St Johnstone Fans Treated for Vertigo After Club Climbs to Fifth in Premiership
Supporters 'not used to the altitude'; oxygen masks issued at McDiarmid Park ahead of Dundee United clash.
A Saints supporter adjusts to the thin air of the top six.
PERTH — Medical staff at McDiarmid Park have been placed on alert ahead of Saturday’s home match against Dundee United, after dozens of St Johnstone supporters reported dizziness, nausea and a strange lightness of being following the club’s rise to fifth place in the Scottish Premiership.
“It’s altitude sickness, basically,” said club physio Lorna Grant, 39, handing out paper bags at the turnstiles. “Most of our fans have spent years acclimatised to the lower slopes of the table. Ninth, tenth, the odd glorious seventh. Then suddenly they look up and they’re in the top six. The human body just isn’t designed for that.”
Symptoms reported by supporters include shortness of breath, tingling in the scarf area, and an unfamiliar urge to say the word “Europe” out loud.
“I was reading the table in the Courier and I had to lie down on the kitchen floor,” said season ticket holder Robert Watt, 67. “My wife thought I was having a turn. I said, ‘Look at it, Margaret. Look at where we are.’ She looked. She lay down too.”
Club officials have taken precautions. Oxygen masks will be available in the East Stand, which has now been electrically certified as “probably fine”, and supporters are advised to climb the stairs to their seats slowly, pausing at each landing “to adjust to the height of their own expectations”.
Psychologists say the condition is common among supporters of smaller clubs. “They spend so long bracing for disappointment that when success comes, their bodies don’t know what to do with it,” explained one expert. “Some cry. Some laugh. One man in the North Stand just kept repeating the phrase ‘it’ll no’ last’ until he fell asleep.”
Asked whether fans should get used to the view, Grant was cautious. “Let’s see what happens on Saturday,” she said. “If we beat United, we’ll need a helicopter.”
The real story: St Johnstone go fifth after 1-0 win at Aberdeen; next up Dundee United at home on 17 Oct (BBC Sport / fixtures)
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