ALISON RODGER is ready to do battle like a Gladiator in Glasgow, even if her chosen event involves a shot put rather than a pugil stick.
The 29-year-old from Clydebank narrowly missed the cut for a role in prime-time TV show Gladiators when Sky resurrected it in 2009, but the chance to compete for Scotland at a home Commonwealth Games is more than adequate compensation. And however she fares next Wednesday, she has already created a family first just by reaching a Hampden final.
Jim, her father, was a journeyman left-back whose 400 career games for Clydebank and Airdrie culminated in a 2-0 defeat to Celtic at the national stadium in the 1990 Scottish Cup semi-final. "I got a call after training one day to go down to London, do the auditions, stuff like that," said Rodger. "I think Shirley Webb [the former hammer thrower who did make it on to the show, acquiring the nickname 'Battleaxe'] nominated me for it. It was great. They wanted to call me Striker if I got picked. Maybe it was the football link.
"The auditions involved a lot of fitness work to start with, then they did the TV stuff, put you in the kit, did some photos - things like that," she added. "But I didn't get selected. From what I got told they had already got some larger Gladiators and they were looking for smaller ones!"
Rodger, an exiled Rangers fan who combines her training with a human resources job in Leicester, is no stranger to Hampden as a member of the Tartan Army. But the chance to compete for her country there - in an event where she is ranked in the top 10 in the Commonwealth - will be something else entirely.
"My dad was in the Scottish Cup semi-final in 1990," said Rodger. "They got beaten against Celtic that day so he doesn't talk about it! He just tells me he was there and that's it.
"I was apparently there watching too but I was only six so I don't remember. I think he's pleased to be going back to see me. It was always an ongoing joke that he had his name up in lights at Hampden and I could never do it. But it's 1-1 now. In fact I might have trumped him."
The 29-year-old has had to overcome a serious knee injury, but managing to contain herself may be the greatest challenge. "My biggest battle on the day will be controlling the excitement," she said. "Hopefully we can use it to our advantage."
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