Hampden is the home of the National Team and there have been many great days and nights for Scotland at the Old Lady.  Many illustrious opponents have encountered the Hampden Roar and this section highlights some of the great international matches and events.

Despite the strong wind and the threat of rain a large crowd of around 15000 watched the match at the First Hampden. Special trains and horse drawn cabs were provided to cope with the large crowd. The match was played under English rules and one of the more successful tactics employed by the English team was their one handed hurl used at throw ins. On a number of occasions Charles Campbell (Hall of Fame) had to clear his defensive lines by heading out the long throws. The assured combination play of the Scots backed by a strong wind created a four goal lead at half time, but with both teams changing ends it was expected that England would come back into the match. To the surprise of most Scotland managed to dominate the early exchanges and added to their lead. England came into the match late on and managed to score two goals but even the loss of the Rangers full back Tom Vallance through injury could do little to affect the final result.

The match marked the return of the home nations to FIFA. The British team was made up of five Englishmen, three Scots, two from Wales and one from Northern Ireland. 130,000 watched the match which was a contrast in styles between the direct robust  British game, and the more intricate passing movements of the Europeans. The game ended in a 6-1 win for Great Britain.

Among the British stars that day were Billy Steel (Morton) Stanley Matthews (Blackpool), Wilf Mannion (Middlesborough) and Tommy Lawton (Chelsea).

A crowd of 113,146 watched the Magyars, the best international team of the time, sparkle on a hard, frost bound pitch to lead 3-1 at half time through goals from Bozsik, Hidegkuti and Sandor. Scotland's goal came from Tommy Ring. In the second half Scotland scored again through Bobby Johnstone but in the last minute the Hungarians put the game out of reach with a goal from Kocsis.

The Scots had lost 9-3 at Wembley the year before, and had not won an 'official' international against England at Hampden since 1937. An early goal by Davy Wilson of Rangers settled the nerves, and a penalty in the last few minutes by Eric Caldow, also of Rangers, saw off the English challenge. This was a good period for the Scottish team, between 1960 and 1964 they lost only one international at Hampden and won 12.

This benefit match was arranged to help the relatives of those who lost their lives in the Ibrox disaster of January that year, when 66 people were crushed to death on stairway 13 at Ibrox Park. It was the worst disaster in the history of Scottish football.  It lead eventually to the all-seater stadia which we have today.

The Scottish team was a full strength side, with the opposition provided by five players from Rangers, three from Celtic and three guest stars, Bonetti (Chelsea), and Bobby Charlton and George Best from Manchester United. Scotland won 2-1, with goals from Peter Lorimer and Archie Gemmill. Best scored for the Old Firm.

The man who scored Scotland's first international goal was Henry Renny-Tailyour. He was born in India in 1849 and after attending Cheltenham College he attended the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich and was commissioned in 1870. He was a noted runner and played first class cricket and represented Scotland at football and rugby. With the Royal Engineers he played in three FA Cup Finals. He had only one cap for Scotland but scored the first international goal in 1873 in a 4-2 defeat by England.

On 26th March 1986 Liverpool's Kenny Dalglish, formerly of Celtic and Liverpool became the first and, so far, only Scot to make 100 international appearances when Scotland beat Romania 3-0. Kenny was presented with a special trophy by German legend Franz Beckenbauer to mark the occasion.