Do Messi and Argentina have Scotland’s Gaelic culture to thank for World Cup success?

With Scotland absent from the World Cup in 2022, many would assume that Scots had absolutely no influence on proceedings whatsoever in Qatar. But research suggests that if it wasn’t for Scotland’s Gaelic culture, the World Cup as we know it today, as well as Messi’s World Cup-winning Argentina side, would not have existed.

Research by shinty historian Dr Hugh Dan MacLennan has highlighted several links between shinty, a sport steeped in Gaelic culture and folklore, and the development of the modern game of football.

Dr MacLennan’s findings highlight that the basis for the passing and running game may have come from shinty, given the small ball used in the sport would often get stuck in the grass, making it impossible to dribble. This created a logistical need for passing and running.

The research also highlights that the first Vale of Leven football team, who had emerged from a shinty team, lined up in shinty formation in their first ever football match against Queen’s Park, with this perhaps being instrumental in influencing modern football formations.

Additionally, football historian and founder of the Scottish Football Museum, Ged O’Brien, claims that the passing and running game could have only been developed in Scotland thanks to Gaelic culture and the structures of the Clans system.

Mr O’Brien says that the Clans were highly influential in football’s development as a team sport, given Scotland played a more inclusive and collective passing game that developed over centuries. This was in contrast to England, where football was driven by more individualistic and imperialistic approaches.

The ‘Scotch Professors’ then exported the Scottish game to the rest of the world, including Alexander Watson Hutton, who set up the Argentinian Football Association in 1890. Watson Hutton is still considered the father of Argentine football to this day.

So, with Gaelic culture giving so much to world football, is it rightfully embraced by the sport today?

Calum Ferguson, footballer and co-founder of FC Sonas - an organisation intent on combining football with the honing of Gaelic language skills - thinks that Scottish football has not done enough to ensure Gaelic culture is accommodated within the sport - even with this rich history behind it.

“Football has become disconnected from its roots, like a lot of things have. Being a Gaelic-speaker in the football industry, there’s no place for Gaelic in football at all.

“We speak about community in football and how important that is - in Gaelic culture, in Gaelic society, community is everything. Clan in Gaelic is ‘clann’, which literally means children, and the whole idea of a clan is an extended family, which goes back to the Gaelic way of life, and it’s increasingly something that’s being lost.”

As someone who came through the youth system at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the biggest eye-opener for Calum came whilst playing for Canadian club Valour FC on an away trip to Halifax Wanderers in Nova Scotia. They have the Gaelic phrase ‘Ar Cala, Ar Dachaigh, Ar n-Anam’ (Our Harbour, Our Home, Our Soul) as their club motto.

“I couldn’t get my head around the fact that there’s a club in Canada who have a Gaelic motto and not a single club in Scottish football had done anything for Gaelic at that stage at all.

“The fact no football club has embraced Gaelic as a part of their identity I think shows you the crisis we have in Scotland towards our own culture and our language - the stigma and the narrative that is there towards Gaelic as a language, but also as a culture as well.

“That’s something they should be embracing and buying into, and that’s where the idea of FC Sonas started to gather steam.”

A native Gaelic-speaker, Calum says his own use of the language began to suffer due to a lack of usage whilst playing football, and by creating FC Sonas with coach Donnie Forbes in 2020, it is hoped that the project can create an avenue for Gaelic to become a mainstay of Scottish football.

“For us, we wanted to use the universal power of football to essentially provide that community, that support mechanism for Gaelic-speakers, not just in a playing capacity, not just in a coaching capacity, but if they wanted to go and become a physio, or a video analyst, or any role that football can be supportive of - it opens up the opportunities.”

Author and BBC Alba broadcaster, Calum Maclean, is also a native Gaelic-speaker, and as a life-long Inverness fan, he says Gaelic can be heard at some matches in Scotland, but is only being spoken by a small minority of players, fans, and staff.

“I have friends or former colleagues who are Gaelic speakers so if I see them at a game, I'd go and have a chat to them - there's a couple of regulars I spot at the home games. It's rarely a conversation with a stranger, it's someone that I know has Gaelic.”

Calum recorded an anecdote in Gaelic for Caley Thistle’s official social media pages on Seachdain na Gàidhlig (World Gaelic Week) in February where he shared cherished memories of watching the Highland team whilst growing up, but he recognised that some football clubs and organisations do more for Gaelic than others.

“I think Inverness have taken some good steps in recent years, along with Partick Thistle too. Both clubs engaged well with Seachdain na Gàidhlig.

“I don't think [the SFA] have an official Gaelic language plan, like many councils and organisations do. That usually sets out what the organisation will do to support and promote Gaelic over a five year period. Some organisations do loads of great things, some others do a much more minimal amount.

“I think that a bigger focus on coaching in Gaelic for children from Gaelic-speaking homes or schools etc. is something that should be looked at. Promoting the language at grass-roots levels in the areas it is still strongest would be a fantastic thing, and help strengthen it.”

In line with this, it is hoped that when the Scottish Government celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Gaelic Language Plan in 2025, football will be front and centre, given Gaelic culture may well deserve its due, having helped provide Scotland, and indeed the world, with perhaps the greatest gift of all.