On the centenary of the death of the one of the most celebrated Scottish-born Irishmen (the greatest in history, according to the somewhat divisive George Galloway), it's worth being struck once more by the fierce attachment Scottish born people of Irish descent feel for the land of their ancestors.
George Galloway himself, whose opposition to Scottish nationalism was instinctively disliked by Irish nationalists, annoyed Scottish fans with his comments in advance of the Scotland-Ireland battle (the word is appropriate) in Celtic Park at the end of 2014.
He expressed bafflement that so many erstwhile Celtic supporters seemed to be supporting Scotland in the match. He disapproved of this apparently new phenomenon.
NO Celtic fan of Irish descent would EVER have supported Scotland over Ireland in the past. Now, it seems, all of them are. Changed days...
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) November 11, 2014
Celtic fans welcome to support the country which colonised the land of their fathers then "welcomed" us as immigrants like a case of Ebola
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) November 12, 2014
Leaving Galloway aside, ahead of that particular game we spoke to Pat Nevin, among others, about the Euro 88 qualification campaign when Ireland beat then seasoned tournament participants Scotland in Hampden Park, and then the eliminated Scots elbowed the Bulgarians aside allowing Ireland to breast the ticker tape in Group 7.
Nevin started on the wing for Scotland against Ireland that night. Both he and the other wide player Davie Cooper turned in sprightly performances but their prompting didn't produce a goal.
The goal came at the other end, with Mark Lawrenson sliding the ball home after a quickly taken free kick.
Nevin's father, born in Scotland himself but the son of Irish parents was at the game. When a dejected Nevin walked outside, his father had a wide grin on his face.
It turns out that not even the sight of their son scampering about in a Scottish jersey could convince some men with Scots accents to abandon Ireland.
I was gutted because we played well, we'd played with two wingers, myself and Davie Cooper, we'd created a lot of chances. When I went out afterwards there was my Dad standing waiting for me smiling.
I said to him 'surely you weren't supporting Ireland?'
And he said, 'well, I'll go this far son, if you're going to get beaten by anyone, that's who to get beat by.'
Nevin added that the feeling of kinship with Ireland, which isn't solely the preserve of the Irish communities in Glasgow and Edinburgh, is still in evidence.
The proof was in a press box in Warsaw the night the Scots drew with Poland in October 2014. Ireland were scrapping away in Gelsenkirchen the same night. (One wonders whether Scottish journalists would have a different reaction to that result now).
To be honest that's not completely gone. I was at the Poland-Scotland game and just at the end of it I'm sitting at the press box and there's a lot of Scottish journalists around and of course Ireland scored a goal in the last second. The whole press box leapt up and celebrated. But as they celebrated, they came back down and thought 'Oh dear, should we really be celebrating that?' But the natural thing is to celebrate it and say 'well we want them to do well.'
They don't feel the same about England definitely (laughs) and don't really have any massive passion for Wales either. They don't dislike Wales but there's no feeling there at all. But there is that link there with Ireland and the lads still have it.
