Category: Sport

It’s just another staging post on the Tartan Army‘s world tour, and no doubt we’ll be coming down the road singing No Scotland, no Boston Footie Party.

We have, of course, been here before in Beantown, where Scotland’s first two games against Haiti and Morocco will be played.

With Scots early pioneers out to the American colonies.

And it’ll surprise nobody that when it came to a drunken fight and cocking a snook at the English that we were front and centre in Boston in 1773.

When liquored up we went down to the Bay and started turfing crates of heavily-taxed imported tea into the water.

Among them Fifer and 19-yer-old apprentice clerk James Swan.

Boston Scottie Party

That I know this isn’t down to isn’t down to my American history studies.

Although my old Aberdeen University tutor Ted Rantsen would surely be impressed.

But because the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum attraction gives every visitor a character to play.

And obviously being a Scot I got to walk this Son Of Liberty’s footsteps.

A Scot’s Swansong

James, I discovered, was quickly identified by Samuel Adams and the leaders as important to the cause.

Through his work at the mercantile house Thaxter & Son and their dealings with the sale of tea.

James, or Swannie as he was probably never known but would have been if he had been a footballer, brought his Scottish ways with him to New England.

I learned that he became a member of the St. Andrew’s Lodge of Freemasons, the Scots Charitable Society of Boston, and enlisted in the Revolutionary Army.

Where this Scottish soldier rose to the rank of colonel for the Battle of Bunker Hill.

And also held positions on the Massachusetts Board of War and Legislature.

My own time working as a busboy at Guadalaharry’s in Quincy Market and an ice cream shop in Faneuil Hall.

And the Black Rose pub in State Street pales into significance in comparison.

Flying the American flag

Swannie, of course, would have been too busy fighting the English, and no doubt some Scots with the Brtitish Army, to have concerned himself with such pastimes as football.

Although it was a game, having been played back in the Old World since the 1500s with the oldest ball housed in Stirling Castle, not far from Swannie’s Fife fiefdom, from 1540.

Even if organised or Association football, from where we get the word soccer, had not taken hold in Scotland until 1873, 43 years after Swannie’s death in Paris.

Scotland’s famous Tartan Army will, of course, get a warm welcome from Bostonians.

And we will doubtless repay our hosts by supporting the Boys in Stars and Stripes when they play.

Just as Greenock native Ed McIlvenny did when he captained America to victory over England at the 1950 World Cup.

And there’s a trivia question for you and money you can take from your English friends in a bet.

America The Bountiful

All of which trips down memory lane lead us neatly to our modern-day American friends at Brand USA.

Who hae put together a handy guide for footie fans for next summer.

With the launch of America the Beautiful Game, which is now live at AmericaTheBeautiful.com/Football.

It’s a go-to resource for discovering things to do, must-try local cuisine, and a set of sample road trip itineraries.

All of which connect the 11 US host cities with nearby destinations and experiences.

We, of course, are concentrating here on Boston.

On Brand

Where Brand USA kindly point us in the direction of the Museum of Sports.

Which celebrates this sports-mad city’s rich legacy.

Inside TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics.

And would-be sportscasters can sit at a replica New England Sports Network (NESN) desk, where visitors can ‘Be the Broadcaster.’

So you can practise: ‘And Andy Robertson makes history as the first Scot to lift the World Cup.’

For those of who will go native, of course, there is the hub of American soccer fans, The Banshee.

A 14 television sports bar across two floors where the Tartan Army will converge.

Because No Scotland, no Boston Footie Party.

The wailing Banshee

This is where, The Banshee, the American Outlaws (supporters of the U.S. national football team) congregate as well as fans of other major sports leagues.

And on special celebrity bartending nights, local athletes pour drinks at this mainstay Dorchester-based Irish pub.

And as with all else with transatlantic travel from these islands to the Oo Es of Eh, we always advise travelling through Ireland.

And Aer Lingus with pre-clearance where you can get a sample return flight for a week, covering both matches from £963.58.