Absolutely! Contrary to what some of Sturgeon's supporters might say, it IS possible to be fiercely patriotic to Scotland, and a supporter of the union too. A thread for the dark place though, I think
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I'll never forget the latter stages of Euro 96 because I - an Englishman - was working in Edinburgh so I saw the total difference in the way the game was perceived in England and in Scotland.
I was heavily interested in the tournament to the extent that I went to two games in the early stages and took my son to the Germany V Russia match in Manchester (played the day after the IRA bomb attack in that city). Then I went up to Scotland!
The atmosphere surrounding the tournament was totally different up there. Scotland had already been eliminated but England were still involved. In fact, as we all know, England made the semis where they met Germany. My colleagues (three Americans, two Dutch, one Dane and one German) were excited about the prospects of this semi so selected lucky me to get the beers for the game which we would enjoy in my room of our hotel (very posh it was, too!)
I went to an ASDA store on the outskirts of Auld Reekie and saw they were proudly displaying 15 of the flags of the nations involved. Yes, I did write 15. And there was a lucky draw where, if you bought a case of Carlsberg, you were given a ticket for the main prize to be drawn on the occasion of the trophy presentation. The first prize being the award of the 15 (fifteen) shirts of
all the competing nations. Wow, all 15! I don't have to tell you which flag or nation's shirt was absent from all the interest, do I? The person behind the counter who served me was wearing a Brazil shirt and he stated that England wouldn't be taking any further part in the competition after tonight so I couldn't help informing him that his team (Brazil - number 10, obviously) didn't even qualify for Euro 96!
After England's defeat and elimination, our multi-national group retired to a pub opposite the hotel and as an English speaker, I was sent to the bar to organise drinks. A woman, on hearing my accent, burst out with a massive laugh in my direction and she loudly declared, 'We beat you, sonny!" with a very Edinburgh accent. I asked her who exactly "we" was and she stated that, "Anyone who beats the English is 'we' tae us!"
Everyone I know likes the Scots and we always want them (and Wales and Ireland) to win any and every competition they are in but the non-English don't feel the same towards us. We've accepted this and just get on with it.
