Raith Rovers in the League Cup, what can go wrong? Rovers are nine points off the top of the Championship but have already ejected Livingston and Aberdeen from this season’s League Cup, performing far better at the Tony Macaroni than some of us did
If my memory serves correct, they were just as far off the pace in the second tier that fateful day we try not to recall too often. For Celtic, this is an opportunity to get back on track, for Raith Rovers, this is a chance to reach a Hampden semi-final, with all the money and prestige that brings. Whatever ills them in the league, they found the ability to frustrate and dispose of two Premiership clubs this season. I will be happy to see Celtic take a two goal lead.
Scotland’s favourite litigants’ representatives were back in court yesterday in their dispute with the SPFL. The League have entered a sponsorship deal with online car dealer, cinch. Newco refuse to comply with sponsorship terms, claiming a prior deal with Parks Motor Group (of Newco chairman, Douglas Park fame), prohibits them from doing so.
Newco provided a redacted document from May this year to substantiate their claim, however, Lord Keen, acting for the SPFL, informed the court the document revealed Newco and cinch were in talks as late as 7 June this year to rename Ibrox Stadium.
Sheer self-respect would prevent you, wouldn’t it?
93 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
Just watched my Grandsons team beat wee Greg Taylors auld school 2 nil…
Kids played the game in a very sporting manner…… Oh and the Ref was A h
Nah only kiddin….
“Debt office couldn’t sell gilts”
Hahahahaha.
May I as was it a member of the cumbie who gave you info?
HH
Have the huns got Griffiths banned for Saturday yet?
TB
there are quite a few on here who deserve it in the neck more than JHB and Ernie…It’s like a feckin mad hoose these days…
Oak bar and my two Guinness bought plus packet of crisps of course👍
Bada – I was wondering what the aw the guff was abooot.
Penny drops.
@Celtic line up v Raith ……
Hart, Ralston, Starfelt, Carter-Vickers, Montgomery, Turnbull, Rogic, McCarthy, Abada, Jota, Ajeti
Subs: Bain, Juranovic, Scales, Welsh, Bitton, Soro, Uroghide, Bolingoli, Giakoumakis
I predicted the the FBs wrong. Looks like Juranovic dropped (the goal?) and Boli was covering Monty until he recovered from Seville
The rest picks themselves at the moment
BB
Griffiths is a weapon but not in a football sense anymore. Dundee won’t lay a glove , same as at CP
Got close one out……………just McCarthy instead of Soro
What is a cult?
August 5, 2021 1.40pm BST
Author
Mathew Schmalz
Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
The word “cult” is used a lot nowadays.
Former President Donald Trump has been likened to a cult leader. Democratic California congresswoman Jackie Speier recently compared Trump to Jim Jones, the infamous leader of Peoples Temple, an American religious group of which nearly 1,000 members died by mass murder-suicide in Guyana in 1978. A congressional staffer at the time, Speier was seriously wounded by temple members during an ambush that killed Congressman Leo Ryan of San Francisco.
Then there’s NXIVM, a “sex cult” based in Albany, New York. Media reports and evidence at trial revealed that NXIVM’s female members recruited “slaves,” who were branded with the initials of the group’s leader, Keith Raniere. Raniere, also called the “Vanguard,” was sentenced to 120 years in prison for sex trafficking.
One of the defenses put forward by NXIVM’s lawyers has been that media “hit-pieces” on the group led to an unfair trial.
It’s certainly true that the word cult grabs our attention. But what exactly does it mean when we use words like cult or “cult leader”?
Scholars sometimes use the term “cult” to describe groups that have distinctive beliefs and high levels of commitment. The problem is the popular use of the word is often used to describe authoritarian groups that practice mind control or brainwashing.
As an academic who teaches and writes about religion, I believe that the label “cult” gets in the way of understanding new religions and political movements.
Early Christians and cult
First, cult is a vague category.
Authoritarian leaders and structures can usually be found in groups that have a clear mission and identity. From the Catholic Church to the U.S. Marine Corps, many organizations rely on strict discipline and obedience. Using the word cult is an easy way to criticize a group, but a poor way to describe one.
Second, mind control or brainwashing theories have problems.
In popular understanding, the leaders of cults use mind control or brainwashing to remake the personalities of recruits by forcing them to do and believe things that they normally wouldn’t accept.
Brainwashing was associated with the Unification Church, or “The Moonies,” founded by South Korean Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The Moonies would isolate new recruits and shower them with attention, a process called “love bombing.”
But, as sociologist Eileen Barker showed in her research on the Unification Church, recruitment rates were still very low. If a sure mark of a cult is using love bombing, mind control or brainwashing, the results weren’t very impressive.
Third, the label “cult” is negative.
As British sociologist James Beckford has observed, cults are usually associated with beliefs and practices considered to be “unhealthy.” But what is seen as healthy in one culture may be seen as unhealthy in another.
In fact, early Christianity could be called a cult because Christian beliefs and practices – such as not sacrificing for the emperor – were considered strange and dangerous in ancient Rome.
Fourth, the term “cult” does not engage with key parts of a group’s belief system.
For example, religion scholars James Tabor and Eugene Gallagher argue that the 1993 Waco siege ended in tragedy, in part, because the FBI ignored the Bible-based beliefs of the Branch Davidians, a millenarian Christian sect.
Four agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were killed trying to arrest “cult leader” David Koresh. After a 51-day standoff, the FBI injected tear gas into the group’s compound. Seventy-five people, including children, lost their lives in the fire that followed. The cause of the fire remains disputed to this day – some argue that the tear gas ignited, and others claim that the Branch Davidians set the fire themselves.
It has been suggested, however, by some scholars that if the FBI had taken the belief system of the Branch Davidians more seriously – instead of seeing members as brainwashed followers of a mad cult leader – deaths might have been avoided.
Cult politics
The term “cult” also gets in the way of understanding American politics. There are real differences between isolated religious groups that live together communally and political movements that attract millions of people.
Calling Trump a cult leader is rhetorically powerful. But that language can simplify how and why MAGA and other slogans appeal to many Americans. And Rep. Speier’s fully reported comments about Donald Trump and Jim Jones did recognize that the issue was complex.
To be clear, religious and political movements can be dangerous and criminal beyond simply being strange. It’s also important to carefully examine the relationship between a leader and their followers.
Still, it is tempting to use words like cult or cult leader when talking about a group or a person we don’t like or can’t understand. The problem is that when people hear the word “cult,” discussion often ends before any study has begun.
This is an updated version of an article first published on April 10, 2018.
The Cult Of Football: A Religion for the Twentieth Century and Beyond
illya mclellan
During the eighteen hundreds, there was a philosophical and scientific movement away from organised religion that influenced the world in many ways, some that we still see today.
Skepticism emerged of old enduring religious ideas and concepts that had been taken as indisputable for centuries. There were also lingering economic and political theories that are still taken into account in our modern lives.
The great German thinker Karl Marx was once quoted as saying during this time that, “Religion is the opiate of the people.”
But as the world moved on from this time there arose a new opiate of the people and, in its own way, a new religion. A religion that would in some ways inspire more devotion and fervour than its tired counterparts that were still mired in the doctrines of yesteryear.
This new religion was none other than “Football”, or “The Beautiful Game” as some like to call it.
As this new phenomenon took a hold of the people across the globe, it led to the construction of stadia that would in effect become the new churches of this religion, where the faithful could visit to see the prophets (players) they admired conduct their demonstrative sermons from week to week.
It would in fact be very easy to classify football as a religious faith because of the impact it has upon those who follow it with such passion.
Fans who would follow their team across the earth in an effort to be there when the team they love and worship is crowned a champion of some kind. Managers and players are held up like saints and prophets of old and often deliver moments of genius that some would say are biblical in proportion.
Who could deny that football has crossed the line into the territory of religion when in Argentina, if you so desire, you can visit the “Church of Maradona”, and worship with devoted followers of the living “God”, Diego Maradona.
Now, this is very far-fetched for a lot of people, but the fact of the matter is that because these people believe this then it is real for them and though it is easy to condemn them for this it is actually just as easy to think “Oh well, each to their own”, and get on with your life.
In terms of the functionality of football as a religion it is plain to see that every week across the world millions of followers and fans of the game enter the “churches” across the planet in hope of that glorious, golden moment in which they can once again feel the illumination they experienced when they first knew that this was a pastime like no other—something they would always try to recapture for the rest of their days.
Even today, as games across the world commence, there will be new followers caught up in the passion of football as they see the genius and dedication of various masters of world football.
Perhaps in England, during the match-up between Chelsea and Manchester United, a young fan will sit in the stand and say to his father, “Daddy, who is that man who runs so quickly with the ball and does all those tricks and fancy kicks?”, and his father will say, “Why son, that’s Deco/Joe Cole/Cristiano Ronaldo/Nani”, and the child will say, “wow”, and so another youngster will begin a love affair with this strange religion that is often so good, but also so very bad.
So before you leave for “church” or sit down to watch some “televangelism” today, say a little prayer for football and remember the saints of yesteryear, and the miracles they conspired to commit so that we today are able to experience the grandeur of modern football and the beautiful thing it has become beyond all the politics and money.
Football will no doubt endure for many years to come and shall remain part of our collective consciousness for as long as the religions that control so much of the world still do.
Into the future what will it become? It shall remain whatever it was to a certain extent, but in the meantime we can enjoy it as time slips into time.
We should still rejoice in the beloved spectacle of it and hope for the miracles that sometimes happen. Because, besides all the attached administrative rubbish and economics that have become so much a part of the modern game, there is still very much the magic of the beautiful game itself and the spiritual moments that are created.
It is a great thing to remember these moments and to truly remember why we all love the game so much.
This world encompassing passionata, this “Beautiful Game”.
SCULLYBHOY on 23RD SEPTEMBER 2021 7:05 PM
A political party that does not permit it’s elected members or officials to criticise or dissent from party policy is a cult.
Case in point: Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012
Show me any SNP politician who has said or written one word of criticism of it.
welcome back ralston ; tear into them
New Article up!
Ralston needs to learn the rabona to take the heat out his crosses
Go to work Celts