My attention was drawn to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) blog yesterday, also covered by Joe O’Rourke on the Association site. SCVO Director of Pubic Affairs, John Downie, writes about the “proposed bill on sectarianism” but seems to get muddled in his role as a director of SCVO and using SCVO resources to speak as a Rangers fan; in this instance blaming Catholic schools for sectarianism. How ironic.
Downie writes:
“We’ve previously seen Rangers fans outraged by Celtic goalie Artur Boric crossing himself during games but less bothered – obviously – by about our own players (like Vladimir Weiss last season) doing the same thing.”
“Our own players”! Is SCVO some closed shop where they talk about Artur Boruc as a “Celtic goalie” and Vladimi Weiss as one of our “own”?
So far, so disturbing, but Downie then uses the article to ride to the rescue with:
“The solution:
Personally, as someone who grew up in the East End of Glasgow and lives in the west of Scotland, I agree with some of what Conservative MSP John Lamont says. In my opinion one key causes of sectarianism is Scotland continuing to have separate denominational and non-denominational schools.”
So, if only we didn’t have Catholic schools, players like Artur Boruc and “our” Vladimir Weiss would be able to cross themselves free of harassment. Bizarrely, Downie’s article is subtitled “treating the symptoms not the causes”. I don’t think he was trying to suggest it’s best to treat the symptoms.
The cause of intolerance is not differences in ethnic, religious or sexuality, it is ignorant bigots. It is ludicrous to suggest tackling intolerance by assimilating people into some mono-culture. It’s downright dangerous to blame a minority for intolerance of, and by, them, a sentiment that will only fan the flames of hatred.
The European Examiner reports that various politicians have called for Mr Downie’s removal but SCVO chief exec, Martin Sime, apparently sees nothing wrong in SCVO running a blog discussing one of “our” Rangers players and the “Celtic goalie”, while simultaneously blaming educationally successful faith schools for sectarianism. SCVO has offered a metaphorical No Surrender to resignation calls.
A brief comment for those who don’t live in Scotland…. Attitudes like this once prevailed but are harder to find these days. We are a modern, progressive, society, for the most part.
If you would like to read CQN Magazine online (for free), click here.
You can download a pdf of the magazine using the button at the top of the page, second from the right. Click on the link below to order a hard copy of the magazine.
You can support the online edition by making a discretionary donation here.
1,752 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- ...
- 47
- »
FFS is KevJ still kidding on he’s not Gerry McNee ? :)
Fortunes Favour Mibbes says:
11 February, 2012 at 04:05
His words rule in that contribution Macjay1, far too powerful. Have heard it many times
Never heard it before. I found it fascinating. Thanks for posting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79K4R_Y9jFw
When things like this come up random on yer youtube favs….priceless :))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3_hyBbvFZI&feature=autoplay&list=FL0z5apok_7R_L0YSu6rjTsw&lf=plpp_video&playnext=1
macjay1
Very wise man he was.
Fortunes Favour Mibbes says:
11 February, 2012 at 03:56
I would much rather we did not name things the Celtic Triangle if truth be told.
People Don’t know about the the 666 Witchcraft that is associated with it.
Tattoos…….
aye…
petec @ 04:15
Legit concerns amigo. But did that name come from Celtic Park?
Fortunes Favour Mibbes says:
11 February, 2012 at 04:26
I think so, that is what concerns me more than anything.
We are a BIG catch for the Global audience.
I have left plenty links for people to determine things.
The Celtic Triangle name really pisses me off so much as it seems like a High Level comment.
petec @ 04:33
Your concerns aren’t to be dismissed. CW Games, the land and building contracts, the polis…not to be dismissed. Eyes open.
Express
Lennon will today rack up his 100th game as Celtic manager when his side face Caley Thistle at Parkhead and wants it to be the first of a number of landmark days.
He added: “It’s a bit of a milestone. I would like to reach a few more.”
I would like that too,Lenny.
Go on,son.
Bring us home.
:)
May this be the first of many hundreds of milestones :))
Tall order mibbes, but today isnae. Oor Lenny will upset the “Manager of the Month” cabal even more today :)) LUV him :)))
Sammy will terrify the arse oot them. Player of the Year for me is between Sammy and Stokes….Two of them helped bring us out the slump, and are still firing away. Brick67 deserves a wee mention as well though, no :)
So the Giants beat the Patriots as part of a satanic subliminal advertising campaign. Those in the know should have gave us a nod to get our money on. And my auld man said there’s no such thing as a sure thing.
Partizan @ 05:01
Apols….if only I’d known which way they were going to fix that big money match…..no wait….nonsense, no :))
That just does NOT happen.
Roon ye.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niIcxMuORco
And it was a ritual. Not a subliminal advertising campaign.
Deal with it. ;)
This is the kind of issue that journalists in Scotland will be looking at from now on. withoot the jelly…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B67lAtNS8j8&fb_source=message
Steve McMahon should have been a Celt!
Our weapon to destroy horrible-hun-Hurlock!
Hail! Hail!
KevJ
We have plenty of Hurlock skelpers already, no ? :)
Gerry,
What dya think of the new Molly Malones’s layout?
Puir musician trying to busk in the Louden Tavern area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBLbH6vRwk8
….20 years from now…
And so the journey begins….
Fortunes Favour Mibbes says:
11 February, 2012 at 06:15
Gerry,
What dya think of the new Molly Malones’s layout?
_____________________________
Molly Malones in Glasgow?
tomtheleedstim says:
11 February, 2012 at 06:38
And so the journey begins….
__________________
How long does it take you to travel to CP?
A New leak from inside ibroke : Craig Whyte’s karaoke song is ‘If I Were a Rich Man’ from ‘FIddler On the Roof’.
Celticbhoy
How about the Steve Miller Band’s ‘Take the Money and Run’?
:)
Or…
Simply Red – Moneys Too Tight To Mention
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon says:
10 February, 2012 at 12:52
rules schmules, I wonder if a few clubs fancy being a new firm again , could make voting interesting
Jessie J
Price tag ..’it’s not about the money..money ..money’ ( Aye right!)
GonnaeSignMaSunburn @ 07:22
The very one. Had the pleasure of seeing Gerry McNee storm out in a huff at the Fields of Athenrye, Jim Delahunt quietly sneaking off, and Jimm staggering back up the stairs and try to leave through the disabled toilet. All in the one night….in the space of 10 mins. Would have been 5 if Jim White hadn’t got lost in the disabled toilet.
Jimm = Jim White
GonnaeSignMaSunburn
says:11 February, 2012 at 07:31
Like it!
Regarding the hawking season ticket money the Rangers fans should be singing ‘Did You Steal My Money?’ by The Who
Off the ‘Face Dances’ album from 1981,
Damp but not too gold Aberdeen means game on as pitches across the City regarded ‘playable’ … Nice wee P7 top of the table clash at 9 am….. C’mon Cults!
Mancs v Scousers at 12:30 on Sky… ( with an eye or ear on a Dunfermline draw).. Leading to a comfortable win over ICT for the Bhoys…. All making for a nice wee Saturday’s entertainment!
Gold = cold…!!!
Gerry McNee “The voice of a Football”
Good morning everybody.
4 weeks to Cheltenham,and today’s racing is mediocre to say the least.The weather must be bad in England.
Ah well,some top-class races at Leopardstown tomorrow should make up for it.
Celtic to win at a canter(no pun intended) today.
Hope Stokes and Hooper start with Sammi behind..
Getting annoyed with Stokes being benched as Hooper getting unfair advantage in goalscoring competition… My bet being Stokes to win!
…………Would Scotland miss Rangers?
By Eurosport | Desmond Kane – 14 hours ago
Of all the quotes that can be regurgitated relating to the darker side of Rangers and a helping of the imbeciles that have clamped themselves to the Glasgow club seemingly since time began, Ian Archer’s musings remain perhaps the most pertinent. It was penned over 30 years ago. “This has to be said about Rangers, as a Scottish football club they are a permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace. This country would be a better place if Rangers did not exist,” wrote Archer, who latterly worked on the now departed television programme Scotsport, in a Glasgow newspaper.
What was exceptional about Archer’s heartfelt words is that they were scribbled down during some of the finer moments in Rangers’ history, specifically alluding to a night when they snagged the old European Cup Winners’ Cup in Barcelona in 1972 with a 3-2 victory over Dynamo Moscow. As a piece of newspaper prose, it was ahead of its time.
Inspired by beers and cheap wine while being firmly planted in Spain, a Roman Catholic country at odds with the anti-Catholic signing policy once employed by Rangers and endorsed by its supporters, a furious rump of followers battled with riot police in the Camp Nou amid their team’s rise to clasp the only European trophy in the club’s history.
It will be argued that the heavy-handedness of local police made the riots in Barcelona eminently preventable, but then Rangers seem to have spent large swathes of their past defending the extremist behaviour of those who masquerade as football fans. The blame always seems to fall on others.
In a taxing period when a case with HMRC threatens to capsize the club with over £50 million of debt, it is perhaps Karma as much as unpaid taxes and gross financial mismanagement that has left Rangers facing the trap door. Rangers may well be left to pay the price for the sins of the father, with or without his sash, and their inability to drive out the rancid element that has tailed them.
They range from their highly inflammatory position in shying away from signing Catholics, the racist and sectarian songs sung by some followers of the club, the orange shirts wheeled out a decade ago as a “Dutch tribute ” marketing ploy and the wretched riots in Manchester when a big screen television went on the blink. These are just some of the episodes that have tarnished not only the Rangers brand, but the image of Scotland as a tolerant country.
Scottish football may be left impoverished by a league without Rangers, but will society? Should society feel a certain sadness towards the plight of Rangers?
While the Scottish Premier League, satellite television and perhaps even twitchy Celtic directors would lament the loss of the income that Rangers generate, a progressive Scotland may feel differently.
At a time when Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond is trying to drive forward the idea of an independent, progressive, multicultural, multi-faith Scotland – a rainbow nation of Scots – the country’s national sport is perhaps the last public haunt for the miserably uneducated. This was seen and heard when Hearts and Celtic exchanged lamentable ditties on Wednesday evening that continues to illustrate the deep-seated anti-Catholic sentiment that exists in pockets of Scotland. The strained old IRA choruses were heard from the visiting end amid the pestilence. Tramps behave better.
Celtic supporters are plagued by their own unsavoury band, but have always been uncomfortable with the Old Firm tagline that they continue to share with Rangers. The racists who have used Rangers to further their warped ideology will remain intact, even if Ibrox does not after the tax hearing has been played out. This would be a tragedy for a club with so much potential.
For the decent Rangers fans, progressive people, who follow their club only as a football team, there is a genuine sympathy at how departed owner Sir David Murray allowed the club to fall into such a state, but there are too many who have been allowed to hijack the good name of Rangers to further their own ideals away from a sporting context. For them, there will be no sympathy.
Rangers may well survive in some form if they fall into administration, which would be heartening for the national sport, but would clubs outwith Glasgow such as Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibernian, Dundee United or Dundee be sorry to see them go?
To the ones who sing songs about child abuse and the Irish Potato Famine, it is difficult to argue that the air would not be cleaner if their club stops. “And because some people are so sick, I have to put six words at the end of this column,” wrote Archer. “I am not a Roman Catholic.”
..