Soldiers, sashes and shamrocks
This article demonstrates the nexus between social identity and football in the context of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Drawing on theories of social identity, it highlights the manner in which supporting particular football clubs in these nations operates alongside other social processes to constitute individuals’ social identities. This article argues that in many cases, one’s affiliation with a particular club represents the combination of number of specific social, political and religious attributes and that football remains one of the few public arenas in which the exhibition and articulation of these sentiments is permitted
1. Introduction
1.1 The sociological study of football in Scotland and Northern Ireland is by no means a new phenomenon. However, the vast majority of studies consider each nation in isolation and rarely have the two been included in a comparative account. This paper seeks to overcome this by analysing the manner in which relations between Protestants and Catholics are experienced and articulated with regard to football in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Both nations are underpinned by a hegemonic Protestant culture and football acts as an arena for Catholic challenges to, and Protestant preservation, of this dominance (Bradley, 1998; Bairner & Darby, 1999). However, as this paper demonstrates, it is necessary to recognise that this power balance is maintained/challenged in a variety of similar and contrasting ways, most notably with regard to the greater use of violence in the Northern Irish context. Studies of religious, ethnic, political, regional and national sporting antagonisms have undergone a resurgence in the sociology of sport (e.g. Armstrong & Giulianotti, 2001) and, as sectarian violence – both on and off the field of play – in Northern Irish and Scottish football shows little sign of abating, a contemporary comparative analysis remains an important and significant field of enquiry. In this context, footballing allegiance plays a significant part in the respective social identities for Protestants and Catholics in these countries. By combining an exposition of social identity theory together with statistical demographic data, this paper will demonstrate how the team that an individual supports complements other aspects of his or her social identity.
