Merlin and Dawny: Meet the ducks supporting Mexico and Scotland this World Cup

While hosts Mexico became the first team to book a spot in the knock-out round with a 1-0 over South Korea on Thursday at Estadio Guadalajara.

Scotland lost 1-0 against Morocco at Boston in their Group C encounter on Friday. What connects both Mexico and Scotland in this World Cup is the fact that both the teams have a duck supporting them in their World Cup campaigns. While Merlin, a two-year-old duck, has been seen supporting Mexico wearing the jersey of the country, another duck named Dawn the Duck is supporting Scotland while attending fan parks and parades in Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, where a majority of Scotland are based this World Cup.

Merlin became a viral social media sensation when videos of her went viral with the duck marching Mexico City streets wearing a miniature Mexico jersey while on the streets. FIFA has dubbed the duck as the country football ambassador while the Mexico team shared an image of him flying over the stadium in Guadalajara in a social media post ahead of the team’s match against South Korea.

Merlin is owned by Karla Ivette Gomez, a street vendor based in Mexico City, who runs the cart along with her son Cristian Gomez. After the opening match between Mexico and South Africa at Estadio Azteca, a video of Merlin in a Mexico jersey and following her owner Gomez had gone viral. Merlin was the centre of attraction on Friday in Mexico with TV crews and fans getting a chance to pose with the duck at a World Cup Fan Festival in Mexico City. “At no point did we think he would go so viral. We were walking down (the main thoroughfare in Mexico City) and out of nowhere a girl takes a video, and that’s when we went viral,” Karla Ivette Gomez told AFP in an interview on Friday.

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Far away in Providence, Dawn the Duck, also known as Dawny, has been accompanying Scottish fans, who have come to Boston to support their team in their group C encounters at the Boston Stadium. Prior to Scotland’s match against Morocco on Friday, Dawny attended the fan parade in Providence apart from taking part in a come and greet session with the Scottish fans.

Draped in the colours of Scotland’s national jersey, the duck was in the spotlight for the fan parade. In an interview with the Boston Globe, owner Justin Taymes shared how he had bought Dawny for seven dollars and later registered her as a ‘service duck’. Over the last two years, Dawny has attended fan events supporting providence College Friars’ men’s basketball matches too before she was barred by the city authorities to attend matches at the Amica Mutual Pavillion. According to Taymes, Dawny had a lawyer, a security guard as well a manager and has been sponsored by an ice cream company as well motoring giant Jeep as well having her own dweller.

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The duck also has more than 30,000 followers on Instagram. According to Taymes, he is also writing a book titled ‘How Dawn Found Her Quack’. “I take her to schools, to children’s hospitals, to nursing homes, and adult daycare centers. I do the 5K cancer races. The book is going to have two messages. The first message is going to be the reason why it’s safe to recycle, and then the second message is going to be: No matter how old somebody is, they can still learn something new,” Taymes told the Boston Globe.

In the past, Dawny had photographs clicked with Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee and Cranston Mayor Kenneth Hopkins. When the duck was banned from attending the matches at Amica Mutual Pavillion, the AMP and Rhode Island convention centre general manager Larry Lepore had talked about the reason behind the ban. “As much as some people might have thought it was cute, there were other people that we got responses back from the public thinking that it was kind of cruel to the animal,” Lepore had told Sports Team 10’s.

Taymes shared on Friday how he is there for a good reason. “They said no ducks were allowed. I didn’t mind it. That was a blessing in disguise. This duck’s not like those ducks. I raised her by passing her around to everybody, so she thinks everybody is her cousin. I put her on the floor, she doesn’t want to get away. I put her in a pond, and she always comes back. So that means I’m doing a good job. But the world knows I’m here for a good reason. I’m here to put smiles on faces, spread love and positivity. The world needs that.” Taymes told the Boston Globe.

As for Merlin, the duck is part of the Gomez Family. The duck, who wears number 12 jersey, is the family’s third duck and was gifted to the family by a client. “He’s part of the family,” Gomez’s 14-year-old son Cristian Gomez told AFP.

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Crickets and fish and an occasional taco is the duck’s favourite. “Merlin is our everything. Merlin eats fruit, vegetables, crickets, fish, and every now and then a taco,” Karla tells AFP.