Soccer-Red Sox thank Scotland’s Tartan Army for unforgettable Boston presence

By Karolos Grohmann

BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 22 (Reuters) – Scotland fans have left an unforgettable mark on the Boston Red Sox and the city after the Tartan Army’s visit to Fenway Park, the Major League baseball team said in a letter to the Scottish FA.

Thousands of Scotland supporters in Boston for the World Cup took time off from football on June 14 to march to the Red Sox’s stadium and celebrate with the team’s baseball fans.

The Tartan Army of travelling fans marched through the city to the strains of more than a dozen bagpipers to Fenway Park a day after watching their team win their first match at a World Cup since 1990 with a 1-0 victory over Haiti.

The Scotland supporters treated Red Sox fans outside and in the stadium – where the Red Sox were hosting the Texas Rangers – to their full-throated renditions of songs including “Flower of Scotland”, used as an anthem by the national team. They then poured into the stands for the baseball game.

“What happened at Fenway Park on June 14th was something none of us will forget. We knew the Tartan Army was coming. We did not fully understand what that meant until we saw it,” Boston Red Sox President Sam Kennedy said in a letter to the FA.

“Hundreds of Scotland supporters gathered at the foot of a statue of Robert Burns in the Back Bay and marched all the way to Lansdowne Street to the sound of bagpipes. Kilts and Scottish flags filled our ballpark with a spirit that has no equivalent in American sport,” he said. “The Tartan Army treated our home like their own, and we are better for it.”

The Scottish fans have been one of the biggest feel-good stories of the World Cup so far, taking over bars, pubs and restaurants as well as public parks in Boston, and even stretching beer supplies as celebrations went on for days with the team playing their first two group matches in the city.

Scotland play their group game against Brazil on Wednesday in Miami to secure a spot in the next round.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann;Editing by Alison Williams)