Electoral politics is strongly influenced by unfolding events, some of them leading to major
shifts in alignment. There has been renewed interest in the ‘floating voter’ in contemporary
Europe, not least because of increased electoral support for right-wing political parties. In
Scotland, however, the clearest example of realignment is to be found not so much in support
for specific political parties, although that should not be ignored, but rather in a shift of sections
of the population from UK unionism towards support for Scottish independence, despite the
result of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. We explore past contentions from certain
authors that the ethno-religious, socioeconomic and political stratification of supporters of the
two largest football clubs in Scotland, Celtic and Rangers, may be linked to their personal
voting dispositions with regards to the issue of Scottish independence. These past findings are
discussed in light of our interviews with fans of Scottish football teams which explore their
perceptions of the interconnection between football club support, nationalism, unionism, and
political voting in contemporary Scotland. Our interviewees suggest that the shifting dynamics
of contemporary Scottish politics in an era of constitutional evolution has been reflected in
shifting political and social affiliations of Scottish football clubs: although the traditional
political allegiances of Celtic and Rangers were argued to persist to a degree, consensus
emerged that these traditional allegiances have been destabilised by broader political,
socioeconomic and ideological developments.
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in British Politics. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Whigham, S., Kelly, J. & Bairner, A. Politics and football fandom in post- ‘indyref’ Scotland: nationalism, unionism and stereotypes of the ‘Old Firm’. Br Polit 16, 414-435 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-020-00142-8 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-020-00142-8