Scally
Encyclopedia
Scallie or Scally, is originally short for Scallywag, but is now most-often used in the context of a slang term for a hooligan
youth subculture
, similar to "chav
", but with different origins. It describes mostly young, "dole class" people.
. It is short for scallywag, which comes from an old Irish word for drudge
or farmservant — sgaileog. It is a word which appears to be in common use within towns that have historic Irish communities, for example Salford, Manchester, Warrington
, Knowsley, St. Helens
and Liverpool
, where it is sometimes abbreviated to "scall". As one leaves the industrial belt of the Mersey
and Irwell
valleys the word appears to have been replaced by chav
.
scene, it is generally regarded that the first scallies were supporters of Liverpool FC who stood on the Anfield Road terrace end of their football stadium. The earliest occurrence of this new fashion trend was evident in the spring of 1977 where Adidas Samba
footwear and Adidas
t-shirt
s became en vogue with the Liverpool youth.
By the August 1977 Charity Shield game between Liverpool and Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester United fans were noticeable with their new look - compared to London
ers who still dressed in the typical airwear
1970s look accompanied by wearing the respective colours of their teams.
By the 1980s the 'Liverpool look' (it was rarely called scally back then) went overground and its 'look' was fed by travelling football fans who returned from Everton and Liverpool games in Europe with designer sports goods.
from Brookside
came to epitomise the scally of this era.
. His tracksuit
-wearing characters "the Scousers
", with their phrases such as "calm down, calm down!" and "eh, eh, eh!", gave the scally a perhaps unwelcome national media exposure that, ironically, the Liverpool
youth began to imitate.
The decade also saw footballers merge into the popular culture scene and sporting stars like Robbie Fowler
and Steve McManaman
were oft labelled by the British media as being scally characters as well as Spice Boys
, lending the term an air of innuendo and hedonism.
television series produced by Steve Coogan
's Baby Cow company.
In January 2008 Liverpool's opening Capital of Culture event featured an appearance by Riuven
, a Scally rapper, whose songs
reflect many aspects of scally life, notably pot
smoking. Like The Streets
, Riuven treads a fine line between reality and parody
.
"Scallywag" is a trade marked name for a scone based product, made with dried fruit and decorated with almonds and a glace cherry. It also is a registered design due to its very distinctive appearance. It is made exclusively by "Hetty Gray's", 8 Union Street, Harrogate, North Yorkshire. HG1 1BS.
Hooliganism
Hooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs....
youth subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
, similar to "chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
", but with different origins. It describes mostly young, "dole class" people.
Etymology
The word's origins lie in the Irish languageIrish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
. It is short for scallywag, which comes from an old Irish word for drudge
Drudge
A drudge is a person who does tedious, menial, or unpleasant work; it can also refer to the work itself, known as drudgery.Drudge can also refer to:* Matt Drudge, an American Internet journalist.** Drudge Report, Matt Drudge's website....
or farmservant — sgaileog. It is a word which appears to be in common use within towns that have historic Irish communities, for example Salford, Manchester, Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
, Knowsley, St. Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, where it is sometimes abbreviated to "scall". As one leaves the industrial belt of the Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
and Irwell
River Irwell
The River Irwell is a long river which flows through the Irwell Valley in the counties of Lancashire and Greater Manchester in North West England. The river's source is at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup, in the parish of Cliviger, Lancashire...
valleys the word appears to have been replaced by chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
.
1970s
Although the adoration of brand name clothing stems from the Northern SoulNorthern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
scene, it is generally regarded that the first scallies were supporters of Liverpool FC who stood on the Anfield Road terrace end of their football stadium. The earliest occurrence of this new fashion trend was evident in the spring of 1977 where Adidas Samba
Adidas Samba
The Adidas Samba is an indoor soccer training shoe. It has been among Adidas' most popular, best selling shoes in recent times, the second best sold Adidas shoe ever with over 35 million sold pairs worldwide, behind the legendary Adidas Stan Smith. It is produced in a variety of color schemes, yet...
footwear and Adidas
Adidas
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...
t-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s became en vogue with the Liverpool youth.
By the August 1977 Charity Shield game between Liverpool and Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester United fans were noticeable with their new look - compared to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
ers who still dressed in the typical airwear
Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens is a traditional British footwear brand, which also makes a range of accessories – shoe care products, clothing, luggage, etc. In addition to Dr. Martens, they are known as Doctor Martens, Doc Martens, Docs or DMs...
1970s look accompanied by wearing the respective colours of their teams.
By the 1980s the 'Liverpool look' (it was rarely called scally back then) went overground and its 'look' was fed by travelling football fans who returned from Everton and Liverpool games in Europe with designer sports goods.
1980s
During the 1980s the TV character Damon GrantDamon Grant
Damon Grant is a fictional character in the defunct British soap opera Brookside, played by Simon O'Brien. The character was part of the initial cast, appearing from episode one in 1982 until 1987...
from Brookside
Brookside
Brookside is a defunct British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
came to epitomise the scally of this era.
1990s
The 1990s saw a pivotal change in the characteristics of the scally with national re-invention through the comedy sketches by Harry EnfieldHarry Enfield
Henry Richard "Harry" Enfield is a BAFTA-winning English comedian, actor, writer and director.-Early life:...
. His tracksuit
Tracksuit
A tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with front zipper. It was originally intended for use in sports, mainly as what athletes wore over competition clothing and would take off before competition. In modern times, it has become commonly worn...
-wearing characters "the Scousers
The Scousers
The Scousers was a sketch from the Harry Enfield's Television Programme comedy show of the early 1990s.It featured a set of stereotyped Liverpudlian characters or Scousers, "Ga'", "Ba'" and "Te'" played by Gary Bleasdale, Harry Enfield, Joe McGann, and Mark Moraghan...
", with their phrases such as "calm down, calm down!" and "eh, eh, eh!", gave the scally a perhaps unwelcome national media exposure that, ironically, the Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
youth began to imitate.
The decade also saw footballers merge into the popular culture scene and sporting stars like Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler
Robert Bernard Fowler is an English footballer who is currently player/manager for Thai Premier League club Muangthong United....
and Steve McManaman
Steve McManaman
Steven McManaman is a retired English footballer who played as a midfielder, winger and playmaker. Having spent his playing career at two of European football's most successful clubs of the 20th century, Liverpool and Real Madrid, as well as a spell at Manchester City, McManaman is the most...
were oft labelled by the British media as being scally characters as well as Spice Boys
Spice Boys (footballers)
The Spice Boys was a media term used to describe a group of Liverpool F.C. footballers in the mid-late 1990s, seen typically as being composed of Jamie Redknapp, David James, Phil Babb, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Stan Collymore and Jason McAteer...
, lending the term an air of innuendo and hedonism.
2000s
Liverpool comedian Keith Carter's scally character Nige is to be the subject of a BBC ThreeBBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
television series produced by Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
's Baby Cow company.
In January 2008 Liverpool's opening Capital of Culture event featured an appearance by Riuven
Riuven
RiUvEn is a British Hip Hop rapper from Toxteth, Liverpool, well known for his humorous lyrics, but also for lyrics that portray a vivid image of Liverpool scally life....
, a Scally rapper, whose songs
reflect many aspects of scally life, notably pot
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
smoking. Like The Streets
The Streets
The Streets were a British rap/garage project from Birmingham, United Kingdom, led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner and has included a myriad of other contributors most notably drummer Johnny Drum Machine, vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and the Italian-American beatmaker Leroy.The...
, Riuven treads a fine line between reality and parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
.
Sources
- Thornton, P., "Casuals: The Story of Terrace Fashion", Milo Books, London 2003. ISBN 1-903854-14-8
- Lost lives that saved a sport — The Observer — Sunday, April 3, 2005 The article on Guardian Unlimited
- Comprehensive view on history of Scally clothing: How LFC fans changed fashion forever
- Liverpool football culture in late 1970s The Terrace Thing
- Where d'ya get yer trainees from? BBC News Feature
- Riuven offends Capital of Culture http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/capitalofculture/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=20379337%26siteid=50061-name_page.html
External links
- Scally Central Scally Central
- In the name of the Charver A research project into the dialectal variation of words for 'scally'
- http://web.archive.org/web/20091026154014/http://www.geocities.com/the_las/lascratch.html Scallies by Mike Richmond, article about Liverpool band The La'sThe La'sThe La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group is most famous for their hit single "There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Badger in 1984 and Mavers joined soon after...
from Spiral Scratch magazine, April 1991]
"Scallywag" is a trade marked name for a scone based product, made with dried fruit and decorated with almonds and a glace cherry. It also is a registered design due to its very distinctive appearance. It is made exclusively by "Hetty Gray's", 8 Union Street, Harrogate, North Yorkshire. HG1 1BS.
See also
- Scallwag
- CasualsCasualsThe casual subculture is a subsection of association football culture that is typified by football hooliganism and the wearing of expensive European designer clothing. The subculture originated in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s when many hooligans started wearing designer labels and...
- ChavChavA chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
s - NedsNed (Scottish)Ned is a derogatory term applied in Scotland to hooligans, louts or petty criminals, latterly with the stereotypical implication that they wear casual sports clothes. Such usage in Glasgow dates back to the 1960s or earlier.-Early use of term:...
- ScouseScouseScouse is an accent and dialect of English found primarily in the Metropolitan county of Merseyside, and closely associated with the city of Liverpool and the adjoining urban areas such as the boroughs of south Sefton, Knowsley and the Wirral...
- TownieTownieTownie may refer to:*Townie, a term commonly used in university towns to refer to residents not affiliated with the university. It can also refer to a fraternity member who lives outside the fraternity building; e.g., in the college dorms or an apartment....
s