Expert explains significance of applause of Scotland match tribute to Alex Salmond

Ahead of the game on Tuesday night, the chief executive of the Scottish Football Supporters Association, Stuart Murphy, said that while the organisation sought to be apolitical an exemption was being made to mark the death of Alex Salmond. 

Salmond died in North Macedonia after suffering a heart attack on Saturday. 

On Tuesday, fans honoured Salmond with a one-minute round of applause ahead of kick-off.

“On this occasion, I feel it appropriate to mark the passing of this great patriot,” said Murphy.

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“Alex was a real Scotland fan long before he became politically active and continued to be a real friend to our national game throughout his career from the grass roots upwards. RIP Alex.”

Speaking to The National, professor of sociology at the University of Glasgow Les Back said the “unusual” gesture showed just how influential Salmond had been in Scottish politics.

“It’s unusual for any politician to be applauded in a football stadium,” he said.

“But football stadia are, in many ways, the largest context for public celebration, of expressing identities and a sense of belonging.

“I think that the tribute to Alex Salmond was really about a recognition of a shared appreciation of his service to the project of self-determination.

Players observe a minute's applause for the late Alex Salmond ahead of the UEFA Nations League Group A1 match at Hampden Park, Glasgow. (Image: Jane Barlow) “It was an appreciation of someone who is acknowledged as raising a shared concern, whether people on different sides of the argument agreed with him or not.

“There was something in the energy of that wordless tribute that was really about communicating that appreciation.”

Back added that the relationship between football fans and politicians was rarely so straightforward but that something about Salmond’s devotion to Scotland had resonated.

“Football can be a profound form of culture and expression,” he said.

“A place where hatreds and divisions are expressed through collective forms of song or, in this case, merely applause.

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“It’s an important space where all kinds of emotions, connections and identities can be expressed in ungoverned and unregulated ways.

“But what’s interesting about this case is that the relationship between football culture, politics and politicians is not a straightforward one.

“It’s often a space where politicians can be chastened deeply.

“We’ve seen not only in Scotland but across the UK attempts by politicians to appropriate football culture for their own ends. It’s very often met with disapproval and rejection by fans." 

He continued: “Yet here there was clearly something about the coming together and expression of a shared national spirit, an ambition associated with Salmond, that resonated in an interesting way.

“We saw appreciation from those who may even have disagreed with somebody who yet articulated a sense of shared common fate and future.”