bring people together. Whether it be addiction, self-inflicted wounds or just the vagaries of life because of circumstances or a condition that you deal with daily, football acts as a unifying force.
Of course, we get caught up rightly in debates around the wondrous moments of VAR or pitch incursions (When did they become incursions? I always thought they were invasions) we end up missing out on what is some of the most important aspects that we should be celebrating.
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Tags: oor Donald, Scottish fans