Yes Sir, I Can Boogie: Why disco hit is now Scotland's unofficial anthem - BBC News
The 1970s disco classic has become the country's unofficial anthem ahead of the match with England.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Thousands of Scotland fans are in London ahead of their Euro 2020 match with England - but the skirl of the bagpipes has largely been drowned out by a 1970s disco classic.

Videos of the Tartan Army belting out Yes Sir, I Can Boogie on the streets of the English capital have been all over social media.

So how did the song become the country's unofficial national anthem?

It started when a video of ecstatic players dancing to the tune went viral after Scotland clinched qualification for the tournament by defeating Serbia on penalties in November.

The song by Spanish duo Baccara spent a single week at the top of the UK charts in 1977.

But last year it got a fresh lease of life when it was used by the Keeping the Ball on the Ground podcast as a tribute to defender Andrew Considine.

Scotland defender Andrew Considine (centre) dressed in drag to dance to the tune on his stag do five years ago

The Aberdeen cult hero - who was called up to the Scotland team for the first time last year at the age of 33 - famously starred in a spoof video of the song on his stag do.

The player was unrecognisable as he dressed in drag to strut his stuff to the tune alongside friends and his father, with the professionally-produced video being played on his wedding day in 2015.

Considine was an unused substitute for the historic match with Serbia, which saw the Scottish men's team dramatically end more than 20 years of hurt by clinching a place at the European Championships.

But a video tweeted by the Scotland National Team after the game showed him in the thick of the action as he boogie-woogied with team mates including Kieran Tierney, Scott McTominay, Leigh Griffiths and Callum McGregor.

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by Scotland National Team This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

The video immediately caught the imagination of the Tartan Army, with jubilant fans starting a campaign to get the song back to Number One in the charts.

Not all the team's heroes had been able to get involved, with midfielders John McGinn and Ryan Christie - who scored Scotland's goal in the match - having to take routine drug tests while the party was kicking off in the dressing room.

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 2 by Scotland National Team This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Luckily for McGinn and Christie, the boogie-woogieing did indeed continue long into the night - with fresh footage of celebrations at what appears to be the team hotel in Belgrade being tweeted the next morning.

This time the soundtrack of choice was Saturday Night by Whigfield as goalkeeper David Marshall led a conga around the room while teammates chanted his name to the 90s hit.

Marshall had earlier written himself into Scottish football folklore by saving Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic's penalty to clinch victory in the shootout.

Singer Maria Mendiola, who formed Baccara along with Mayte Mateos, later said she was delighted that the song had found a new audience more than 40 years after its release.

She told BBC Scotland: "With this pandemic, I have been sitting at home and this has uplifted me in a way you cannot imagine.

"I will always thank the Scottish team and especially Andy Considine for making me so happy after 43 years.

"I saw all the articles and everyone was calling me. I was delighted. I thanked the Scotland team and spoke with Andy over Instagram. He had such nice words."

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post 3 by Ben Philip This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

The boogieing began in earnest once more as Euro 2020 got under way, with the 12,000 fans who were allowed to be inside Hampden belting out the song ahead of Scotland's opening match with the Czech Republic.

The game - Scotland's first in a major tournament for 23 years - ended in a 2-0 defeat.

But the result didn't appear to have dampened spirits too much ahead of the eagerly awaited clash with the Auld Enemy at Wembley.

Videos of fans singing the song on planes and trains as they made their way south for the match have been racking up hundreds of thousands of view on social media.

And regardless of what happens in the game, a certain song will keep the Tartan Army boogie-woogieing all night long.