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ARABS - The collective noun applicable to supporters of Dundee United. It is now fairly common currency among tabloid sports journalists, though some remain confused as to whom it actually refers, sometimes mistakenly using it to describe the team. Just as Hibees are the team while Hibbies are the fans, Jam Tarts are the team while Jambos are the fans, so Dundee United are the Terrors while their supporters are Arabs.
There have been
several stories regarding the origins of the 'Arabs' term. Desperate to play a Scottish Cup tie against Albion Rovers in January 1963, the management, in an attempt to get Tannadice playable, hired an industrial tar burner to melt the several inches of snow and ice from the pitch....not only did it do this, but it also removed the grass! Undaunted, the directors ordered several lorry-loads of sand, which was then spread across the barren surface, and the regulation pitch markings were then painted on top. Astonishingly, the referee pronounced the ‘pitch’ playable! United adapted well to this playing surface and won the game 3-0, prompting observers to comment that they had taken to the sand like Arabs. The supporters, however, quickly hijacked the name for themselves, the next few matches witnessing some fans wearing crude approximations of Arab headgear. The practice never became widespread until the late ’70s and early ’80s when it was seen at cup semi-finals and finals and by the early 1990s even the official club souvenir shops were selling replicas of Arab keffiyehs in tangerine and black.
By that time the term ‘Arabs’ had become more widely used, largely as the result of regular references to it by the popular United fanzine The Final Hurdle, which first appeared in 1988. United supporters soon declaring that they were 'Proud To Be An Arab', Deacon Blue singer and long-time Dundee United supporter Ricky Ross even wrote a song declaring this fact.
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