Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of the Tartan Army (despite being one-quarter Scottish and having an actual family tartan of my own!). But now that the World Cup has begun and the Scotland fans known as the Tartan Army have descended on my home state of Massachusetts, they’re inescapable. And that’s not a bad thing.
Full disclosure: I live in a suburb outside Boston, so I haven’t had any firsthand experiences with any of these kilted soldiers, but I have been following their exploits in the news and on social media, and I’m so glad they’re here. (If I were in a neighboring house to visiting tourists who were playing bagpipes throughout the day, it’s possible I’d feel differently.)
The Tartan Army has been going viral over the past week or so, partly due to their sheer numbers — it’s estimated up to 40,000 Scottish fans have traveled to Massachusetts for the group stage of the tournament — and partly because of the festive atmosphere they’ve brought to places like Fenway Park. Upwards of 10,000 fans attended a Red Sox game last weekend, and on the streets, they’ve marched while wearing their signature kilts and playing the bagpipes. And they’ve done their research as tourists, too.
They know that the real tourist attractions in Boston are Dunkin’ and the Cop Slide, a slide at the playground on Boston’s City Hall Plaza known for causing injuries because some people accelerate so fast. The slide went viral when a police officer attempted to use the slide and… it didn’t go well. (We can laugh now because he’s OK.) But this is why we now have a video of a man playing the bagpipes while descending the Cop Slide.
I don’t know if anyone thought that would be one of the byproducts of hosting the World Cup, but this World Cup has provided us with so many unexpected and delightful moments. The Cape Verdean goalkeeper, Vozinha, who went from virtual unknown to worldwide legend during his team’s 90-minute match against Spain, is another story that’s sparking joy, along with yet another viral police officer video, this time of Boston cops joyfully dancing with fans after the Cape Verde-Spain match. All these little dopamine hits really add up.
Bostonians and most New Englanders have a reputation for not being warm. It’s a remnant of the Puritanical and stoic values imported by our earliest settlers and that have lingered for centuries — this can make us seem standoffish and aloof at times, when really it’s more an innate reservedness that some of us can’t shake, no matter how hard we try. But the Scots are cracking our tough outer shell, at least temporarily.
A scroll through TikTok will turn up dozens of videos of gratitude, both from the Scots, thanking Boston for the warmth they’ve been shown, and from locals who have been charmed by the exuberant and joyful visitors. Fans and pundits alike keep talking about how the World Cup really has become the great unifier we need right now, and the influx of Scottish tourists in our state feels like it has lifted the local mood.
But alas, we won’t get to call the Tartan Army ours for long. The team and their fans will stick around for one more match on June 19 against Morocco before traveling down to Miami for their final group-stage match against Brazil on June 24. Sure, Miami has beautiful beaches, and we’ll probably get a viral video of a bagpiper on a jet ski out of this, but we’ll miss the Tartan Army when they’re gone. At least we’ll always have Cop Slide.
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