A petition has been launched calling for the Robert Burns World Federation‘s Education Convener to quit after criticising the accent and dialect of a young Scots poet. Lesley McDonald has been chastised for a series of harsh tweets towards Erin Boyle and her poem “Fae The Scheme Tae The First Team” (10 June) for the BBC about Scotland qualifying for Euro 2020.
Update (12 June) Others rallied to the young poet’s defence (12 June). “You should watch it. It’s a lovely thing. A heartfelt celebration of the street football enjoyed by generations of working class heroes. The Scots language seems to make a certain kind of person really angry though and within hours, the Social had to release a statement defending the post in the face of a torrent of “hateful and abusive comments” from viewers critical of Erin’s accent and dialect”.