South Korean girl group STAYC accidentally wore the wrong Rangers jerseys while performing at a show in Texas.
Throughout their US tour, the six-piece girl group has delighted audiences by wearing sports team jerseys from each city they perform at while on stage. According to The New York Times, the group wore Mets and Yankees merch in the city, and while in Chicago they sported gear for the Bears and Bulls.
But on 19 October at the Factory in Deep Ellum in Dallas, there was a noticeable wardrobe mishap, with two members of the group donning jerseys from the Glasgow Rangers - the famous Scottish soccer team - rather than those of the local Texas Rangers baseball team.
The Texas Rangers, notorious for being one of the oldest Major League Baseball teams to never win the World Series, are this year headed to there after knocking out the champion - the Houston Astros - in seven games. The team’s jerseys are typically known for their patriotic red, white, and blue colouring, similar to the Glasgow Rangers’ blue home jerseys with white and red trim.
The Glaswegian jerseys were from their 1996-97 season, one of the most successful in the team's history. It was the same year that Rangers claimed the Scottish Coca-Cola Cup at Celtic Park with a win over Hearts. At the time, the team was famous for talents such as Paul Gascoigne and Ally McCoist.
Instead of backlash, STAYC fans and Glaswegians alike poked fun at the situation in a lighthearted way and supported the group’s members who likely weren’t familiar with either team.
Many were “won over” by the unintended show of support for the Scottish team, with The Daily Record newspaper writing: “They appear to have won over some punters in Scotland with the Light Blues support jumping on the STAYC bandwagon.”
One Glasgow Rangers fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Rangers are the kings of K-pop.” Another wrote: “As a Scottish person who supports [Rangers] this was not in my 2023 bingo card.”
“They made the correct choice, there’s only ONE RANGERS!” a Glasgow Rangers fan added, while someone else commented, “OK fine I will buy all their albums.”
In 2020, STAYC - comprised of members: Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon, and J - debuted with their commercially and critically acclaimed album Star to a Young Culture, the name of which is also the acronym for their band name.
Since their debut, the girl group has garnered top-five hits in South Korea including “Run2U” and “Teddy Bear.” Well-known in the K-pop community for their bubbly tunes and slick dance moves, the group is now touring the U.S. to support their latest Billboard-charting album, Teenfresh.
STAYC isn’t the first K-pop group to sport a Glasgow Rangers jersey. In 2018, two Stray Kids members donned the vintage jerseys in the music video for their single “My Pace.”