Rory Phillips-Hunter was in tears when he watched Scotland beat Denmark at the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in November. For the first time since 1998, his national team had qualified for the biggest event in sports.
“I turned to my fiancée at the time, as soon as the full-time whistle went, and I said: ‘We’re going. I don’t care what it takes. We’re getting across to America,'” he recounted to Business Insider.
That was until he realized the Scottish national team’s matches would be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and that hotel prices in nearby Boston were far beyond what he could afford.
An eight-day stay in the US for two people would cost $8,000 total, 37-year-old Phillips-Hunter estimated. He was born in Hawick, a town in the Scottish Borders, and now works as an estate and maintenance manager at a farm in North West England, earning about £33,000 ($44,000) a year.
He looked at the map to see what else was close to Gillette Stadium, and stumbled across Providence, Rhode Island, about a 40-minute drive from the stadium.
That’s when it all started to come together.
Phillips-Hunter is one of an estimated 7,000 Scottish national soccer fans, collectively known as the Tartan Army, planning to come to Providence for the World Cup in time for Scotland’s first game this weekend. Like many of them, it will be Phillips-Hunter’s first time attending a World Cup.
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The fans have been working with local government departments and businesses to arrange cheaper accommodation, group transport, and big events to celebrate Scotland’s return to the World Cup. Their plans have ballooned into a citywide embrace of the Tartan Army, spearheaded by eight organizers, including Phillips-Hunter.
For some, the descent upon the midsize, coastal American city of 195,000 people (1.7 million if you include the broader metro area) is a way to keep costs down. This year’s event is shaping up to be, by far, the most expensive World Cup on record. Fans from around the world have been taking measures such as carpooling, sharing Airbnbs, or opting for less popular games to be able to attend.
For others, it’s about community.
And for the small businesses set to receive the 6,000-strong team of Scotland supporters, it’s looking like one heck of a payday.
‘Look, there’s going to be a few people coming’
In late December, Phillips-Hunter joined a WhatsApp group with other Scotland fans who planned to travel to Providence for the World Cup. There were about 25 people in it at the time, and the group had been shared on social media.
Davie Hood, a 60-year-old civil servant from Glasgow, was one of these early members and organizers. He told Business Insider that the WhatsApp group grew to 400 members in January and has swelled to over 1,000.
The Providence Tartan Army quickly gained traction in Scottish media; their Facebook group has over 13,000 followers. Providence’s Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism, as well as organizers, expect between 6,000 and 7,000 members of the Tartan Army to be in Providence for the World Cup.
One of the organizers’ first tasks was to find affordable transport to the game, which they said didn’t exist earlier this year.
Their solution was to hire American school buses to cut costs. They plan to use 21 buses to transport 1,100 supporters to and from the Scotland v. Haiti game this weekend and 20 buses to transport 1,050 supporters to and from the Scotland v. Morocco game on June 19. Both matches take place at Gillette Stadium.
For about $50 each, supporters get a round-trip bus ticket, a small donation toward a local charity, and beers, cider, wine, and soft drinks for the trip.
Since then, the Boston Host Committee, which represents FIFA, has also launched a $95 round-trip bus service from Providence to the stadium.
Next up was accommodation. The organizers wrote to a series of hotels in Providence to secure deals. Some Tartan Army fans are staying at the Providence Marriott Downtown, organizers said. The hotel offered them lower room rates, plus a $20 food-and-beverage voucher to use at the hotel. For a king-size room, Phillips-Hunter is spending $288 a night for two people. These rooms are currently listed for over $400 a night.
The Marriott did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
The Tartan Army organizers also reached out to Providence’s Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism and the Providence Tourism Council for information on finding affordable accommodation and permission to host larger events in the city. “Look, there’s going to be a few people coming,” Hood recalled telling them.
Joe Wilson, director of this department, said his team has been helping to find housing and arrange buses from the fan zone. They’re also helping facilitate a bagpipe-and-kilt procession downtown.
“I tell you, we’ve been so busy,” Wilson said.
Pints at the ready
Local businesses are preparing for the Tartan Army windfall.
“Our average spend is going to be about $2,000 per person, with accommodation, food, rent, and tourist attractions,” Hood estimated. “It’s a lot of money going into their economy,” he added.
Wilson said the economic impact will be felt strongly. The entire state of Rhode Island is expecting as many as 2.2 million visitors total from the World Cup.
“Any amount of [foot] traffic… will be a benefit for our city,” Wilson said. “If we have an extra 50,000 people, that is a big impact for us. I’m excited for our small businesses, for our residents.”
On June 18, the Providence Tartan Army is scheduled to hold a fan march accompanied by bagpipe players.
The march ends at a local park, where a 5,000-person event called “TA in the Park” is expected. It’s a collaboration with local brewing cooperative The Guild Brewing Company, among others.
The Guild Brewing Company cofounder, Jeremy Duffy, said they plan to bring more than 700 cases — 16,000 pints — of beer to the event. There will be 5,000 personalized beer cans for the Tartan Army. He wouldn’t comment on how much he will make from beer sales, but said his plan is to cover the costs of putting it on.
Then the plan is to head to one of the city’s popular spots for sports fans, Providence G Pub, for an after-party.
Ivan Kristicevic, hospitality and community manager for G Hospitality, which owns the pub, said it plans to become the Tartan Army’s unofficial HQ.
Kristicevic wouldn’t disclose how much he expects to make from the events, but said they are doing a “very, very large preorder” of food and drinks.
Still, the spirit of traveling with the Tartan Army isn’t just about keeping costs down.
Gareth Greenshields, a 43-year-old Scottish clinical operations manager, said he first came across the group on WhatsApp groups and quickly decided that was where he wanted to stay when watching the Scotland games.
“I’ve managed to create a network. I’ve got a lot of people that I’m going to be pairing up with when I’m over there,” Greenshields, who is based in Switzerland, said. “We’ve had flags made. I’m going to be piping over there, so I’m in touch with a few of the bagpipers.”
“For me, it was all about the camaraderie rather than cost. And that’s a good privilege to have,” he added.
‘Making memories that will quite literally last a lifetime’
A key Tartan Army tradition when traveling for a game is to leave a donation to a local children’s charity.
To do so, they are selling merchandise to fans, such as £3 ($4) badges and £20 ($27) T-shirts, with all proceeds going to charity.
The badges are emblazoned with the Scottish Football Association crest and the phrase “I’ve met the Providence Tartan Army”; the T-shirts feature the Scottish and American flags.
So far, they have raised $10,000 for the local Hasbro Children’s Hospital, $10,000 for Project Goal — a grassroots football organization in the city — and $6,500 for the Rhode Island Highlanders pipe band.
Phillips-Hunter said he gets emotional when he thinks about the fundraising effort and all the organizing that went into getting Scotland fans to Providence at a price they could afford.
He said that without the school buses and Marriott hotel deal, it would have been difficult for him to go. He had already sold his pickup truck to get a cheaper-running car and had maxed out a credit card to afford the trip.
He’s spending just under $6,000 total on the trip. This includes travel and accommodation for himself and his fiancée, and the $600 he’s budgeted for spending money while he’s there.
“I would’ve found a way to have gone, but it would have left me in financial peril far more so than I already am, had the deals not already been available,” he said.
“When I sit back now, and I think, ‘right…I’m going to be on a plane, going across to America, from a little boy of nine years old, watching Scotland the last time we were in a World Cup, to knowing that I’ll be partly responsible for upward of 10,000 people, making memories that will quite literally last a lifetime’ — it’s really emotional,” he said.
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