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THE PATRIOT GAME Football’S Famous ‘Tartan Army’

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THE PATRIOT GAME Football’S Famous ‘Tartan Army’ INTERNATIONAL REVIEW FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT 37/2(2002) 177–197 177 © Copyright ISSA and SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA, New Delhi) [1012–6902 (200206) 37:2;177–197; 024657] THE PATRIOT GAME Football’s Famous ‘Tartan Army’ Joseph M. Bradley University of Stirling, UK Abstract Whose Scotland? Who is Scottish? What is Scottish? What does Scottish mean in the sporting context? This article seeks to demonstrate that these contemporary questions among others, relating to Scotland and Scottish identity, can be explored through the medium of the most popular sport in Scotland. Further, in an environment where everyone ‘volunteers’ their Scottishness, the per- ceived cause of the Scottish international team can be utilized to investigate some of the social, cul- tural and political complexities that lie underneath an image of oneness. This article concludes that, through the complexity of the Scottish national football side’s supporters, we find that popular notions of Scotland can often be incomplete and consideration requires to be given to ethnic, religious and geographical factors in any sociological thesis relating to contemporary Scottish identity. Key words • culture • football • identity • nationalism • politics This paper uses Scottish international football to partly explore expressions of Scottishness and to recognize what might be general, shared or typical amongst those supporters who regularly follow the Scottish international team. This ‘Tartan Army’ of Scottish supporters is commonly viewed as among the most vociferous, loyal, entertaining and best behaved of international football sup- porters. This work draws on statistical data to constitute an image of the particular typology of Scottishness that characterizes these supporters and looks at some of their perceptions in relation to other football fans in Scotland. As the country’s most significant and popular sport, a survey of the international football sup- porters partly acts as a gauge of who subscribes to current and dominant notions of Scottishness and what these notions mean in the context of this particular section of Scottish opinion. Such a dominant and popular sport also has the poten- tial to inform us on related issues in the wider community. As well as assisting in an exploration of Scottish identity, this research provides comment on some of the social, religious, national and political nuances and ideas involved in Scottish football generally. This paper examines the Scottish international football team’s support using data collected during the series of international matches that constituted the 1996 European Football Championships. A simple questionnaire was applied at ran- dom to supporters over the course of this fieldwork. It was applied to supporters 178 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT 37(2) at the home qualifying ties for the Championship as well as one away match in Greece and three games played in the finals of the tournament in Birmingham and London. Previous Research and Sampling Giulianotti (1994: 172) makes the point that, despite journalistic and academic comment (Moorhouse, 1987) on the Scotland football support, especially during the 1970s and 1980s, little else has been gleaned by way of substantive research. This exercise builds on the work of Moorhouse, extends the validity of Giulianotti’s work (1994, 1995), and adds to research on Scottish football sup- porters and Scottish identity, by considering other significant social and political detail. Over 400 supporters were subject to the questionnaire, the same as Giulianotti’s study of Scottish supporters in Sweden for the 1992 European Championships. Like the previous research, almost all fans approached to fill out the questionnaire did so. The refusal rate was extremely low, with the question- naire being refused completion on approximately six occasions. The data were collected by two researchers choosing randomly from supporters in stadiums, on the outskirts of stadiums, licensed premises and, on one occasion, on a public service bus to Birmingham that consisted of several Scotland supporters travel- ling to a match at Villa Park in the city. Findings The survey of fans connected to the European Championships of 1996 found that 73 percent of respondents were in the age range 15 to 34. Using the Registrar General’s categories, Giulianotti found that approximately 74 percent of his respondents were in a similar category. Again, linking with the previous research, the 1996 survey found that the Scottish support was substantially male-dominated with only 5 percent female. The overwhelming culture among the Scottish inter- national fanbase as with the support of football in Scotland generally, is mascu- line dominated in relation to attitudes, behaviour and discourses. The majority of those surveyed were male, reflecting the fact that football in Scotland, as in most other countries, is male dominated. The 1996 data (Figure 1) showed 33 percent in skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled manual work, 9 percent in clerical, non-manual and sales, about 12 percent students and 27 percent in higher-grade employment (excluding manage- ment and administrative workers). Giulianotti found that approximately 32 per- cent of the Scottish support was employed in the first category, 21 percent was in clerical, non-manual and sales work, about 7 percent students, with around 21 percent in higher grade employment: professionals, technicians, non-manual supervisors and managers etc. (Figure 2). Although differences are to be found, there are broad similarities between each of the survey’s employment composi- tions. As with Giulianotti’s work, this exercise also reflects the probable increase in the number of white-collar supporters following Scotland as opposed to those BRADLEY: THE PATRIOT GAME 179 Figure 1 Scottish International Football Supporters Occupational Groupings 1996 Other 19% Manual work 33% Higher grade employment Clerical, non-manual 27% Students and sales 12% 9% Figure 2 Scottish International Football Supporters Occupational Groupings 1992 Other 19% Manual work 32% Higher grade employment 21% Clerical, non-manual and sales Students 21% 7% in skilled manual work, though this may also ‘simply reflect its wider decline in the national labour force’ (Giulianotti, 1994: 180). The similarities in survey findings were shown by respondent’s place of res- idence. Strathclyde, taking in much of the populated west central area of the country, contributed approximately 38 percent to Giulianotti’s research (Figure 3). This is less than the former region’s contribution to the overall population, that is, around half of the country’s demographic make-up. This increases in the 1996 survey (Figure 4) to 44 percent. Aberdeen and Grampian were approxi- mately the same in both exercises. This was also the case for the east of Scotland. Related to Giulianotti’s exercise, the 1996 work found that over 8 percent of the support was based in England while the 1992 research found over 6 percent was London situated. Anecdotal evidence indicates a paucity of support for Scotland’s internation- al side originating from the Old Firm clubs of Glasgow Rangers and Celtic. A Daily Mail columnist in 1999 wrote that ‘the Tartan Army is now made up 180 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT 37(2) Figure 3 Scottish International Football Supporters Area of Residence 1992 Highlands & Islands Other 6% 14% London Aberdeen & Grampian 6% 11% Borders 3% Edinburgh, Lothian, Glasgow Area Fife, Tayside & Central 38% 22% Figure 4 Scottish International Football Supporters Area of Residence 1996 Edinburgh, Lothian, Fife, Glasgow Area Tayside & Central 44% 29% South & South West Scotland 7% England Aberdeen & Highlands & Islands 8% Grampian 6% 10% mainly of those from the airts and pairts of Scotland’ (7 Oct. 1999). In terms of both clubs providing the vast majority of Scotland’s active league football sup- port, possibly as much as 60 percent of the active fan base and many more of those who are infrequent or ‘armchair’ supporters originate with the Old Firm. Both clubs have approximately 50,000 season ticket subscribers, a figure greater than the combined attendance at all other club grounds in Scotland on a normal match-day. It also means that Rangers and Celtic are amongst the best supported club sides in world football. Giulianotti established that Old Firm fans made up 35 percent of Scotland supporters and the 1996 work corroborated this with a 38 percent finding. In 1992 the research found 10 percent supporting Hibernian and Hearts, both Edinburgh- based clubs. The 1996 exercise concurred. Four percent of fans in 1992 were Dundee United supporters and in 1996 the same calculation emerged. Aberdeen BRADLEY: THE PATRIOT GAME 181 Figure 5 Scottish International Football Supporters League Club Affiliation 1996 Rangers 21% Hibernian 4% Hearts 6% Dundee United 4% Others 35% Celtic 17% Aberdeen 13% provided 11 percent of the support in 1992 and 13 percent in 1996. As Figure 5 shows, outside of Rangers and Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts (6 percent) are the next greatest. Both clubs are among the best supported in Scotland, though with a fan base that compares negatively with either Rangers or Celtic. It might be expected that, with Rangers and Celtic having roughly the same average attendances and season tickets, they would contribute equally to the Scotland support. However, their contribution is less than their normal football attendance and this correlates with anecdotal evidence. Only 38 percent of the international support consists of Rangers and Celtic fans. In the case of Rangers, this represents a change from the period until the 1980s when it was generally acknowledged that Rangers fans formed the traditional backbone of the Scotland support. Indeed, Scotland-supporting Glasgow Rangers fans of this period believe the international support was formerly made up of between 50 and 70 percent Rangers supporters (Esplin, 2000: 80–2). Traditionally, many Celtic fans have not been supporters of the Scotland team. Indeed, a survey published in 1995 showed 52 percent of Celtic fans as supporters of the Republic of Ireland (Bradley, 1995: 47–8).
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