IT is a fearsome trivia question:
name the Scottish player, still playing in senior football, who has never kicked a ball in the club game north of the border, nor graced the full international side, but nonetheless has the distinction of having played the full 90 minutes of an FA Cup final and featured for his side in Uefa competition? If you need a further clue, he sounds as Cockney as a member of the cast of EastEnders and will be on your TV screens this evening for another team with a glorious FA Cup pedigree, albeit in a rather different guise.
The answer is Peter Sweeney, and for those who gave up, his main claim to fame arrived early in his career. As a 19-year-old, he lined up alongside player/manager Dennis Wise and future Everton stalwart Tim Cahill in the Millwall midfield at the Millennium Stadium in May 2004. The London club's brave cup exploits came up short that day against a Manchester United team showcasing the talents of Cristiano Ronaldo for pretty much the first time, but Sweeney has Paul Scholes' jersey on his wall to remind him of the occasion and the experience of a brief escapade in European football - Millwall lost to Hungarian side Ferencvaros - to cherish.
"It was a special day for me," Sweeney told Herald Sport. "I was only a kid and I have fond memories but it was kind of a blur. I was maybe a bit young to appreciate how big the game actually was. Maybe I took it granted that I might play for another one. It is only when I am older and wiser that I appreciate how few people actually get to play in one and realise how nice it is to have on the cv. We had a really, really good side and we should have been promoted as well. When we got to the semi final we were in the play-off places with a couple of games in hand and the cup run took our focus away."
Now 29, Sweeney is part of an equally unlikely suburban London success story as he prepares to compete in the first round of this year's competition. After spells at Stoke City, Leeds United, Grimsby Town and Bury, he has returned south with AFC Wimbledon, the re-born entity fans claim as the spiritual successor to the Crazy Gang who scooped the trophy in 1988. Their match will be live on BT Sport, and it seems almost fitting that the opposition should be provided by nomads Coventry City, with their own Scottish links in the form of midfielder John Fleck and manager Steven Pressley.
"The rise of Wimbledon has been unbelievable," Sweeney said. "For a club to start from basically nothing and become what it has become now [Sky Bet League Two, just one division below Coventry] is great to be part of. I moved my family back down and it is one of the best decisions I have made and I am so glad to be part of it. With the FA Cup in general you get that cup fever, it is a chance to play against the higher standard teams, but with that added history it is a bit special."
In these days of changing international allegiances, it is also nice to note Sweeney's Scottishness remains undimmed, even if you suspect there is fair chance of him breaking off into rhyming slang at any point. Although he featured for England's schoolboy side, he is proud of the six Under-21 caps he won for Scotland under Rainer Bonhof. Born in Glasgow to two Scottish parents, and with an extended cast of aunts and uncles still resident in Glasgow, even his two children under the age of three - Macie and Sonny - have been left in little doubt about their national identity.
"I was born in Glasgow and I have no English family, apart from my wife Natalie," Sweeney said. "My mum and dad and everyone in my whole family is Scottish, but I moved down here when I was only about six months old, so that is why I have got a Cockney accent. I didn't know any different. Even though I have lived down here for so long I am 100% Scottish and I will never forget that. My dad would never let me forget it if my kids ended up playing for England."
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