You see what happened this week? The First Minister calls it out (to borrow a phrase), “violence and vandalism and vile anti-Catholic prejudice”. This gave Police Scotland a responsibility to fall in line, which they did. That in turn provided cover to journalists to write reflective pieces on why a modern country should be ashamed it retains prejudices like these.
It didn’t used to be like this. By this stage of any earlier Rangers (old or new) embarrassment, you would be reading about two Celtic fans chanting IRA slogans or dangling an effigy. Strings would be pulled and the lowest lying Celtic-connected fruit would be plucked and served. Equivalence in as much time as it takes to sing about the grassy slopes of the Boyne.
Newco/Oldco inevitably deflects and denies, “tiny minority” this, “everyone, anyone” that, you will remember the damage “fans of other clubs” did to Manchester? It has worked this way since their excesses started to grab headlines in the 70s.
This time, it’s different. Nicola Sturgeon’s intervention changed the script. The path from the First Minister, to the police to the journalists who found the freedom to report without fear and intimidation is lined with orange lilies. Many journos have taken the opportunity, although there are a notable few clearly still imagining themselves doing battle on the aforementioned grassy slopes.
The reaction will probably see an end to George Square takeovers but it is also likely to see trophy parades inhibited, which will affect Celtic more than everyone else put together. Newco will not change, of course. From birth, they relied on the lowest common denominator to make the club viable (it is still searching for that quality). Their values and instincts see them underplay, deflect and deny what the rest of the world sees.
History is either with you or against you. In the 1980s, it took an hour for Orange Walks to pass through a wee Lanarkshire village like Holytown. ‘The street’ of my youth was memorably thronged with the drunk and the defecating. Very few are interested these days. Like the waters of the Boyne, this particular history will inevitably flow into the sea.
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tryout point about?
Who inserted that text in my post?
Excellent post Paul 67
VALE BHOY on 18TH MAY 2021 12:22 PM
GO TELL THE SPARTIM on 18TH MAY 2021 11:44 AM
The BBC are really struggling with this, I can’t remember the time of the ‘let’s blame catholic schools” show this month, anyone any information
A senior member of my work’s management team came out with the Catholic schools argument first thing on Monday morning.
A woman with no interest in football, supposedly educated but no doubt enjoyed a solid grounding from her Masonic father.
It’s inbred bigotry at large, as it always was in Scotland.
———-
Report her for racism
D :)
ERNIE LYNCH on 18TH MAY 2021 12:23 PM
BANKIEBHOY1 on 18TH MAY 2021 12:20 PM
Loved Charlie Nick as a gallous player for us, but he’s every bit as much of a nugget as the execrable Big Packy………..
###
I think Big Packy just genuinely likes to see the best in everyone whereas Nicholas just
—-
I love loved a young Charlie when he was a young player breaking into the team. One of the coolest finishers I’ve ever seen, with brilliant touch and control. He’s basically pretty stupid though and I’m sorry to say, the tabloids (who reads them?!) laps up this type of nonsense.
Big Paddy, I don’t have a problem with, though I rarely listen to radio Scotland.
Didn’t actually love love, just liked a lot 😊
A very fine article today.
Maybe I’m being thick, but I can’t see how Catholic schools can be blamed for the racist and sectarian behaviour by a group of individuals, 99.9999% of whom would identify themselves as Protestants.
Their attitudes are developed in the home or in “non-denominational” schools.
Herd Impunity
impunity
/ɪmˈpjuːnɪti/
Learn to pronounce
noun
exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action.
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article24121646.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_Fans-Celebrate-As-Rangers-Crowned-Champions.jpg
Not so sure Paul
The echo chamber of social media and the reduction of complex issues to soundbites appeals to the majority it would appear.
What’s needed is action. A start would be in outlawing any anti catholic marches .
Normal tactic for the Hun will be to use time honoured tactic of just waiting and do and say absolutely nothing… see the SFA playbook.
They will be hoping their senior police friends just hold up any investigation on the video …. SFA can’t do anything until the cops are finished with it …. likely outcome is that there will be some mad rule that makes the video inadmissible, private meeting , no consent , god knows
To me it boils down to whether the Scottish Govt want 2 heads on a plate : one from the Police and one from Rangers (new) …. on the police front if the Scottish Govt need to take the opportunity to force one or more senior guys out as they are just not on message , now is their opportunity….. total silence from Hun board , damned by inaction before , during and after ….. the riot … SGovt ban the Hun ultra ring wing loonies ( could be a reserved matter?) and tell the cops to arrest them one by one until there’s none left …. also tip off that SFA that Park should be sanctioned disrepute charge or if the video is pukka , then sine die , a few ground closures say first 6 games , all Euro , banned from CP should put the ribbon on it.
Fixedthatoverlunchcfc
@ DENIABHOY on 18TH MAY 2021 12:16 PM
I think you are a bit off the mark here.
What we witnessed in George Square was clearly anti Catholic sectarianism and anti Irish racism. Songs about being up to their knees in Catholic blood, signing of their hatred for Catholics and explicit chants re the Pope were unequivocally hateful and racist.
That doesn’t quite sit in the same category as drawing a cartoon, even if the end result of both the actions in George Square and that of drawing a cartoon result in causing offence to someone. Offence can be caused without being racist or in contravention of the law, while racism is inherently offensive (and criminal behaviour).
Out of interest, what are your views on the Life of Brian?
Notwithstanding the above, I fully accept the point that anti-semitism or islamophobia would be stamped out in an instance, but the sectarianism/racism that we witnessed on Saturday is accepted; more than accepted, it is at the heart of Scottish society.
Credit where it’s due, the Scottish government’s response has surprised me.
However, talk is cheap. Let’s see if anything is actually done about it without ‘whataboutery’ and the need to involve Celtic in order to ‘even up the score’.
Note to Editors
Archie MacPherson is available for and ready with the faux-intellectual Catholic Schools quotes.
Have a drink, have a drink, Have a drink on me
Everybody have a drink on me
Hey,hey,everybody drink on me
Will Eddie be doing his Lonnie Donegan act in the Paradise Bar any day soon and buying pints of stout for Dermot and Conor Mc.G or has he made his mind up yet?
EKBHOY on 18TH MAY 2021 1:11 PM
Our Board ban the Huns from Celtic Park.
Are you joking?
6000 x £49 ???
The Old Firm that they’ve facilitated for the last 13 years in particular???
Ibrox party / GS Riot — the media issue for me is the time it took to report the facts.
The BBC and the Guardian took until the Sunday morning to report the carnage.
They were waiting on a steer from the SG / Not-Jacinda.
That is not journalism that is propaganda.
PS — The video investigation.
The bloke they put up for the media could not help but smirk as he detailed how the investigation would proceed …
The focus will be on direct identification regarding the party songs / FTP add ons.
Group behaviour will not be taken into account and it will be down to a direct link to the words.
They will be unable to do this and so no-one will be charged.
CoViD19 busting indoors party — secondary and not considered.
Cute or what ?!?
So the celebrity dentist doesn’t know if the hun hordes, have caused a superspreader event? How very selective…….been down of gatherings like a ton of bricks previously….
Paul’s leader is far from vindication of Sturgeon & the SNP. They were cornered by this latest display of hatred & entitlement by the shock-troops from Ibrox. To have said nothing would have been as crass as their introduction of the Offensive Behaviour Bill, which as we know was a self-confessed design to put the ‘one’s as bad as the other’ myth formally onto the statute-book in Scotland.
The SNPcult can ‘talk the talk’ with their unsubstantiated rubbish about an independent Scotland, but have given up on any attempt of producing a coherent economic plan – why? – because there isn’t one.
In the same way these opinions on the Ibrox & George Square disgrace will be just that – any recognition that there is a deep-seated sectarian problem in Scotland will be avoided because it ‘besmirches’ any case for independence.
The events over the past few weeks will ‘flow to the sea’ – the same sea that accommodates both the Boyne & the Clyde. After a period of time, reasons will be looked for to explain this early summer of discontent. Pent-up emotion from many years ‘in the football wilderness’ will be used. Frustrations of the lockdown and pandemic will be cited. A ‘small minority’ will be to the fore in any subsequent enquiry. However, in the fullness of time when some sort of ‘perspective’ report is slipped out, the existence of Catholic education will be front and centre when blame is being apportioned. This narrative is just as strong and as pervasive in Scotland as the “he brings it on himself” excuse that was prevalent during all the sectarian abuse and physical attacks on Neil Lennon.
Why any of us would vote to be a small oppressed minority in an isolated, bigoted and de facto bankrupt little country with a population the size of Yorkshire – cut off from the millions of friends we have in the UK, astounds me.
ZIGGYDOC1 on 18TH MAY 2021 12:11 PM
Charlie Nicholas, very good player for a very short time. Complete halfwit for a very long time. Morons like him should not be given a platform.
ah the joys of no havin a telly
no charlie nicholas to switch it off too.
i would even mention him Ziggy
no publicity no oxygen and no guff from ex players
HH
life of Brian is orob my fav film
JHB
Give us a break..
JHB,
see if it is beyond you, why bother coming on and spouting the same drivel day after day.
DREW1967 on 18TH MAY 2021 1:58 PM
JHB
Give us a break..
……………..
Too Right DREW…..He is so far up his ain UK erse. An opinion on EVERYTHING….and HE has ALL the answers, according to HIM.
He must be a Riot on Days/Nights oot ?……..then again…probably not.
HH
JHB,,
TBH I doubt very much if bhoys read past your first paragraph. I just notice your moniker and miss the full lot but you’re not alone on this site😯
,
JHB
In the same way these opinions on the Ibrox & George Square disgrace will be just that – any recognition that there is a deep-seated sectarian problem in Scotland will be avoided because it ‘besmirches’ any case for independence.
——
How does Huns being Huns ‘besmirch’ the case for independence for those who support it? They are in the main not disposed to Hunnery and comprised of a greater body that the 60% of Irish Catholic descent who you dismiss.
Neither does Huns being Huns besmirch the case for independence for those who don’t support it as Project Fear characters like you love this as you would have the rest of us believe that the Big Bad Proddy SNP and Polis will burn us out our hooses.
I see that a Hun fan who claims to Disabled claims that the Cops assaulted him in George Square on Saturday Night at nearly 9.30PM.
He also claims that he used to live in England, and is a Southend Utd fan, who has ” Adopted” the Huns as his Favourite Scottish team.
NO Mention of course that HE was/is a Covid LAW breaker, and as the Police NOW have HIS Complaint details etc, including his Name and Address….HE SHOULD be Charged by the Cops for Breaking the Law by BEING part of a ” Illegal Gathering” ?
So now we know that it was NOT real Rangers fans that caused trouble and broke the LAW…It turns oot it was they ” Southend Utd” MOBsters/fans ?
CHUMP…..I hope he gets ” done” by the Cops…or at the very least, the Cops “Offer” him the chance to escape being charged for Breaking Covid LAW….in exchange for him to drop his complaint against the Cops ?
Whit a CHUMP….BREAK the LAW….and then provide the polis with your Name and Address…LOL
HH
Why is it when Huns are Huns that it’s Celtic who suffer? Thrashed them in the 1969 Cup Final, the Hun hordes entered the field looking for a fight, result? Laps of honour bamned at the end of cup finals for years.
The Hun hordes smash up Glasgow after their first championship win, result? Celtic can’t have any more open top celebrations, not been enacted yet but watch this space?
Worried about children being divided up during education? Close all private schools, they must result in unequal societies surely? Catholic schools sowing division, result? Close all non denomination schools (CofS) and make them all Catholic, result? No more educational division and educational attainment increases.
MCPHAIL BHOY on 18TH MAY 2021 2:24 PM
Kaaarect
Funny how no critic of Catholic schools ever brings up that the 1918 Education Act leading to their introduction was implemented to avoid the indigenous school population having to mix with Catholics in the first place.
The Huns didn’t want us in their schools because of their anti-Catholic anti-Irish racism and now the same Hun mentality says Catholic schools justify Hun whataboutery
67 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS on 18TH MAY 2021 12:39 PM
What an opportunity for SG to really make a name for himself -call them out for breaking the law as well as discrimination.
He’s already got a name for himself , but not in a good way .
Best article I have seen written about all this. We are definitely not half of anything
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/rangers-the-superiority-syndrome-and-anti-catholic-bigotry-why-it-cannot-go-unchallenged-any-more-3240210
McPB @ 2.24
The issue the TFOD2 have had with us and the city centre is that on CP matchdays the Merchant City becomes an impromptu fan zone for the club.
Merchant City — starting to get too close to the city centre in their eyes.
Consequently they now have this desperation to inflict themselves on GS — mark their territory in some primeval manner so to speak. PRW doesn’t quite cut it as the new Finneston Strip.
We need to get working on this — do some real work in the area around CP to offer an alternative to any city centre ban / curtailment.
If we manage to win anything — I know / I am a dreamer — then we celebrate there.
Then we disperse and turn the Gallowgate / Merchant City green and white as happens now.
They are reactionary — so make them, react to our positive / constructive plans.
Now that PL is away to spend more time with his beans we can get started.
MCCPHAIL BHOY @2.24
They invaded the pitch after the ’65 league cup final and the 1980 Scottish cup final.On both occasions they failed to win.Their record of rioting and destruction in places they have visited has been well documented on CQN recently.In different places across the North,and in particular,my home city,we had,had enough of their marching,aided bythe RUC,that matters were dealt with,and they were sent packing never to return….they did not like it…..tough!
SD @ 2.33
Not sure I agree with you on this.
Bigger influence was the church wanting to keep involved in education.
Compromise situation — the Catholic school system became part of the wider public school system.
The church had its place at the top table / a vote / a veto and most people were happy.
The Labour Party was rewarded with a reliable voting bank.
I’m glad that most on here are as fed up with the cut n paste merchant and his rubbish every day.
P67, has obviously caught him by surprise today, his world view is under stress.
BHOYJOEBELFAST on 18TH MAY 2021 2:51 PM
…………….
They also rioted when Hibernian FC gubbed them 3-2 in the 2016.Scottish Cup Final.
HH
With a father and grandparents from Bridgeton I can also compare to the 70s & 80s. It’s definitely dying out, just much too slowly.
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 18TH MAY 2021 3:00 PM
With a father and grandparents from Bridgeton I can also compare to the 70s & 80s. It’s definitely dying out, just much too slowly.
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I came through the east end on sunday, had a drive to celtic park just for a wander around.
On a wall on side of a pub at the cross, there was a banner
“We the members of Brigton Loyal RSC accept the abject surrender of Neil Francis Lennon.