Gary Heatly in Manchester
Lochaber rugby player Ailsa Graham will be at the Salford Community Stadium on Saturday handing out special thistles she has made via yarn art.
And she hopes that the thistles will inspire her fellow Scots in the crowd in Manchester to cheer loudly and hopes they will inspire the team to a Women’s Rugby World Cup victory over Fiji (2.45pm, live on BBC Two).
The 30-year-old, who is now based in Fort William after growing up in England, takes up the story.
“I watched rugby with my dad when I was growing up and really enjoyed it,” she explained.
“I had wanted to try playing for a while and joined my local women’s team Lochaber last summer.
“I had the idea of making the thistles after seeing the Red Roses launch their yarn art campaign for the World Cup.
“I enjoy both knitting and crochet so liked the idea, but as I’m Scottish I didn’t want to make anything English.
“Instead, I thought it would be nice to make some Scottish yarn art for me and my club team mates who I’m heading to the game with this weekend.
I then thought it would be nice to have enough to hand out to the crowd and try to make a big thing of it and give people something they could take home with them.
“I’ve had time for all this as I have been off work over the summer with a post-concussion syndrome which left me unable to work and exercise and really limited my normal day activities.
“Making the thistles gave me something positive to put my energy into and a project I could focus on while I recover as I really need to look after my mental health during the recovery period.
“I also was able to send some of the thistles to the Scottish team which was super exciting and made the project feel even bigger.”
So, how does Ailsa make the special thistles and where can you pick one up if you are heading to the Fiji match?
“I crochet them,” she explained.
“I make the head and the leaves with green yarn, the stalks are wires with yarn wrapped around them and the flower heads are pink, purple and blue yarn that is combed to separate the strands and give the thistles flower effect.
“On Saturday, I’ll be at both Canada-Wales at noon and then the Scotland-Fiji game with some of my team mates from Lochaber.
“I’ll have thistles in my hair to help me stand out and Scotland supporters just need to come and ask for one from me or any of my team mates.
“I’ve only got around 230 thistles so I’m going to prioritise giving them to kids supporting Scotland.
“I’m super excited to be going to the match, I have never been to an international rugby match before so going to one in the World Cup is massively exciting and I can’t wait to see Scotland play.
“Also, with having made thistles for the best part of two months, it’s really exciting to finally get to hand them out and spread the love for Scotland.
“I hope the players might see some thistles amongst the crowd. I’m hoping to see some cool tries by the wingers, but as long as Scotland win I’ll be happy!”
The win versus Wales last weekend now makes the Scots favourites to progress to the quarter-finals from Pool B at the World Cup behind likely group winners Canada. That would mean a probable knock-out tie with world number one side England on September 14.
However, there is a lot of rugby to be played before then and, after Fiji this time out, there is a meeting with world number two Canada in Exeter on September 6.
Scotland squad to play Fiji: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Francesca McGhie; Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Leah Bartlett, Elis Martin, Elliann Clarke, Emma Wassell, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm (C), Rachel McLachlan, Evie Gallagher. Subs: Molly Wright, Anne Young, Lisa Cockburn, Adelle Ferrie, Eva Donaldson, Alex Stewart, Caity Mattinson, Beth Blacklock.
The Fiji matchday 23 is here.
Ailsa Graham and the thistles she has been making are pictured
From August 7 until September 30, GH Media will be following the Scotland World Cup journey all of the way. We will be at all of the Scotland matches down south and will be bringing you all of the interviews and news from camp as well as taking a wider look at the tournament as a whole and its impact on the women’s game. Thanks to Quirky Chocolate and other supporters for allowing this content to happen and to readers for engaging with it.