The yellow school bus is a fixture of American public education. But for a few hours Saturday night, it became synonymous with Scottish soccer fandom.
More than a thousand supporters of Scotland’s national soccer team packed into a fleet of dozens of school buses for a 45-minute trip from Providence, Rhode Island to Gillette Stadium to watch their squad compete in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in nearly three decades.
GBH News gained exclusive access to one of the buses in the Scottish caravan to get an up-close look at Scottish superfandom as it descended upon New England. The bus was packed to the brim with members of the Tartan Army, the chosen name of Scotland’s travelling fans. Supporters of the team, all clad in kilts, sat shoulder to shoulder as they sang, drank (heavily), stuck their heads out of windows and waved Scottish flags in the 90-degree heat.
The unlikely transportation method began as a novel way to save money as local officials and FIFA organizers have come under mounting criticism over steep prices for trains and buses to the international sporting event.
“They tried to rob us blind,” said Scotland supporter Brian Roy. “It’s disrespectful.”
The MBTA is charging $80 for a roundtrip train ride between Boston and Foxboro, roughly four times larger than the cost of a regular commuter rail trip to Gillette (which is temporarily renamed Boston Stadium for the soccer games). Boston World Cup officials are also offering $95 bus rides from several “strategically located” stops around Greater Boston, including Logan Airport and the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence.
According to Scott Gillan, an organizer of the Providence Tartan Army, a group of thousands of Scotland fans making Providence their unofficial home base for the tournament, the idea of renting school buses for the trek to the World Cup “started as a little bit of a joke.”
But, Gillan said, in an effort to help fans who’ve already shelled out more than a thousand dollars a head for international travel, the group “spoke to a few bus companies, and the prices were incredible. And all of a sudden, we rented almost every school bus in Rhode Island and the surrounding area.”
Organizers charged fans $38 per seat on the buses. The funds went toward the cost of transportation, ample alcoholic beverages and water provided to passengers on board, as well as more than $16,000 in charitable donations to local organizations, including $10,000 for Providence’s Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
“Their charity work is amazing,” said Rhode Island-based social media influencer Mia Carroccia, as she watched the fleet arrive in Providence. “It’s incredible what they’ve done for the community.”
For Scotland fans, the school bus trip marked a once-in-lifetime experience.
“I have waited my whole life for this,” said Martin Friel, a teacher from Scotland, explaining that the only time he’d ever seen a yellow school bus before Saturday was in an episode of “The Simpsons.”
“While we’re here, we might as well get involved in the American experience,” said Friel.
“We’re on a yellow bus, so you can say it’s our first school day at the World Cup,” said Scotland fan Sam Donegan. “We’re having a party!”
The buses were sourced from school systems around the region, including Plymouth, Weymouth, Holbrook and Duxbury’s school districts.
Paula McFadden, a longtime driver for Holbrook Public Schools, jumped at the assignment when drivers in her district were asked whether they wanted to take on the job.
“It was a little different than driving for school,” she said, smiling, after completing the journey to Foxborough. “There were a lot of rules that weren’t followed. But it was so much fun.”
