In Bari he is now a loved figure, known and respected by everyone. Jake Barnes, 40, an English teacher from Aberdeen, is the emblem of attachment to the land in which he lives and to his origins. He supports the red and whites 365 days a year, he suffers, he racks up the miles away and has always been at Bari’s side since he moved to his home in via Crispi. But the love for your land of origin, for the blood that flows through your veins and refers to places and times that feel like family, that certainly cannot be closed in a drawer. And so yesterday evening, Friday 14 June, returning from a long day of exams in the schools where he is a native language lecturer, Jake wanted to celebrate in his own way the Scottish national team engaged in their debut at Euro 2024 against Germany, complete with photos of the PC placed on the balcony overlooking the church of the Madonna del Rosario and a ‘tartan’ scarf hanging from the railing.
Ancestral calls, calls of blood precisely, like those that pushed 200 thousand (you read correctly, 200 thousand!) Scots to invade Munich to challenge the German battleship. Only 10 thousand of them had a ticket for the Allianz Arena, but the important thing was to be there, to be there for a homeland distant from the media’s representation of a single block Great Britain. “I wanted to ‘feel at home’ – Barnes explained to us – even though Bari has in fact been my new home for some time. It’s a shame about the match, which ended 5-1 for them, but the difference between us and Germany was evident right from the start, a merciless but correct result. I agree – he continued – with coach Steve Clarke, when he says that we have to get 4 points against Hungary and Switzerland. Our European Championship starts with the next challenge. Him tonight, meanwhile, for Italy-Albania: go Azzurri ”.
And when we asked him what being Scottish meant to him, he replied: “Being Scottish? It’s a way of being in the world, different from being English. It is a way of feeling one’s people and one’s land. You see, for those people who were in Munich the only thing that mattered was being there, in a pub, in a fan zone or at the stadium. Being there, with your own identity to shout out to the world. And I, in my own small way, wanted to give this signal from a distance, like many other Scots scattered across the various continents: the tartan scarf is much more than a symbol.” Tartan, hence Tartan Army, a name given to supporters in blue shirts starting from the Scottish fabric par excellence, the fabric from which kilts are made, the typical men’s garments that are worn strictly without underwear.
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And it doesn’t matter if you lose, the important thing is to sing ‘Flower of Scotland’ and make people feel all the pride of belonging that is too often missing in our area. Jake ‘the Scot from Bari’ has contaminated himself, as he likes, as a citizen of the world, but within him the notes of the fathers who founded his nation still echo. Scotland, not England, please.
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