‘It was carnage' – I slept in a SKIP the night I made Scottish Cup history with Hibs against Rangers
MADCAP footballer Jason Cummings has told how he slept in a skip the night Hibs won the Scottish Cup for the first time in over a century.
Cummings, 29, was part of the Hibs team that defeated Rangers 3-2 at Hampden Park on Saturday 21 May 2016.
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Victory ended a 114 year Scottish Cup hoodoo for the Edinburgh club and sparked unprecedented celebrations among their fans.
The following day the team took part in an open top bus victory parade through the capital to their home in Leith.
Cummings told the Open Goal podcast: "That group of boys was class. It was carnage. We were right on the bevvies and then we went out on a three or four day bender.
"That's the best, after it when you're celebrating in the changing room. The parade was unbelievable as well after that -- just seeing the people, it was like 200-plus-thousand, it was unbelievable.
"The night before that parade I woke up in a skip. I was out all night and I swear, see one of those nights where you're out on it non-stop and I mind walking past this skip.
"And mate, I'm f****** shattered and I just jumped in there and fell asleep.
"The sun woke me up and 'you've got the parade today'. I had to jump out the skip like that and get the suit on, straight back out. I loved it.
"It (the parade day) was class. People greeting their eyes out, like 'never seen it in my life', 'you've made my life', 'you'll never need to buy a drink again'.
"We were just heros. It was class. Really good."
Cummings, who grew up a Hearts fan, became a hero at Hibs.
He left the club for Nottingham Forest the following year and was sent out on three loan moves including a spell at Rangers.
He also played for Dundee before a life-changing move to Australia.
He currently stars for Indian Super League champions Mohun Bagan, based in Kolkata.
The striker, who also plays for the Australian national team despite representing Scotland in a friendly, said he's loving life in India.
He said: "I love it. It's a different world out there but football-wise it's a different class.
"We get 60,000 or 70,000 every game, and the fans just love football.
"When I first went I thought obviously cricket is massive there but we're in Kolkata and they just all love football... (I'm the) main man, bigger than the Beatles over there. Can't move walking down the streets."
He added: "It's chaos, with the fans. As soon as we leave (the hotel) -- the stadium is right over the road -- it should be a five minute drive but it takes us an hour to get there.
"There's flares -- I saw a ten year old on a horse with a flare going to the game."
Despite a reputation for his exuberant behaviour, he said he enjoys quieter pursuits in India.
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He said: "Lifestyle-wise there's not much to do. We'll go out for a wee game of golf with the boys but I play a bit of chess. I'm good at the chess, I love it.
"There's so much time over there. When we go back after training we're just in the hotel so it's the same food, everyone is in there, the manager is in there as well, and all the coaches.
"There's a tennis court there... a bit of poker. We go out and about but as soon as you go out and about you just get crowded, like proper.
"Because there's not many tourists you stick out like a sore thumb. They see me, blond hair and all that, they're just on you for photos, photos, photos.
"When my mum came over, she was like Joanna Lumley over there. She was getting surrounded, non-stop, you can't go anywhere.
"It's a city of joy, Kolkata, but just so many people.
"The maddest thing I've seen, just everyday... cows just going up the street, goats, stray dogs running on the training pitch and that."
But he said India offered him something he wouldn't find anywhere else.
He added: "It just came about, they were interested and they were proper wanting me.
"I looked into it a wee bit and, I don't know, the fanbase and all that.
"I saw the games and 60,000 or 70,000 I thought that's a bit me that.
"I'll go over there and try it... just the atmosphere at the games, that they all love it over there, I just thought where else can you get that?
"I wouldn't get that anywhere else."
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