The supporters of Rangers Football club had a special message from their club last night as they took their seats to watch the match against Hamilton Academicals.
If they sang “The Famine Song” they were liable to be arrested.
This statement had been written after consultation with the police.
Strathclyde police later reported that there was only one arrest at Ibrox Park and that was for drunkenness.
James McCarthy, the young Irish midfielder for Hamilton who had received sustained racist abuse from Rangers fans on Saturday in the SPL at New Douglas Park, was allowed to go about his job without being told to go home to Ireland.
This is progress. If it takes little electronic reminders to Rangers fans not to indulge in racist singing because they are at risk of arrest then so be it.
One day such warnings will not be required.
They are at the moment. The “Self-Policing” initiative brought in by Rangers Supporters organisations obviously did not include forbidding grown men racially abusing a 17 years old kid who plays his international football for the Republic of Ireland.
If “Self-Policing” fails then real policing is required. As it turned out all that was needed to remind the Rangers support that the Famine song was, in the opinion of the police, illegal.
When social historians come to write this period of Scotland’s history they will undoubtedly spend a few paragraphs on unpacking the “Famine Song Controversy”.
My Professor at York University, Laurie Taylor, was fond of highlighting where an old dispensation was blindsided by a new paradigm. This is, essentially, what I think has happened here. The Famine Song controversy has been a clash of rights versus racism.
The Famine Song was merely the most recent manifestation of Scotland’s oldest racism. In the old Scotland the idea of the mere Irish having rights was a stupid as blacks folks being at the front of the bus before Rosa Parks said “enough”
Racism is, in contemporary Scotland, not only socially unacceptable it is also illegal.
So the Famine Song had to be defended by those who sang it with a denial that the song was, in fact, racist.
David Edgar of the Rangers Supporters Trust stated on Radio 5 Live that the Famine song was “a rather tasteless chant”, but he dismissed the idea that the Famine Song was racist as “nonsense”.
Belatedly the campaigning organisation “Show Racism The Red Card” publicly stated, on the 6th of this month, on their website that the Famine song was racist.
Rangers Football Club has yet to publicly concur with that opinion.
The police had advised Rangers Football club in September that singing the song could put the singers at risk to arrest for a “racial breach of the peace”.
The Famine song is racist. The debate on that should be closed. Why this controversy ensued was that the denigration of the Irish in the West of Scotland is in the societal DNA of the old Scotland of the British Empire. That is the Scotland that spawned Rangers.
That global expansion of the London state is now, of course, a matter of history it is no longer a matter of fact. There are more people in Cork City than live in British Crown Colonies today.
The Empire is over and now only the trailer trash of that empire remains to vent their hatred at those who once were that empire’s victims.
Graham Spiers stated, in the aftermath of the Manchester riots in May that “a white underclass has attached itself to Rangers.”
Moreover the Times journalist was of the opinion that “there is a social poison at the heart of the club.”
It was, in my opinion, that poisonous core that sang the Famine Song with such gusto.
Alan Shatter wrote to the Ibrox club on October 2nd about the Famine song. I checked with this office today (October 29th) and he had yet to receive a reply to his letter.
Ireland and the Irish still have a special place in the mindset of the “white underclass” that Graham Spiers referred to when discussing the Manchester riots.
Ironically it has been the involvement of the Irish in Ireland and our elected representatives that has seen this racist sub-stratum scuttle in confusion.
How many of those who racially abused 17-year-old James McCarthy at New Douglas Park on Saturday sat obediently at Ibrox last night?
Is that all it takes?
The Billy Boys, a song roared in hatred at the Glasgow Irish Untermensch for generations, for generations, is now gone, banished from soccer stadia in Scotland.
It is appropriate to use the lexicon of the Nazis because the song celebrates the street gang formed by Billy Fullerton.
Fullerton was one of Mosley’s Blackshirts and formed a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Glasgow in the 1920s.
In the new paradigm of rights and respect in Scotland the old culture of Ibrox has no place.
If it is required that for a while such basic tenets of human decency need to be displayed on large screens in big writing, if not in big words, at Ibrox Park then so be it.
Last night the Famine song was not sung at Ibrox.
Now that is a result that I can truly celebrate.
Ryan
Here we go again, ‘Banter’, etc.
‘Not intended to offend the Irish’? ‘There are many Rangers supporters clubs in the ROI’? How many exactly? Apart from the lamentable Dublin RSC which consists of 2 expat Scots who are working there where exactly are these?
‘The song is aimed at those Celtic fans who claim Irish status whilst they and their parents were born elsewhere’ – rather sweeping assumptions yet again. How do you know the family lineage of all Celtic supporters? Are you assuming that they do not have immediate Irish ancestry? Or were even born in the land itself?
‘If you are offended then you have chosen to be’ – do you also take this stance on the terrorist and murder-glorifying songs which (you claim) the Celtic fans sing?
You also state the papers turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the Celtic fans behaviour. Are you having a laugh?!? Furthermore, after this statement you then go on to quote James Traynor in an article cribbed from the rag he writes for. And we know the history between Celtic and that particular tawdry publication.
May 6, 2009 at 8:33 am
Rob
I have to say what an utter lot of lies this is. Whilst I don’t condone the singing of this Famine Song, I can acknowledge the intentions in which it has been sung and it is at those who claim Irish status of origin whilst they and their parents have been born and bred in another country, quite often heard to be termed plastic Irish I think!, either way it is not and never was intended as a slight on the Irish as a whole or the race. What makes this so laughable is that Rangers football club have supporters clubs in both the ROI and NI and have a strong Irish support overall, you only have to sit in the stands to hear and see it and also look through the official supporters clubs list which can be provided upon request. Billy Fullerton never had any connections with Rangers football club other than as a supporter, what he done in his life was self choice and not as an employee of the club or any association with the club and in equal measure I am led to believe that he took up his radical views later on in life. I don’t have to remind you of the connotations or links between Celtic football club and the IRA or the “real” IRA as they may now be called, a racist and sectarian paramilitary group. Both clubs suffer a great complexity trait and seek always to get the upper hand but attached to both clubs are also small factions of hard core supporters that carry with them their political or extreme principle and value and this element drags both clubs down.
What has become of concern is the impartial media coverage, Rangers football club provide Mr Speirs with a salary and a job and if they didn’t exist then what else would he write about, whilst he is on his crusade to rid life or all its ills he ought to remember that they don’t all start and finish at Rangers football club. If he got up off his backside and got out instead of ripping his articles from his favourite message boards then perhaps he would find that the rest of the world has moved on whilst he stood still in a childhood dilemma that has obviously scarred him for life which he happens to blame and hold Rangers football club and its supporters to account for.
The famine song was given prominence by the media and if that is not the case then why have it as front page news, how many articles do we see with front page news on Celtic football club supporters singing songs in support of the IRA, these songs can be heard at every single football match they play in, why no media outrage or due attention, what of other clubs singing the famine song what coverage does that get, at the most none. It’s the old adage that if you say it long enough and often enough then you start to believe it, unless you’re educated enough to see what the real issue here. Since devolution there has been a drive to run Scotland’s affairs by Scotland and not by Westminister and to all intents and purposes this has harnessed a swell of patriotism and made Scots believe more in self rule as we see in the SNP however the main divider of that possibility is Unionism and therein lies the real agenda. As a club steeped in union traditions and pride Rangers football club is seen in some respects as the last bastion of unionism and its support very conservative and pro union. Independence will never come about under a conservative rule but Scotland have made strides in taking some control and the greater challenge is yet to come when it’s people are asked whether the union is what they want and in the meantime it needs to be eroded to sway that public opinion.
For the record I think that the famine song is and was sung as terracing banter and not intended to insult the greater community of Irish folk resident in the country or outwith it, however we do have people that are offended and for that reason I believe that Rangers football club took action to ban it whilst also acknowledging that it also took notice from its own supporters clubs that it was sung in jest and as banter and not as a racist slur or chant intended to offend Irish people.
James Traynor is employed to give opinion on sport at the Daily Record and often wonders into the realms if subjects way beyond even his own comprehension and in his article today 05th May 2009 he goes on at some length about the joke that is allowing players who have Grandparents born in Scotland many years ago allow themselves to be called Scottish and slights the players in question, does this make him racist as he’s not employed to give us his opinions on the technicalities of origin. I suspect not because the manner in which he has displayed his opinion doesn’t quite hold the same gravity that the famine song does or the media coverage it was given or the headlines attached to it in order that it did offend people.
Self persecution is an ill trait and if you’re offended then its because you’ve chosen to be
May 4, 2009 at 7:22 pm
max
I’ll apologise to everyone who reads Phils site. williams total ignorance of the decimal and percentage system, after he seemed not to know the difference between 5.6%, 0.56& or indeed 56%, had to be worth a mention, but I especialy found it ironic that after I suggested that his figures were more than dodgy and unreliable at best and damned lies at….well just damn lies (the statistics speak for themselves), and that he more or less pulled them out his arse, he comes out with the most ludicrous infantile statistic with his 99.99% statement, and really found his use of the figures 999 quite ironic! (after the events in Manchester but It seems to be over his head), and now william, presumably having someone explain to him how percentages work (the words chimpanzees & algebra spring to mind) he thinks that because two figures HE pulled out of thin air agrees with HIS OWN opinion he wins ?????……. something!
As they say, you couldn’t make it up (that was irony again btw william).
MY 0.01 COMMENT WAS RIDICULING YOU WILLIAM, not an acceptance of ANYTHING you say being of any worth.
January 27, 2009 at 3:53 pm
william
25 celtic fans received banning orders after Blackburn
January 27, 2009 at 8:51 am
william
0.01% Max, do you understand that. that is less than the 0.56% od celtic fans that were arrested at Old Trafford. even less than the 5 of Celtic fans who received banning orders in Blackburn. People in glass houses should avoid stone fights.
Should you not be out trashing a Rangers players car, or smashing a referees windows, or making death threats on the huddleboard, Or stocking up on missiles for the next home game. Or do you prefer to stick tumbles in peoples faces in Barcelona
January 27, 2009 at 8:49 am
max
that of course should read ‘those seen’ or ‘these scenes’, please forgive the typo.
January 26, 2009 at 5:32 pm
max
Ps. Have you seen what that other 00.01% of your otherwise immaculately behaved supporters got up to on the new Manchesters most wanted police video?
and by the way,these seens aren’t the same supporters throughout, these are different incidents happening simultaniously throughout the city in different locations, it’s amazing how so few can look like so many.
January 26, 2009 at 5:25 pm
max
99.99%, would that be the same as 99.9% william, or would that be 99.09% william?
What’s 0.56% 0f a 100 william? or should that be 56% of a thousand?
Deary deary me william, your comedy gold improves by the day.
Please keep up the good work.
January 26, 2009 at 5:17 pm
william
Maxl
There was a larger percentage of Celtic fans arrested during their recent game at Old Trafford than there was in Manchester for the UEFA cup final, I do not condone the actions of some of the Rangers fans, but I was one of the 99.99% fans who enjoyed the day and caused no trouble, you will find the link to this fact on The Manchester Confidential web site, anything else I can assist you with Maxl
January 21, 2009 at 5:52 pm
maxl
I can only take it you posted this without any outside help or assistance from your carer, considering how long it took yo to post it.
The Facts remain the same.
Ps. How long do you think a list of injuries to the police, the public and indeed your own supporters would be and how do you think it would read?
We’re not talking over decades or club histories here, just one night.
It’s amazing how many of these ‘english accented’ yobs were traced back to Buchanan St bus station!
I’ll tell you what, that Chesea mob have some fan base!!
January 21, 2009 at 4:26 pm
william
Celtic fans are notourious for pitch invasions and attacks on opposing players and referees as well as missile attacks on all of the above as well as club doctors.
They shot each other in Amsterdam, Stabbed each other in Seville.
Had Planes rerouted because of the behaviour od their fans, Had 28 out of 5,000 fans arrested in Blackburn, fought running battles in Blackburn, Celta Vigo, Liverpool, Newcastle, Fulham, Attacked and racially abused spurs fans in Rotterdam. An let us not forget the Celtic fan who was sentenced to 4 years in Prison after he attacked a bar owner and innocent spanish drinker in a Barcelona bar, You can tell me, Max, why these iccidents were not more widely published by the media. Do you know there History Max ?
January 21, 2009 at 2:19 pm
max
I think you\’ll find william, that Celtics AWARDS and ACCOLADES from the cities and towns their supporters visit, and FIFA AND UEFA endorsements as the best support in Europe speak for themselves (they set up CSC when we leave), as do your teams visiting \’supporters\’….(police?)reports (?)…from towns and cities they\’ve visited! (the video footage from Manchester I found to be really quite disturbing and embarrassment to your country, your city, the sport, and rangers fc))
Thanks for the imposter remark, it\’s one of the biggest compliments I\’ve been given for a long time!
PS sorry about that Phil, but you really couldn\’t make it up!
December 29, 2008 at 3:20 pm
william
have you ever heard such bigotted nonsense in your whole life and now Phil is calling himself Max. So Rangers fans wrecked Barcelona in 72 did they and the term hun has only been used since then.
Did any rangers fan receive a 4 year jail sentence for glassing a bar owner in Barcelona, No that was a celtic fan
December 22, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Max
The word ‘hun’ comes from Atila and his hoards, the ‘huns’ infamous for going to other countries (after the Roman Empire had fallen) and ransacking everything in sight. ring any bells Mark?
The Nazis got the name later after being refered to as such by Winston Churchill, for obvious reasons, (the Nazis, by pure coincidence did ‘Red Hand Saluted’ as well). Rangers got the name ‘huns’ because of their supporters behaviour, everywhere they visited, Barcelona then, Manchester now, some things never change!
The word ‘hun’ has no religious or political connotations whatsoever, and when they are being told to go home by the Celtic support, it only happens at Celtic Park, and the ‘huns’are being told to go home to Ibrox.
I know NBM say it’s sectarian, but they also say that the word ‘Tim’ is sectarian when nothing could be further from the truth, I’m a ‘Tim’ and proud of it. As far as I know the word ‘Tim’ is a shotening of the word ‘Timmolloy’ rhyming slang for ‘Bhoy’. So NBM really have their finger on the pulse there!
So for anyone to say they hate ‘huns’, whether it’s Artur Boruc, an ordinary supporter or a member of the general public in Manchester, they are saying they hate Rangers supporters, no more no less.
At the moment nothing would suprise me in the west of Scotland, but until either Rangers FC are officially declared a religion in Scotland or Ibrox declares independence and is recognised as a country, the use of the word’hun’ is neither sectarian nor racist, whereas the FS is both.
December 16, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Mark
I am heartened by the recent ruling concerning the Famine Song and hope it disappears. I would like to know Phils views on the recent ruling on “hun” though and why it still seems acceptable to tell “huns” to go home and sing about how a goalkeeper hates them.
Phil, you have my e-mail address and a reasonable and adult exchange of views on recent issues would be most appreciated.
December 5, 2008 at 9:23 am
bonkerbhoy
Really hard to defend the words and sentiment in this song, even the BJK stuff, which was borne a few years back when the the Celts were winning trophies and the Rangers had none, so a depraved few so called football fans decided to vent their wrath with some odious nonsense against another one fo their own who ‘Turned’ just like McGeady, McCarthy it seems… Freedom of choice I believe its called. BJK was made up to deflect a bare season of football. My Dad was a protestant my mother a catholic, neither with Irish roots that we know of, I was brought up catholic solely because my father had no preference. I followed Celtic probably due to peer pressure and the fact my father didnt follow football, so really by chance. I follow Celtic now because I love the club and what it has always stood for. I love the rivalry with Rangers and know neither could exist without each other. Banter is great but a line needs to be drawn and when your own club say this song is outlawed then take note. Support Football for football’s sake.
December 5, 2008 at 7:22 am
Ryan
Tambo,
A decent attempt at trying to make some sense of the situation BUT
The perpetrators of ‘The Racist Song’ are anything but proud Aboriginal Scots (a bit of a mad term for such a mongrel nation) and would rather swear allegiance to an English monarch than support Scottish independence. The very same people who probably now abhor the Tartan Army for their recent remonstrations against God Save The Queen, as was echoed through their recent ‘You can stick your Tartan Army up your arse’ chants. Hardly the behaviour of proud Scots hurt at betrayal of their fellow countrymen is it?
Fans of most clubs outside Celtic & Rangers, perhaps the ‘Aboriginal Scots’ you refer to, look at both club’s sets of fans probably with a sense of bewilderment with one side singing of a land across the sea and the other pledging allegiance to an unelected English monarch.
Of course I have simplified the whole situation as it is a deep complex issue and cannot be summed up in a paragraph or 2, but I hope I have got my point across to you.
November 19, 2008 at 10:02 am
tambo
God knows the chant is offensive to ANY decent person but we are missing the point through oversimplification>It’s not anti-Irish it’s anti Irish-Scots!Scots of Irish Catholic ancestry can support/say who/what they like (and good luck to them) but to the aboriginal Scots (best term I could come up with to avoid Protestant/Loyalist etc. for someone born in Scotland to support another country in any way is no better than treason.Unfortunately Scotland like Ireland was a poor little country at the end of nowhere which survived by the skin of it’s teeth and in both countries a fierce national pride exists.And the “aboriginal” Scots become incensed with rage to see fellow born Scotsmen singing the praises of a land across the sea.That doesn’t make it right but it does help to understand it.With understanding maybe we an come to a solution
November 18, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Rory corkandale
Once again this song was sang today by the Hearts fans along with other unsavoury songs from Celtic fans.Will you now go after Hearts the way you have against Rangers i doubt it.You can`t just attack one club`s fan`s this is a Scotland wide problem.
November 2, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Jamie
FIGHTRACISM,
I agree racism shouldn’t be tolerated. I still don’t see how you can give someone from Scotland anti-irish abuse! Stereotyping isn’t the same as racism btw. It’s maybe lazy and maybe some people will be offended by it, or others use it to offend, but its not racist imo.
Acting so mortally offended about stuff like this just takes away from problems in society that should be getting attention drawn to them.
As offensive as the song is to some, at no point during the version the rangers fans sang to James McCarthy are any words relating to Ireland used.
All just my opinion of course.
November 2, 2008 at 5:54 am
rory corkandale
This song was sang today at motherwell and the boy McCarthy was booed and abused.Will we now see you go after this club with the same venom that you have went after Rangers.I hope so Phil its not just the big bad Rabgers fans.
November 1, 2008 at 5:36 pm
paul
The last post on this matter…..it cannot be more clearer it is the choice of country he has picked that upsets the bigots becouse if he had choosen england ,wales , iran, iraq or the african congo no one would have batted an eye lid.
November 1, 2008 at 8:17 am
FIGHTRACISM
Jamie,
People of Pakistani/Indian extraction get racist abuse persistently despite being born in England/Scotland etc.If you abuse somebody because they are from an immigrant background it is racism.If McCarthy/McGeady are labelled as turncoats/quizlings etc it suggests that it is a perceived snub that is the motivation.If however the names centre around the Irish connection it is racism.This is not something only applicable to the Irish community.This racism happens the globe over to immigrants and those from immigrant backgrounds.The reason so many fail to recognise it as racism regarding the Irish in Scotland is that for years the Irish were expected to endure it and for the most part did.I am not having a go mate btw but having looked at these pages and others around these issues it is evident that many are bereft of so much relevant knowledge around the issue of racism.Even the perpetual excuse of ‘The Famine Song is mocking the Celtic fans and their Irishness’.People don’t seem to realise that is still racism.Disparaging asides about nationality is racism.There have been incredibly people on here who think they are voices of tolerance who say ‘if Celtic fans love Ireland that much why don’t they go there’.I have to laugh at that.It is stil racism.Why is it a crime to be Scottish born and Irish.It is not in America,Australia,England etc.Incidentally it is not only Rangers fans who hold these views and is facile and convenient to suggest such.James has been getting anti-Irish abuse way before last week which was his first game against Rangers.When there is more of a societal recognition of the Irish as an ethnic minority and immigrant community that is not compelled to assimilate then the hostility will begin to erode.Second generation Indians and Pakistanis wear national costume every day of their lives without this compulsion to say ‘Haw,yer Scottish’ at them but if it is the Irish offspring or grandchildren they are ‘Plastic Paddies’ or other contemptous remarks referring to their Irish identity.When these attitudes subside then it will be better for all.
October 31, 2008 at 3:34 pm
RF
I think its time some people got a life. Namely those who sing TFS, those who get upset about TFS, and perhaps most of all journalists who report on TFS.
October 31, 2008 at 3:21 pm
stevie
ive moved to australia and was on the phone to my mother who is from ireland and lives in the southside of glasgow the other nite she ask me what was this famine song all about i said u can go home coz the tatties are ok now she sez i get mine at aldi s which made me as they say laff out loud ive learned a great saying in this chilled out land im in\\\” im over it\\\” and so should we all.
October 31, 2008 at 11:35 am
Jamie
What do andy goram or stuart mcall have to do with James McCarthy being Scottish? To be honest i\’m not sure how it\’s possible to give a born and bred Scotsman, anti Irish abuse?
October 31, 2008 at 4:15 am
John Bhoy
The thing is with the song is that the people who sing it think that they are being anti-Irish whereas the truth is that they are being anti-human
What happened in Ireland also happened in the Straths of Sutherland the mass eviction of Human Beings!
That is why I find the song offensive
My ancestry is highland, Church of Scotland.
I support Celtic because when I was young they were the first team that I had seen on television, when they went to accept the BBC team of the year. I was to young to remember watching the Lisbon final.
I have always enjoyed the banter on 505 and mostly talking about football, but I find that recently, since the song became prominent, that I have began to remember stories that were past on to me by my forefathers.
A whole culture was removed by the landowners who, to be honest, made a very sound economic decision. The land produced more if it where turned over to sheep.
The Highlanders Umbrella is where my Great Granddad would meet similar Gallic speakers and discuss family life.
My grandfather worked in the shipyards and attended church religiously, he was, I believe, a follower of Rangers.
My father was definitely a bluenose.
When I decided to support Celtic it was not a problem, my dad took me to park head at least once a month. He also took me to Ibrox about twice a season.
Ma dad never really went to church but prayed at the alter of football.
Myself .I ,am a refugee in the land where I was born, this land is my land this land is your land,
October 30, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Ian
\”was allowed to go about his job without being told to go home to Ireland\”….This sentence sums it up for me and hits the nail on the head. simply substitute names , trade or places and any civilized society would automatically think \’that\’s racist\’, somehow Scotland\’s shame and media apparently think Ireland is a plausable exception , (James Traynor). Had to laugh at the Sun\’s angle on Larkhall issue being a Celtic Rangers \”football\” issue ,when ,in reality , that goes a lot, lot, lot deeper .
October 30, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Club67
Well done! its about time this vile was dealt with,
and cant believe how far it got ,happy days
October 30, 2008 at 8:22 pm
paul
yes jamie,james is scottish, just as much as stuart mcall and andy goram are english.
October 30, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Ryan
Jamie,
Yawn.
October 30, 2008 at 3:58 pm
jim cameron
the silence from gordon smith and the SFA over this issue and the remarks from journalists like james traynor show we still have an anti irish problem in this country
October 30, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Jamie
I thought James McCarthy was Scottish?
October 30, 2008 at 1:53 pm
roy hannah
Now this song has been taken from the Rangers fans songbook, let`s hope the same interest will be shown in the songs of other scottish teams which are vulgar,racist and sectarian.I condem all songs of hate and its time that all football clubs took there fans to task.Though some how i don`t think so.
October 30, 2008 at 1:24 pm
hunter.s
The problem with the \’famine song\’ is that people are still associating it with harmless banter \’jim traynor\’. This is even after the unfortunate events which resulted in neil lennon being attacked and lucky to escape serious harm. All this occurred against a backdrop of the \’famine song\’ being sung loud and proud at parkhead that day. The problem with banter is that morons cannot differentiate between fun and hatred…There is the real fear amongst decent football (and non-football) folks that it will take a murder before this particular chapter gains the prominence and condemnation it deserves. Salmond we are still waiting!
October 30, 2008 at 10:39 am
Peter Smith
I do hope that the people in power read your blog.
It is my opinion that this racist hatred will never disappear from the west of Scotland, it will merely move underground and manifest itself in other ways and at other venues. These “peepel” do not wish to be educated, do not wish to evolve, do not wish to be socially acceptable exept to those like them. I truly believe that they fear what they hate and this outlet of racism and sectarianism is only being used to give them some self worth or a “superiority complex”. They have nothing else to leave their children.
October 30, 2008 at 9:06 am
Paul Park
The fact that Rangers FC have not condemned this song is totally embarassing for every decent Rangers fan.
October 30, 2008 at 9:00 am
Ryan
At last, a satisfactory conclusion (I hope) to this whole disgusting business. Let’s draw a line under it and move on. How about loving your own football club rather than being fuelled by undiluted hatred of another and it’s followers.
People’s attitudes are not going to change overnight. The chant will still be belted out with gusto in the pubs and lodges, but if this means that I and others, including impressionable young children, are not exposed to this bile when merely attending a football match then fantastic.
Before any ill-informed ranters appear I have to state that this all happened NOT because of some ‘whinging’ Timmy-inspired, Papist/Fenian conspiracy designed to undermine a section of society and their so-called ‘culture’, nor was it highlighted to prove that one side of the city is whiter than white and holier than thou, events ensued because tfs is WRONG, it is racist, disgustingly offensive and extremely vile. It has absolutley no place in a so-called civilised society.
There is no agenda against this hardcore of Rangers fans who will now feel the same persecution complex that they have accused the Celtic fans of having for countless years.
Try and defend it now. Sing it again in public and the outcome is clear-Strathclyde’s finest representatives of HM’s constabulary (hardly a sneaky Timmy conspiracy is it?) WILL arrest you for racially aggravated breach of the peace AND your beloved football club WILL be punished.
Now try and think for a moment and let that sink in.
October 30, 2008 at 8:37 am
Paul Murray
More power to your elbow, Philbhoy.
October 29, 2008 at 8:51 pm