As thousands of Scottish fans descend on Cologne for Euro 2024 the Tartan Army are being warmly received by bars in Cologne who’ve had negative experiences with English football supporters this year.
Located in the heart of the German city, Papa Joes Biersalon has been filled with thirsty Scots a full two days before their beloved team takes to the field against Switzerland in the local stadium.
Barmaid Mariya Faler, 25, said she had been really impressed with the Scotland fans who’d flocked to the bar in kilts and football shirts.
“They’ve been nice,” she told the Express. “Mostly we’re used to different things from the UK.
“When West Ham was here [ahead of a game versus Bayern Leverkusen in April] they kicked footballs at us and came with their own beer to our tables.
“At one point I just started going around and collecting all of the beer they brought because I told them, like five times to please to stop.
“It was really hard. The police came, but they didn’t do anything. It was a bummer, we didn’t sell anything at all.”
She said that curious Scots had already been quizzing her on the impression they’d made in comparison to their English rivals.
“They asked really respectfully and when I told them I perceived them as better they were so happy they screamed,” she added with a laugh.
Mariya said there had already been a lot of banter with Scottish customers wearing kilts: “I like to make jokes with my customers and I know its the tradition [for men not to wear underwear under their kilts] so I would ask ‘so how is it under there?’
“Some of them would be like ‘oh, I married, I can show you this much’ and they would pull it up from the side to show their leg, it was very funny.
“[Another time] I came to a table and called the kilt a skirt and they were like ‘it’s a kilt’ but then one of them was like, ‘come on guys it’s a skirt’ and we were laughing.”
However, according to Mariya, the one downside to having Scottish fans wearing kilts and no underwear came when they had a bit too much to drink and accidentally let it all hang out.
“When Scotland played we were about to close and some guy with a kilt came in,” she continued.
“We tried to get him out, but he sat down at our table and he was so drunk he fell over. “So he was laying there upside down for a with his kilt backwards, I mean, you can imagine how it looked.”
Papa Joes Biersalon has been so packed with Scotland fans the wait for drinks had got as high as 30 minutes, something which still hadn’t put off the partying Tartan Army fans.
After they depart on Friday the city can expect a visit from the English and, given West Ham United fans drank the Irish bar opposite dry in April, there is an anticipation of an equally busy days.
Mariya hopes the England fans who come behave more like the Scots than the East Londoners, but is fearful of a repeat: “I’m nervous” she added.