Why Glasgow is home to world football's sacred 'belly button'

According to Ged O’Brien, founder of the Scottish Football Museum, the site of the original Hampden stadium in Glasgow is the “omphalos” of the footballing world, the place where Scottish players “changed the world and gave us the modern game”.

To explain this reference, according to Ancient Greek myth, Zeus sent two eagles to fly from opposite ends of the world in order to find its centre or ‘navel’. They eventually met at Delphi in Greece, the site of the famous oracle, and Zeus marked Earth’s ‘belly button’ with a magic stone, called the omphalos.

The original Hampden hosted a series of Scotland men’s international games | PA

So, if O’Brien is right – and we have no reason to doubt him – the first Hampden is a sacred place. The news that it has now been designated as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland should, therefore, please the footballing gods no end – and just in time for Scotland’s return to the men’s World Cup for the first time in nearly 30 years!

The Delphic Oracle tended to give infuriatingly cryptic answers to questions, but either we’re getting a bit carried away or the omens are starting to look good...