Scotland and Ireland: why animosity between blues and greens is not what it seems

In 2006, Scotland under-21 football manager Archie Knox attended a junior match in Glasgow. The veteran coach was running his eye over an exciting prospect, a 15-year-old Hamilton Academicals midfielder who had been attracting attention from major European sides. But the lad was slight, too easily brushed off the ball. Knox crossed him off his list.

That young midfielder’s name was James McCarthy.

The following year McCarthy accepted an invitation to represent the country of his grandparents’ birth, Ireland. The decision was controversial in Scotland. “Well, the famine is over, why don’t they go home?” sections of the Glasgow Rangers’ support sang at the then 17-year-old when they played Hamilton.

McCarthy has gone on to become an integral part of the full Irish international squad. His name has dominated the build-up ahead of tonight’s European Championship qualifier against Scotland in Glasgow even though injury has ruled the Everton midfielder out of the game.

This week former Scotland international Gordon McQueen said he hoped McCarthy and fellow Scotland-born Ireland international and Everton teammate Aiden McGeady get a “horrible reception” at Celtic Park. In McQueen’s shrunken world you are Scottish or Irish. You cannot be both. His remarks, however, have been in keeping with the surprisingly rancorous prelude to tonight’s encounter.

So-called traitors McCarthy and McGeady have attracted the ire of callers on Scottish football phone-in shows. FAI chief John Delaney’s baseless warnings of match-day violence – rightly criticised by local police – have added fuel to the fire.

As a first generation Irish person living in Glasgow I often find myself back home having to explain that life in the city is not one continuous Old Firm derby. I do not walk down the street dodging anti-Catholic barbs or blows. Tonight I will sit in the Scotland end rooting for Ireland without fears for my safety.

Indeed, the maelstrom swirling around tonight’s game comes at a time when many Scots of Irish descent are increasingly at ease with both their identity and their place in Scottish society.

The highest Yes vote in September’s referendum on Scottish independence was recorded in areas with the largest Irish Catholic communities: Glasgow, Dundee, North Lanarkshire.

Many Irish feel far more secure in Scotland than their parents’ generation did. This was not always the case. Scotland has a long history of Irish people arriving – and of anti-Irish bigotry. During the 19th century, hundreds of thousands made the journey across the Straits of Moyle. The reception they received was not always welcoming.

In 1923, a report was presented to the general assembly of the Kirk (an assembly of the Church of Scotland) entitled Menace of the Irish Race to our Scottish Nationality. Catholic Scots only achieved occupational parity in the 1990s.

However, over the last decade the societal attitude towards sectarianism in Scotland has changed markedly. Anti-sectarian legislation has been introduced. The Orange Order no longer plays a major role in Scotland.

Scotland does remain a “cold house”for some Irish Catholics, particularly in the former mining towns of the west of Scotland where a sectarian seam still runs through everyday life. But the majority of Scots of Irish descent are increasingly comfortable with their dual heritage.

Not everyone is happy with this new reality. This week George Galloway lambasted Celtic fans that dared support the country of their birth. Scotland, the firebrand Bradford MP railed on Twitter, had welcomed Irish immigrants “like a case of Ebola”.

Galloway’s dichotomy, like McQueen’s, is a false one. Hundreds of thousands of Scots with Irish blood will watch tonight’s game. Some will cheer on the boys in green, others the team in blue. Some will root for both. Whoever they choose to shout for will not make them any less Scottish or Irish. Peter Geoghegan’s The People’s Referendum: How Scotland Became Politically Engaged (and Enraged) will be published later this year.