Tartan Army

The Tartan Army is a name given to fans of the Scotland national football team. They have won awards from several organisations for their friendly behaviour and charitable work. Scotland fans were criticised at that time for their hooliganism, particularly after they invaded the Wembley pitch and destroyed the goalposts after the 2–1 win against England in 1977. Two years later, 349 arrests were made and a further 144 fans were ejected from Wembley Stadium during the 1979 British Home Championship match, mainly for drunk and disorderly behaviour and vandalism. The behaviour in that latter match prompted the Scottish Sports Minister Alex Fletcher to apologise to colleagues and led to the creation of the Scotland Travel Club. The Tartan Army have won a number of awards for their vocal support and friendly nature.

Matches against England, which used to be played on an annual basis as part of the British Home Championship, were eventually stopped after 1989 due to violence and organised hooliganism. Both matches that were played between the countries in November 1999 in qualification for UEFA Euro 2000 had associated problems. Police spokesmen downplayed the incidents after both games, however. The Metropolitan Police adopted a "zero tolerance" approach for the second game, but the number of arrests were "comparatively small" and the "vast majority" of supporters were well behaved. The fans had been praised by the mayor of Zagreb for their behaviour after a match against Croatia in the same competition. In 2005, the Scotland Travel Club became the Scotland Supporters Club, with sections for younger fans being established. The UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign saw membership numbers increase dramtically to a capacity of 27,500, with a waiting list of over 10,000. As of August 2010, the club is at its maximum capacity of 35,000 members and therefore does not accept applications.

In August 2008, Irish Football Association chief executive Howard Wells criticised jeering from Scottish supporters during the British National Anthem, God Save The Queen, before a friendly international match against Northern Ireland. The SFA, who had pleaded with fans not to jeer the anthem, God Save The Queen was previously used as the Scottish team's anthem, but it was replaced during the 1970s due to consistent booing at matches. Scotland the Brave was initially used as a replacement, This issue recurred when Scotland played Liechtenstein in September 2010, as their national athem uses the tune of God Save The Queen. It was again booed when Scotland played Northern Ireland in the 2011 Nations Cup.

The Tartan Army has been a consistent opponent of the concept of a Great Britain team, particularly its proposed participation in the 2012 Olympic Games, due to concerns that such participation would endanger the separate status of Scotland within international football.

Composition

Research carried out in 1996 noted that the proportion of the Tartan Army comprising Rangers supporters, "traditionally the backbone of the Tartan Army", had declined since the 1980s. However, Rangers still provided the single largest proportion with 21%. While west of Scotland Catholics, traditionally associated with Celtic, were still notably under-represented. The Tartan Army Children's Charity (TACC) is a registered Scottish charity run by Scotland fans, raising money for disadvantaged children in Scotland and in the countries visited by fans following the team. The TACC has donated funds to projects for disabled and blind children in Ukraine, Georgia and Macedonia. The TACC, which is the nominated charity of the SFA, also organise trips for disadvantaged Scottish children to watch Scotland play at Hampden Park.

Official Tartan

Prior to the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Keith Lumsden designed a corporate tartan for the Tartan Army which was registered on 1 March 1997 under number 2389 with both the Scottish Tartans Authority (STA) and the Scottish Tartans World Register (STWR).

See also

Football in Scotland

Ally's Tartan Army

Association of Tartan Army Clubs

References

External links

Association of Tartan Army Clubs

Category:Association football supporters' associations Category:Scotland national football team