A football exodus to grip the nation

Every year there is a rush to escape Edinburgh. It is inspired by the Festival and a chance to cash in by renting out property to the luvvies and tourists who flood Scotland's capital. Today's exodus, though, is like no other. Some 50,000 people will head along the M8 to Glasgow. The reason is that the city's football teams are the hottest ticket in town - it's just that the stage is 50 miles away at Hampden Park.

Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian's Scottish Cup semi-final has gripped the public's imagination. "Every derby has a great build-up if you live in Edinburgh, but the whole of Scotland has been talking about this one," said Ralph Callachan, a special man who won a runners-up medal with both sides in the Seventies.

Callachan, who was on the losing side for Hearts in 1976 against Rangers, and three years later with Hibernian, also to Rangers, with a spell at Newcastle in between is part of a small band of players who have played on both sides of Edinburgh's divide.

Two of them will come head-to-head today. Paul Hartley never made an impact at Hibernian eight years ago, but since joining Hearts in 2003 from St Johnstone he has become a Scotland midfielder and Tynecastle's most influential player.

Michael Stewart was a childhood Hearts fan whose talent was spotted by Manchester United. When he joined the Tyne- castle club in 2004 it seemed the fulfilment of a dream, but injury and the emergence of Hartley meant Stewart was marginalised. He took radical action - by leaving last summer and crossing the city to join his greatest rivals.

In six years at Old Trafford, Stewart never embraced a prize. "I missed out on the League winners' medals at United because I hadn't played enough games, while I wasn't selected to play in the big cup games unfortunately," said the 24-year-old midfielder. "Any football player wants to win medals, and I'm no different. You play to win games, and the ultimate reward for that is to win cups or League titles.

"Things didn't work out for me at United, but I'm still young and have plenty of time to win things. At the moment I'm potentially only 180 minutes away from winning something, and it would be a great achievement, not only for me but for this club, if we could manage that. There is a real hype about the game, more than any other I've known. I would think it will be pretty frantic and hectic to start with. The key is that the guys have to win those personal battles."

Stewart cannot even count on his family for support. They are die-hard Hearts fans, who will be in the maroon half of Hampden, not the green one.

"I'm not too sure what they are doing, but they'll be there," said Stewart wistfully.