The Scotsman's Slide Continues

Any doubts about the Scotsman's decline from a once great paper will be confirmed with this headline - Swamp soccer makes the beautiful game dirtier than it has ever been. It is the third lead story on their web site, and I assume gets prominent display in the printed edition - ours doesn't arrive until the postman brings it around 10 a.m.

The story goes on to say, 'It's a burgeoning sport which may not cost participants much in the way of equipment, but threatens to bankrupt them with laundry and dry cleaning bills. A Scottish football enthusiast is spearheading the international expansion of swamp soccer, a grimy offshoot of the beautiful game. Played on boggy marshlands rather than pristine turf, the game has built up a cult following in Scotland, with the largest ever tournament due to begin tomorrow.'

It apparently started out in Finland (what does that tell you?) and is somehow linked to cross-country skiing and what do the participants in that sport find to amuse themselves when there's no snow. This weekend there's a competition attracting, apparently fifty teams from around Europe.

The Scotsman's circulation has been in free fall for quite a while now, their news coverage is becoming increasingly bizarre and stories like this confirm they have no intention of being a serious newspaper. I wonder what will happen next?