{"id":2928,"date":"2026-06-17T12:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2928"},"modified":"2026-06-17T12:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:04:25","slug":"no-scotland-no-party-boston-is-starting-to-agree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2928","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No Scotland, no party!\u2019 Boston is starting to agree."},"content":{"rendered":"
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S<\/span><\/span>ince they swaggered into town last week for the World Cup, they seem to be everywhere: kilt-clad throngs singing, chanting, and marching to the skirl of bagpipes. They even raised the roof at Fenway Park, no easy feat these days.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Read more \u2018What you achieved . . . is no small thing\u2019: Globe Foundation\/Richard J. Phelps Scholar-Athletes honored<\/a><\/p>\n

They are the very thirsty soldiers of Scotland\u2019s Tartan Army, as the national team\u2019s fans are known,here to cheer on their beloved players. And they are just the release valve that Boston needed to shake off any lingering doubts that the region could pull it off. <\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019ve become the area\u2019s honorary mascots for the World Cup, and they\u2019ve brought more visitors to Boston for a single event than any country ever has, said Dave O\u2019Donnell, vice president of Meet Boston, which promotes the city. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe knew that we had struck gold when we learned back in December that the Tartan Army would be coming here, but I don\u2019t think that anyone could\u2019ve predicted the actual impact, which has been immense and electrifying,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said.<\/span><\/p>\n

As many as 50,000 Scots have descended on Boston, tourism officials said, and the city has embraced them. The Scots won their first game Saturday, and then 6,000 of their raucous fans turned the Red Sox game Sunday night into a rollicking echo chamber of Scottish soccer chants. <\/span><\/p>\n

Red Sox officials said they might never replicate what they saw and heard at Fenway, where a blocks-long river of Scots \u2014 many of whom don\u2019t know baseball from rounders \u2014 were led by bagpipers wearing sunglasses and sneakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was almost indescribable. It was unlike anything we\u2019ve hosted,\u201d said Travis Pollio, director of Red Sox ticket strategy. Many Scots heard of the ballgame, held on Scottish Heritage Night, through word-of-mouth connections that went viral.<\/span><\/p>\n

And now that Scotland, which defeated Haiti on Saturday, has notched its first World Cup victory in 36 years, the party will continue at least through Friday night, when it will face Morocco at Foxborough. <\/span><\/p>\n

As one of the popular chants proclaims: \u201cNo Scotland, no party!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To reinforce that playful ethos, the traveling Scots are transplanting a decades-old practice from home and placing traffic cones atop statues, George Washington, Bill Russell, and Mayor Kevin White\u2019s heads among them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe attitude is: \u2018We might not get to another one of these, so we are going to enjoy every single second of this one,\u2019 \u201c said Dave McCarthy, a retired sportswriter for the Scottish Daily Record, who has been following the excitement from his homeland.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Scots, the World Cup is a chance to revel abroad in the unique identity of a country that hasn\u2019t been independent for three centuries. It\u2019s a fiercely held identity also reflected in the country\u2019s unofficial anthem, \u201cFlower of Scotland,\u201d which recalls a victory over England more than 700 years ago by King Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Scottish fans sang that song before Saturday\u2019s game, they are believed to have set a World Cup decibel record.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, qualification for major tournaments, just getting there, is to be celebrated,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cAnd when it comes to excitement, exuberance, friendliness, and fandom, there is no holding back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday afternoon, hours before Scotland faced off against Haiti, the insides of sweltering pubs near Government Center were packed with chanting, lager-downing Scots. Mention that your last name begins with \u201cMac\u201d and that you studied in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, as I did,and feel free to join the party \u2014 not that anyone seems excluded.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the Bell in Hand, taps for draft beer already had run dry. And at nearby Hennessy\u2019s, blue-shirted fans stood shoulder to shoulder, and front to back, all while singing, and sweating, in very un-Scotland-like heat and humidity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Dubliner, a restaurant and bar opposite City Hall Plaza, had gone through 150 kegs of Tennent\u2019s, a popular Scottish beer, O\u2019Donnell said. The Haven in Jamaica Plain, the city\u2019s only Scottish restaurant, had emptied 75.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Scots \u201chave brought an awesome depth of spirit and sense of fun. The soccer match is No. 1 to them, and the party atmosphere a very close No. 2,\u201d said Terry Nixon, a longtime bartender at Mr. Dooley\u2019s in the Financial District. <\/span><\/p>\n

Irish pubs such as Mr. Dooley\u2019s have turned into roaring Scottish enclaves, where thick Glasgow accents can make well-intentioned New Englanders wonder if they\u2019re speaking the same language.<\/span><\/p>\n

If a translator isn\u2019t handy, Bostonians can simply smile and say, \u201cLang may yer lum reek,\u201d a wish for good health that means \u201clong may your chimney smoke.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Or try, \u201cOch aye the noo,\u201d an inside Scottish joke about the country\u2019s bewildering dialects.<\/span><\/p>\n

The singing, carousing, and good-natured imbibing are no surprise to local musician Jerry Bell, an Edinburgh native whose Massachusetts-born son, Calum, has been hired to play the bagpipes in the fan zone at Gillette Stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all great singers and loud singers and are used to singing in the streets,\u201d Bell said. \u201cWe are also so proud of the [Scottish] flag, and most of all, we can all wear the national dress\u201d while celebrating in Boston.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGirls find the furry pouch hilarious,\u201d Bell added, referring to the sporran worn in front of the kilt. \u201cIt becomes the ultimate chat-up line that one can discuss with the ladies till the wee hours.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Christy Milner said the Scots she met at Emmets, a pub near Government Center, set a high and unexpected bar for the American patrons.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery guy in cargo shorts questioned their fashion choices after hordes of women ignored them and danced with … men in kilts,\u201d Milner said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were honestly super cool people. Loud and happy \u2014 polite, kind, and so fun,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the Scots advance from group play in the World Cup, their fans say, so much the better. The team\u2019s final stop in this three-match, opening stage will be June 24 in Miami against Brazil, a traditional powerhouse.<\/span><\/p>\n

For McCarthy, the longtime Scottish sportswriter, one can dream. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has always been one of life\u2019s great ironies that Scotland has never been hugely successful at a sport that is woven into the very fabric of our lives,\u201c McCarthy said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot for us, the glory of winning the World Cup, as the Brazilians, Italians, and Germans have done so often. Heck, even that lot south of our border [England] have managed to do it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And if Scotland does not advance, McCarthy said, \u201cevery fan who traveled will still have memories to last a lifetime. Hopefully, Bostonians will have the same emotions about the summer invasion of their beautiful city.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Trump chose war. Vance gets the fallout.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They are the very thirsty soldiers of Scotland\u2019s Tartan Army. And they are just the rollicking release valve that Boston needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018No Scotland, no party!\u2019 Boston is starting to agree. - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2928\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018No Scotland, no party!\u2019 Boston is starting to agree. - Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They are the very thirsty soldiers of Scotland\u2019s Tartan Army. 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