Scotland's Tartan Army has descended on Providence for the World Cup

PROVIDENCE – Hear a “Braveheart”-like burr while you’re walking around downtown? Are some boisterous bagpipers making their way up your street?

Those are just two telltale signs that the Scots have arrived.

Scotland is playing in its first World Cup since 1998, and the fans have come out in force. According to a spokesperson for the Providence Tartan Army Instagram page, somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 Scots were expected to be in Providence. The likelihood of exceeding those numbers, according to multiple Scottish fans, is high.

The Scottish national team’s chances to go far in the competition are better than ever. But for fans like Neil Forbes, the chairman of the Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal organization that has donated more than $25,000 to various local children’s charities, the team’s performance isn’t too important.

“I’ve waited 28 years for this,” Forbes said. “We’re going to enjoy every minute of the experience here in the States.”

Scotland is one of the 48 teams that qualified for the men’s 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be played across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Gillette Stadium, rebranded as Boston Stadium for the tournament, is set to host seven World Cup games. Scotland will be playing in two of them – against Haiti on June 13 at 9 p.m. and Morocco on June 19 at 6 p.m.

Many fans of teams set to play in Boston Stadium booked accommodations for Boston, but Scottish fans were turned away by the price. One Tartan Army member mentioned that Providence is closer to Boston Stadium than Boston is, and Scottish fans made the leap.

Providence embraced the opportunity – according to Gov. Dan McKee, the state Commerce Corporation invested $500,000 in maximizing the World Cup experience in Rhode Island. Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa called the city’s opportunity a “big effing deal.”

Rhode Islanders have responded with kindness, according to the Scots.

“Every person, to a man, to a woman,” said Tartan Army member Ian Hendry. “I’ve never known a welcome like this.”

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The tartan is a colorful wool weave with a plaid-like design, where horizontal and vertical stripes of colors cross and create patterns. The various designs are often seen on kilts and have been associated with different clans and families since the 1800s.

According to Forbes, British journalists encountered masses of people wearing tartan kilts as they went to watch Scotland play England in the 1970s. There, they coined the term “Tartan Army,” which has stuck ever since.

That unofficial anthem became a rallying cry for the Scots in 2024, when they qualified for a major tournament that would be played in front of fans for the first time since 1998.

About 150,000 Scottish fans went to Germany as the team played in a tournament against other European teams. Most of them didn’t go to watch – Scotland was only afforded 10,000 tickets to every game. Instead, they contributed to the party, leaving a lasting impression among other fans.

German native Andy Sitzberger met the Tartan Army at that tournament in 2024. Germany plays World Cup games in Houston, Toronto and New York this year, but Sitzberger planned his trip to Providence because he wanted to go where the Scottish fans were.

He and many other American and international fans cited the kindness and passion of the Scots as reasons to appreciate them. The international community gets to witness that emotion for the first time in a generation.

“I don’t cry much, but I cried at the end of the Denmark game [that qualified Scotland for the World Cup],” said Tartan Army member Ross Wilson about the qualification. “It’d been so long. A lot of grown men cried that day.”

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The Providence FanZone at Station Park will be the main home of celebrations in the city. With streets closing down and bars receiving permission to stay open late into the night, the area is expected to be consistently vibrant. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said they expect up to 13,000 fans to occupy the FanZone at once. There will be several opportunities to reach that number – the FanZone will be open for all 39 days of the tournament.

Going to Scotland’s World Cup games with the Tartan Army would be the ultimate experience, but it would also be the priciest one. The cheapest tickets for a Scotland game as of the afternoon of June 11 are well above $500.

Finances have been a reality but not a concern in Scottish eyes. The total cost of the trip came out to between 5,000 and 10,000 British pounds – more than $13,000 – for some.

The mentality is simple for people such as Wilson, who said he has attended every Scotland home game for the last 10 years and brought his 16- and 17-year-old sons with him to America.

“No one’ll check your bank account when you’re dead,” he said.

He declined to say how much his trip cost, though, fearing his wife would find out.

The biggest Scottish festivities will occur on June 18. The event, called TA in the Park, will see bagpipers and fans march through the streets in a parade from 195 District Park.

It’ll take place the day before the Scots play Morocco, who beat Scotland in its last World Cup game back in 1998. The event will be sponsored by Guild Brewing Co. and IRN-BRU.

IRN-BRU is a soda known as Scotland’s other national drink alongside whiskey. For more than a century, it has been Scotland’s top-selling soda, beating brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

A cold bottle of IRN-BRU tastes like … something.

The exact recipe is a notorious secret, similar to Dr. Pepper. What we know is that 32 flavoring agents – and, yes, a dash of iron – come together to create a singularly unique flavor. Forbes, the charity leader who also works as a Scottish tour operator, called it a “nectar” known for its powers.

“If you have a night on single malt Scotch whiskey, IRN-BRU cures the head the next morning,” he said.

Whatever it may taste like, people tend to like it. The brew being readily available in America through TA in the Park is a bonus, too, given it usually has to be imported into the country from the main facility in the suburbs of Glasgow.

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“We don’t expect to win the World Cup,” said Tartan Army member John Fox. “We’re just here to have a laugh, have fun and enjoy ourselves.”

Scotland has never made it to the knockout stages of the World Cup, but this year provides their best opportunity to do that.

In part, that comes down to the quality on the field. Several Scottish players are succeeding at the highest levels of the game internationally. Ask the fans how they feel about Scott McTominay, a wiry, 6-foot-4 workhorse who tends to score unbelievable goals, or Andrew Robertson, the grizzled veteran and feisty captain who flies down the left side of the field.

Format changes also give the Scots a better chance to advance.

This year’s World Cup is the first to have 48 teams participating. Those teams are in 12 groups of four – each team plays the other three in its group once, and the two teams with the best record in the group automatically advance to the knockout stage, a 32-team, single-elimination bracket akin to March Madness.

They’ll be joined in the knockouts by eight of 12 third-place teams, which will be determined by how many points they get. Being able to advance as a third-placed team eases some pressure on Scotland: Their group includes 2022 World Cup semifinalists Morocco and five-time World Cup winners Brazil, who the Scots play on June 24 in Miami.

Much of the Tartan Army will make their way down to Florida for that critical, potentially final game. But the Scots, who said they hoped to leave an impression on Providence, have seen Providence leave an impression on them.

“Other towns are bigger,” said fan Liam Hendry. “But this is a town that’s got heart in it.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: What is the Tartan Army, Scotland’s national soccer team fan base?