We all know what this Euan McLean is talking about. But, really, what's the difference between the bombing of innocents in England and the bombing of innocents in Dresden? And what about the resistance groups in France and other countries? Many innocents were killed in their bombing campaigns as well. And then there's the ANC. Maybe we should be complaining whenever the radio plays Jerry Dammers's 'Free Nelson Mandela'?
The Peeppul would have you believe that Celtic supporters sing just as many, if not more songs of hate than they do. Strangely, though, they can never give any examples. Oh, wait, there's something about a song with lyrics about Lee Rigby, even though nobody has actually ever heard such a song being sung by Celtic supporters; nobody, that is, except The Peepul themselves, who started this story online. And I remember reading that somebody else once heard a line in a song that said, "Soon there'll be no Protestants at all", being sung sometime in 1963 or some such. The truth is that 'one side' as the media calls it is not as bad as 'the other'. The Peeppul don't sing songs about hating the IRA or the like; they sing songs about hating Irish people, Catholics and even the Pope. I've never heard Celtic supporters singing about hating Protestants or the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland! Anyway, whatever songs about the IRA get sung it is definitely only a few folk that sing them. Only The Peeppul and the members of our Fourth Estate seem to be able to hear them, with their ears pressed against the speakers on their tellies. The Peeppul's songs of hate, on the other hand, are belted out by practically all of them.
The Rangers (sic) Supporters Trust wrote to BT Sports telling their version of the truth, while bad-mouthing Stan Collymore (No doubt the death threats were sent in a separate attachment, leading to Collymore being removed from the coverage of last night's Bisto FC game against Raith Rovers.) They say that their club, and their old club, have done more to stamp out sectarianism than Celtic. Really? The thug with the name that suggests a bout of seaside onanism, Sandy Chugg, has been banned for life from Ibrox THREE times. How can you be banned for life three times? What the hell is he, Doctor Who? And then there's the official Ibrox songbook.
Every two weeks the song 'Follow Follow' blasts out over the tannoy at Ibrox. This little ditty contains the line, 'If they go to Dublin we will follow on'. Most sports supporters will claim that they will follow their team to hell and back, so the implication of this particular line is clear; Dublin is the last place on earth that anyone would want to go to. No doubt they would argue that this isn't the case, but why else include Dublin in the list of places they would follow follow to? It's not in Scotland, like the other places mentioned, so there is really only one reason why it would be there in the song. And that's supposed to be working to stamp out sectarianism and bigotry?
I had a look on Rangers Media and some of them seem to accept that they might have to change the words of their hymns of hate; not because they see anything wrong in them, but because it gives the 'haturz' a stick to beat them with. For 'The Billy Boys' some of them suggested being up to their knees in 'big tropheez' (which is a laugh, since they can't even win the Challenge Cup and it was envy over the biggest trophy that killed their old club). Some of them weren't too happy, wanting to maintain some measure of hatred in the song. One of them mentioned Bloody Sunday and the fact that the soldiers involved referred to each shooting as 'a trophy'. This seemed to tickle the funny bone of others on the forum. Talk about sick!
Last night the whole songbook was given an airing at Stark's Park, in a show of defiance against Stan Collymore and everyone else. The fact that Stewart Regan has more or less said that they can do whatever they like has obviously induced a sense of bravado and abandon in them. For good measure, they decided to abuse Colllymore directly, calling him a 'Black, Fenian bastard'. There were even reports of the 'N' word being used and a Nazi flag being waved. No doubt we'll be told, yet again, that it was just a 'small minority'; but the only reason that the singing wasn't as loud as it was at Hampden is that Stark's Park only holds about eight thousand-odd.
The Daily Record avoids reporting directly on last night's disgrace, which they refused to hear at all during their live updates, instead referencing it obliquely in a piece on the match delegate mentioning it in his report. Gary Ralston writes:
"Rangers (sic) face an SPFL probe after sectarian singing marred their victory over Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park. The Ibrox club have been reported by match delegate Tom Purdie after a section of the travelling support indulged in “sustained” sectarian singing during their 2-1 victory.
Pundit Stan Collymore took Rangers fans to task this week and he was the subject of their ire during the game as Kenny McDowall’s side avoided four defeats in a row for the first time in 30 years.
However, it was the chorus of controversy, including renditions of the Billy Boys, from a section of the support labelled the “FTP brigade” by former chairman Sir David Murray that have been mentioned in the report and not the jibes directed at the ex-Liverpool striker."
As usual, it's a 'section' of the support that gets the blame. The rest of the piece goes on about the match and how 'Boydy' managed to manoeuvre his fat carcass into the right position to score a goal, despite the headline being "SPFL will investigate Rangers (sic) for sectarian chanting during clash with Raith Rovers". The bit I've quoted above is all that Ralston has to say on the matter.
So the SPFL are receiving a report on the matter but it remains to be seen what they, or the SFA, will do about it. Probably nothing as usual. We'll get all the old noises about 'education' and a 'cancer' in our society and then the problem will be ignored again. Really, the club has to be hammered if this evil is going to be eradicated.
Go to any website where The Peeppul congregate, or even on Twitter, and you'll see how they go on about how Celtic supporters are the real bigots. They'll mention ridiculous things like Brother Walfrid only being concerned with the Catholic poor to the detriment of Protestants. Even if this nonsense were true it was a long, long time ago, just like how the Church of Scotland was calling for Irish Catholics to be repatriated. These days the Church of Scotland has distanced itself completely from such bigotry and, although I don't like the Church's theology and soteriology, I would say that the C of S is a force for good in this country and beyond. Even the Orange Order would balk at singing any of these songs nowadays. So why are these filthy songs still allowed to be sung by The Peeppul in the 21st Century? Only our authorities can answer that. The problem is that they won't!
It's time that our football, and government, authorities face up to this problem head-on. And our media, if they had any balls, would stop talking about 'sectarianism'. It's not sectarianism - it's out-and-out racial and religious bigotry. This problem wouldn't be hard to face and combat if it wasn't for the fact that everyone has spent so long pretending that it doesn't exist that they've almost made it impossible for themselves. It's something that they want swept under the carpet in the pretence that racism is somehow an English problem and doesn't exist in Scotland. Until everyone is prepared to face up to the truth then folk will still be discussing this in 2115.
A Peeppul's spokesman uses his right to reply:
"Yaaaaasssss! Raynjurz ur still gonny bae here in 2115!"
I'm finding it really hard to understand what more Celtic and Rangers can do. We are paying for hundreds of police officers to attend these games, yes that's right WE are paying for them. What they need to do is stop watching the game ad do what WE are paying them to do, yep their job. Less than 20 arrests out of that hatefest is really absurd, it's time for both clubs to hold these people to account, do your jobs or we will withhold payment until you do. Pointing fingers at the clubs while the authorities stand by and watch this going on is a joke and it's high time this was pointed out to them. Whether singing about the IRA is sectarian or not isn't the point. It is offensive and it is illegal.
ReplyDeleteWho is offended by the singing about the IRA? I take your point, but it really is a small minority of the Celtic support that sings these songs. As I keep saying, I don't know any of them because I've never heard them. I know The Peeppul's songbook, however, verbatim. And it's hardly the same as what some Celtic supporters sing. If they were just chanting about proscribed Loyalist organisations then the argument would stand up to scrutiny. As it is, they sing about how they hate the Irish, Catholics and the Pope. Would this be tolerated if they sang such songs about any other nationality or religious group?
ReplyDeleteMy real point is that the clubs aren't responsible for enforcing the law. That's the job of the police and lets be honest until they decide to do something about sectarian/offensive singing then I'm afraid we will continue to be embarrassed by the Neanderthals in both sets of support and them. It really is time that we stopped pointing the finger at fans of other clubs and started to ask questions of the authorities about there inactivity in this area.
ReplyDeleteI would argue, though, that Rangers/Bisto FC have actually helped promote this bigotry. As for finger pointing, every club has its share of morons; the Ibrox club, however, seems to actively recruit them! Read what I said about 'Follow Follow' and get back to me!
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