Originally published 2021-06-20.
The morning after Scotland held England to a 0–0 draw at Wembley on 18 June 2021, groups of Scottish supporters went back to the central London streets where they had partied the night before and started filling bin bags. Leicester Square and the lanes around it were covered in cans, bottles and plastic, and fans in kilts and team shirts were filmed and photographed sweeping and bagging it up before heading home. The pictures spread quickly and became one of the friendlier images of Euro 2020.
Here is the background to that night, what actually happened in London, and why the clean-up struck a chord.
The match that started the party
Euro 2020 was played a year late, in summer 2021, because of the pandemic. Scotland were at their first major men's tournament since the 1998 World Cup, and the group-stage meeting with England was the oldest international fixture in football revived on a big stage.
England were heavy favourites. They were among the top-ranked teams in the world, and bookmakers reportedly gave them a large chance of winning. Scotland, having lost their opening match to the Czech Republic, needed a result. They played with energy and confidence, and the goalless draw kept their hopes of reaching the knockout rounds alive.
This look like the promo shot for a comedy film. The whacky plucky underdogs vs the evil rich team.
— Maverick (@Mulenko88) June 14, 2021
Scotland looking like competition winners happy to be at the tournament love it 😂 pic.twitter.com/daMIIcsrBZ
Thousands of fans travelled without tickets
Because of Covid rules, Wembley was limited to about a quarter of its capacity, and Scotland's allocation was small. The Edinburgh Evening News estimated that around 22,000 supporters went to London even though fewer than 3,000 tickets had been issued to Scotland fans. Other reports put the crowd higher, up to 30,000, so the true figure is uncertain.
Both the Scottish and UK governments had urged people not to travel without a ticket or a safe place to watch. Trafalgar Square, the traditional gathering point for the Tartan Army, was set aside for key workers rather than turned into a fan zone. Many supporters headed to Leicester Square instead, where they sang, kicked footballs about and let off flares late into the night.
Police moved into the square at around 12:45am and asked people to leave. By about 1:15am it had been cleared, leaving behind a carpet of rubbish.
The morning-after clean-up
When daylight came, many fans returned with bags and brooms. Photographs by PA Wire showed supporters clearing Irving Street near Leicester Square, and broadcasters filmed others collecting cans before catching trains north. One widely shared estimate claimed about 10,000 cans had been left in a single street; that number came from social media and is best read as a rough impression of the scale rather than a count.
BBC reporter Frankie McCamley filmed one supporter who was happy to be recorded while working but politely declined to stop for an interview, saying he had come to clean.
“I’ve come to clean, not to do interviews.” One Scotsman just wanted to get on with cleaning up. He didn’t mind me filming him but didn’t want to do an interview.... Fair enough lad! #EUROS2020 #EnglandvsScotland #ScotlandvsEngland #eng #sco pic.twitter.com/KlEtZi92HW
— Frankie McCamley (@Frankie_Mack) June 19, 2021
Even the statue of Mr Bean, Rowan Atkinson's famous character, which stood in Leicester Square as part of a trail of film-character sculptures, got a wipe-down.
Rowan Atkinson aka Mr Bean also got a polish! #LeicesterSquare #ENGSCO #ENGvSCO #london pic.twitter.com/TYPCgpDADE
— Frankie McCamley (@Frankie_Mack) June 19, 2021
Some fans pointed out that there were too few bins for such a large crowd. That is a fair point about planning for big gatherings, but it does not change the basic lesson: people who join a celebration also share responsibility for the space they leave behind.
Arrests and policing
The Metropolitan Police said 30 people were arrested in connection with the match, 25 in central London and five near Wembley. According to the force's breakdown reported by STV News, these were mainly for public order offences, being drunk and disorderly, assaulting officers or assault, with a handful for drugs and for breaching dispersal or banning orders. Claims that circulated online about many arrests for nudity were not reflected in the police figures.
Given the size of the crowd, officers and commentators broadly described the day as boisterous rather than violent. The clean-up helped cement that impression.
Celebrations back home
In Glasgow, supporters filled George Square, and an official fan zone at Glasgow Green admitted up to 6,000 ticket holders a day in two sessions. It was the biggest organised event in the city since the pandemic began. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon celebrated the result online while reminding people that the virus did not care about football.
Across Scotland, fans sang "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie", the 1977 disco hit by the Spanish duo Baccara. The song had been adopted by the squad and supporters as an unofficial anthem around the play-off win over Serbia that sent Scotland to the tournament, and it became the soundtrack of Scotland's summer.
(The video originally embedded here is no longer available on YouTube.)
— 𝗔𝗠𝗬 𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗗 (@Amy__Macdonald) June 19, 2021
How Scotland's tournament ended
The draw meant that a win over Croatia at Hampden Park on 22 June 2021 would have sent Scotland into the knockout stage of a major tournament for the first time ever. It was not to be. Croatia won 3–1: Nikola Vlašić opened the scoring, Callum McGregor equalised just before half-time, and Luka Modrić and Ivan Perišić scored in the second half. Scotland went out at the group stage, while Croatia advanced to the last 16.
The Wembley draw still lives on in Scottish football memory, and so do the pictures of fans with bin bags in Leicester Square.
Why small acts like this matter
Football crowds are often in the news for the wrong reasons. A clean-up does not erase the mess, the arrests or the risks of a huge gathering during a pandemic, but it shows how quickly a shared identity can be turned toward looking after a place. Visiting supporters tidying a host city is now a familiar feature of major tournaments, from Japan's fans at World Cups to smaller clubs on the road.
If you are heading to a big match or festival, the practical version is simple: carry a bag for your own rubbish, use recycling points, and leave the streets as you would want your own neighbourhood left.
Sources: Edinburgh Evening News, 19 June 2021; STV News; Scottish FA; videos: Frankie McCamley (BBC) on X.
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