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Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of the Tartan Army (despite being a quarter Scottish and having a real Tartan family of my own!). But now that World Cup It began and the Scottish fans known as the Tartan Army descended upon my home state of Massachusetts, with no escape. This is not a bad thing.
Full disclosure: I live in a suburb of Boston, so I haven’t had any first-hand experiences with any of these kilt-wearing soldiers, but I’ve been following their exploits on the news and on social media, and I’m so glad they’re here. (If you were in a house next door to… Visiting tourists Who have been playing bagpipes all day, I might feel differently.)
The Tartan Army have spread widely over the past week or so, partly due to their sheer numbers – it is estimated that as many as 40,000 Scottish fans traveled to Massachusetts for the group stage of the tournament – and partly because of the festive atmosphere they have brought to places like Fenway Park. More than 10,000 fans attended a Red Sox game last weekend, marching through the streets wearing distinctive skirts and playing bagpipes. They did their research as tourists too.
They know that TRUE Boston’s tourist attractions are Dunkin’ and the Cop Slide, a slide on the playground at City Hall Plaza in Boston that is known to cause injuries because some people go too fast. The chip went viral when a police officer tried to use the chip and… Things didn’t go well. (We can laugh now because he’s fine.) But that’s why we now have a video of a man playing the bagpipes. While the cop slide is coming down.
I don’t know if anyone believes Which It will be a byproduct of hosting the World Cup, but this World Cup has provided us with many exhilarating and unexpected moments. cape verde goalkeeper, voicewho went from virtual unknown to global legend during his team’s 90-minute match against Spain, is another heartwarming story, along with another viral police officer video, this time of Boston cops. Dance with joy With the fans after the match between Cape Verde and Spain. All those little hits of dopamine really add up.
Bostonians and most New Englanders have a reputation for not being warm. It’s a remnant of the Puritan and stoic values imported by our early settlers that has lingered for centuries – and this can make us seem reserved and aloof at times, when in fact it’s an innate conservatism that some of us can’t shake, no matter how hard we try. But the Scots are beginning to crack our tough outer shell, at least temporarily.
Scroll through Tik Tok It will feature dozens of videos of gratitude, whether from Scots thanking Boston for the warmth it has shown them, or from locals impressed by the lively and joyful visitors. Fans and pundits alike continue to talk about how the FIFA World Cup has become the great unifier we now need, and the influx of Scottish tourists to our state seems to have improved the local mood.
But unfortunately, we won’t be able to call the Tartan Army our own for long. The team and its fans will stay for one more match on June 19 against Morocco before traveling 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, but we’ll miss the Tartan Army when they’re gone. At least we’ll always have a Cop Slide.
