Abstruse and Insecure? Irish Immigrant Identity in Modern Scotland

ISSN： 1363-0296

Source： Social Identities, Vol.2, Iss.2, 1996-06, pp. : 293-310

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Abstract

This paper will look at the religious and political identities that for many people have come to characterize Scottish football. Such a characterization is particularly evident in the case of the two major clubs in Scotland; the 'Old Firm ' of Glasgow Rangers and Celtic. Nonetheless, Scotland is not unique in its sport acquiring an extrasporting dimension and football in particular often has broader political resonance. As Hoberman opines (in Sugden and Bairner, 1993, p. 10), sport has no intrinsic value structure, but it is a ready and flexible vehicle through which ideological associations can be reinforced. Put another way, sport can becom e an important pointer to features of the wider society. It can reflect both the positive and negative features of a society as well as feed aspects of those features. For many people, sport, particularly football, has acquired the capacity to become both a source for, and a reflection of, important social, political and cultural identities. This article argues that such identities are intrinsic to Scottish football. Football is also sym ptomatic of the ongoing conflicts of identity that have become important to Scottish life, especially since the influx of Catholic im migrants from Ireland began in the middle of the nineteenth century.