England vs. Scotland Should Be Here to Stay in the International Calendar

In the last 25 years, England vs. Scotland has been something of a rarity. Since the annual Rous Cup, introduced in 1985 to fill the gap left by the discontinued Home Internationals, was itself discontinued partly due to concerns over crowd violence, the two teams have faced each other only a handful of times.

Five times, in fact: The semi-final of Euro 1996, the two-legged qualifying playoffs for Euro 2000, and then the two friendlies, last season and this.

It is said that familiarity breeds contempt, but the opposite is true as well. In the quarter of a century since England vs. Scotland was last a regular fixture, appetite for the game has grown to the extent that it now looks as if it will now happen more frequently again.

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

And one can see why. It was occasionally easy to forget during Tuesday night's game, won 3-1 by England thanks to goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Wayne Rooney, that this was only a friendly, that nothing tangible was at stake for the two sides at Celtic Park, such was the noise and excitement surrounding the game.

This is a rivalry that seems to exist on roughly the right level at present. Subjectively judging from the crowd, there seems to be just enough animosity to give the game the levels of spice and tension that one would expect from England vs. Scotland, but not enough for it to spill over into anything more unpleasant.

In 1989, the game was marred by violence before, during and after the game in Glasgow, but there seemed to be little of that this time.

Of course, a certain amount of vigilance has to be displayed, as there are still elements of the "hooligan" past in the England support, as was demonstrated by the singing of anti-IRA songs, as reported by the Guardian, an echo of the prevailing behaviour when going to an England game was akin to attending a political rally.

However, this sort of game should be welcomed on a purely footballing level, particularly given Scotland's improvement over the last year or so under Gordon Strachan. Partly due to the expanded nature of Euro 2016, Scotland are in with a much better chance of qualifying for their first international tournament since 1998, and are playing accordingly.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

They are level on points with world champions Germany in their qualification group, and they indeed were unlucky not to beat Joachim Low's side in Dortmund earlier in the season. What's more is that they are playing genuinely good football, which perhaps they didn't show against England, but has been evident for a while now. A crop of good, relatively young players performing at just above their ability is ideal for a smaller nation in international football, and that is exactly what Scotland have at present.

It was also evident from the look in the players' eyes after the game that this was more enjoyable to play in than your standard friendly. Jack Wilshere said after the game, as quoted by Talksport:

"

We loved every minute of it. We knew going in it would be a great occasion but fair play to us we rose to it.

We're just delighted we got the win.

"

This is surely more preferable to playing apathetic friendlies in a half-full Wembley. A game that is competitive on the pitch and carries just enough rivalry off it. Hopefully, England vs. Scotland is back for good.