US family and devoted Hearts fans' first ever Tynecastle visit as they hail 'amazing' atmosphere v Rangers
Matt and Tammy Norman visited Tynecastle for the first time with the Hearts-crazy daughter Maddie for the Hearts vs Rangers game
A family of diehard Hearts fans from the United States made the trip of a lifetime to Tynecastle Park on Monday to cheer on the Edinburgh club to a huge win over title rivals Rangers.
Matt and Tammy Norman, from Indianapolis in Indiana, travelled almost 3,800 miles last weekend for a whirlwind three-day round-trip to attend the monumental Hearts vs Rangers match alongside their 15-year-old daughter and devoted Jambo, Maddie.
Speaking to the Evening News, Mr Norman said the family’s surprising love affair with Hearts properly began in the early 2010s when Maddie, who is a talented footballer herself, first picked up the sport.
As a youngster, soccer-mad Maddie would opt to tune into whatever European football match was being broadcast on American TV on a Saturday morning when most of her friends would be watching Peppa Pig.
Attracted to the club’s unusual name, maroon jerseys and iconic heart crest, Maddie’s adoration of Heart of Midlothian sprang from there.
He said: “She played soccer as a junior and those games were at 8am or 9am on Saturday mornings.
“I would go wake her up and instead of putting on Peppa Pig, I would find whatever soccer game I could to kind of get in the mood for the match.
“I would always pull up whichever match was on at that point and it was pretty regularly the Scottish league games and as a little girl, Maddie would always ask me to watch Hearts, so they became our team.”
Tammy added: “She was younger when she started watching the team and we assume it was the name/logo. She was at an age where she was also watching Peppa Pig and Frozen, so the "Hearts" became the team we looked for.”
In what was their first visit to the Capital, Matt and Tammy organised a trip to Gorgie after securing gold-dust tickets for Hearts’ showdown against Rangers at Tynecastle on Monday, May 4.
Not only did the family luck out with the beautiful, sunny weather that day, but the Jambos prevailed on the pitch, securing a vital 2-1 victory that effectively knocked their opponents out of the title race.
Matt said: “As each week passed, we got to the final split and saw the five games ahead, saw the path and we booked our trip.
“We've been wanting to go over for years, but we just couldn't make it work because Maddie is in school. But when we saw the split and saw the Monday night game, we decided we can make it work, let’s just go.”
The trip was also a complete surprise to Maddie, with Matt adding: “We didn't tell her about it.
“Tammy packed all her stuff and she actually had a game that Sunday. We had to pull her from it early because our flight was tight and the game started 50 minutes late.
“She couldn’t understand why we were pulling her in the middle of the game. We told her in the car immediately because she was about to freak out, it was quite funny.”
Maddie was made up at the news she would be getting to finally watch her beloved Hearts in person for the very first time and during such an important moment in a historic season.
Tammy described the atmosphere inside Tynecastle as “exciting”, adding that supporters welcomed them with open arms as they watched the Jambos earn those all-important three points as they strive to clinch their first league title in 66 years.
She said: “We stopped at the shop and got the gear. We met so many different locals and it just became more amazing once we got in there.
“We've been to quite a few different games and experiences, but this one, it's hard to describe.
“It was so loud and the energy in there… I just loved everything about it.”
The family are no strangers to title races, particularly this year as their underdog US college football team, Indiana Hoosiers, won their very first National Championship in January.
Matt is hoping that some of this luck rubs off on Hearts for the final three games of the season, saying: “We are hoping that maybe twice in one year the underdogs, out of nowhere, could finally win the championship.”
As for whether they think Hearts can push it over the line, Matt said: “The closer gets to the end of the season the more it starts to feel like it could really happen, because it's been months of people going ‘oh, this is a possibility’ but it really does feel it’s happening.
“They are three games out from the end of the season, it's so close.”