If you know anything about Scotland, it should be that, apart from kilts, bagpipes, and golf, it is a place where football is adored. The legendary Rangers are just a small part of the Scottish football craze, and if you’ve ever bet online after reading reviews of sites like the review of Footstock, for example, you will know that the culture around football is strong and perseveres through the ages.
The Origins
Football is almost 150 years old in the country. However, it would be more accurate to say that the Scottish football association was founded in 1873, as the sport itself is much, much older, mentioned as far back as 1424 when King James outlawed it in the hopes of promoting archery as a discipline with better military applications. As in the rest of the world, the rules were arbitrary at best at first, making the game a violent and sometimes gory predecessor of not only football, but rugby as well.
Football, in its base and violent form, was not outlawed only once during its long history. Kings James II, III, and IV were all against the game, and the Scottish parliament put the sport outside law three more times in the 15th century alone. In fact, one could argue that it was part of football’s charm. People were especially interested in the game hated by the government and the Church. However, something needed to be done about the rules and the violence, which is why the Scottish Football Association was created.
The association is the second oldest organization of its kind in the world, which in itself is a valid thing to be proud of. Furthermore, there is the famous Scottish Cup, not only the second oldest competition in the world but also the oldest national trophy. Take that, world! To compete in the cup, all a team has to do is be a member of the aforementioned SFA.
The Tribe
It is not just the spite toward England that had the Scotts hone their skills and develop a strong football mentality, though, to be fair, this has played a huge part in the sport. It is also the tribal mentality. Scotland now has many football clubs, but there are places where people were assigned to support either the Celtics or the Rangers and it would become their club for life. The scores and the capabilities of each team were of little importance to the conflict – it was more about the conflicting religious and political views of the clubs.
The Success
Let us look at Scotland as a country for a moment. With its failure to leave the UK, and its attempts to stay in the EU in spite of Brexit tell us of the position the country is in. It is most likely because of this and other issues that the people cling to their success in the sport, making it the final stronghold against the world that ignores its voice. Being one of the biggest forces to be reckoned with in football is a point of pride and defiance that will never cease.
