We had an interesting couple of announcements from the Scottish Premier League yesterday. Safe Standing areas, where instead of a seat, spectators have a crush barrier in front of them, is no longer against league rules. Before the introduction of standing areas council Health and Safety officials would need to give approval, as do the police. Council approval should be straightforward, crush barriers separating each row of spectators make the environment safe, but I’m less sure the police will be keen.
Policing huge stadiums with seated spectators is straightforward compared to policing standing fans. Disturbances tend to cause those involved to stand up, drawing immediate attention to the incident, while knowing exactly who is sitting on which seat would allow transgressors of the Scottish Governments new interpretation on making the sign of the cross to be pursued after the event.
League rules (note: not the law of the land) have also been updated to clarify the definition of “Unacceptable Conduct” as ‘using words, conduct or displaying any writing or other thing which indicates support for, or affiliation to, or celebration of, or opposition to an organisation proscribed in terms of the Terrorism Act 2000’.
New rules on how clubs are expected to tackle Unacceptable Conduct, with fresh procedures, if necessary, have also been introduced. Clubs are now required to bring occurrences of Unacceptable Conduct to the Match Commander. Failure to do so will bring the club into breach, should an incident subsequently be reported, by TV spectators, for example.
Clubs are also charged to “Take reasonably practical steps, including consultation with police, to identify those who engage in Unacceptable Conduct”, which creates obvious dissonance with the new Safe Standing Area policy.
We’ll see how these rules work out in practice but look out for an interesting consequence. Some Celtic fans are often cited as singing about the IRA (who are on the Proscribed list in their various historical formats) but they are not the supporters who sing most about that organisation(s). That ‘honour’ falls to Rangers fans, who are bound not to sing in “opposition to an organisation proscribed”.
The notion that Rangers (and let’s not forget Hearts) are compelled to identify and sanction any of their supporters caught “effin’ the IRA” in fear any TV viewer reports them is what keeps this country unique.
Box clever.
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greenmaestro says:
20 December, 2011 at 14:24
re songs by The Clash for RFC…
♫ we’re all lost on the transfer market
we can no longer shop happily ♫
David Brannan, not Hawthorn in above post
I should listen to Clyde more often.
King:”You have Rangers guilty of every court case they’re going to face.”
Steve:”There’s a very slim chance they’ll win any of them.”
King:”Well, there’s always a chance, then, isn’t there?”
Steve:”Aye, let’s hope, eh?”
I LOLed.
When the hearts fans disgraced themselves by refusing to observe the minutes silence for pope John Paul,it was front page news in the major paper here in San Francisco,when asked to explain it,I had nothing to say,no defence to offer for my countrys shame.Until now,I imagined that to be the lowest level scotland could reach,sadly,I was wrong, I am now going to have to come up with a plausible reason why the,SIGN OF THE CROSS,the most widely used and visible expression of CHRISTIANITY,across the globe,is,under certain circumstances,legally viewed as offensive and punishable by law.As a scotsman,how do I justify this to a neutral observer?,what possible explanation can anyone give which would be acceptable?,the question is,of course,rhetorical.When maurice johnstone blessed himself,I condemned him,it was an obvious attempt to inflame the fans,when Artur Boruc made the same gesture,I applauded,his was a genuine affirmation of his faith,the guilty parties in that case,were the ones who took offence,now,those same bigots have been vindicated,the law of the land has finally validated there hideous and reprehensible distaste for what SHOULD be,a completely innocent display of faith.After this,it really would not surprise me to see the banning of catholic mass,or new laws,restricting the wearing of the green.
good evening cqn
Dont no you Terry,but you had them on R C
H H
bournesouprecipe says: 20 December, 2011 at 15:22
jocky bhoy I’m very sorry but I disagree entirely, to mention the Celtic Support as in some way at fault because the Rangers Support have continuously sang Sectarian songs, brings the meaning of wrong, to an entirely new level. (trendy cliche)
Au contraire, the fact that they weren’t brought to book by the Celtic Board and the establishment earlier, has helped contribute to the entire sorry mess, where they are trying to rewrite the legislation including the changing of dictionary definition for the word sectarian.
This equivalence, we now have is because Rangers were convicted for sectarian singing by UEFA, and for that fact alone. They cannot challenge a 15,000 chorus singing deeply racist songs as far back as 31/08/08, but PC plod can pull a single wee Celtic fan out of his bed because he shouted Ooh Ahh, There we have the middle ground.
p.s. Apologies I’m still on my phone and can only do long posts at Home
Bournesouprecipe (and HamiltonTim – at last a Hun accusation!)
Hold on – where did I say we were at fault for bringing the Huns to book? I categorially said what we did was fair because their songs were racist and sectarian, both of which makes their songs illegal.
Did the Celtic Board (let alone the establishment!) bring them to book for their racist and sectarian singing? That was UEFA in 2006 wasn’t it? The board, i.e. John Reid, got involved in TFS debate in the press in 2008, after they started singing it. They couldn’t complain about TFS beforehand could they? The Huns have sung the Billy Boys for years but it was The Famine Song in 2008 that changed things, do you not agree? Nil By Mouth declared (incorrectly) that Hun was sectarian in 2009 after a wee campaign by Huns – coincidence? I don’t think so.
This reinforces the point I made that the arrival of TFS and the correct finding that it was illegal, leading to Huns were getting criminal convictions raised the ante. Now by saying “raising the ante” it’s not a criticism, it’s a statement of fact that I am making in that I feel that tensions were heightened. I was perhaps incorrect in saying “we” raised the ante: it may have been the match delegates reporting the song, it may have been the judges for once enforcing the law, it may have been our gleeful reaction that they were at last being punished for being the wee bigots they are. I apologise if that was the case as it really was not my intention – but whoever was “responsible” the ante was raised. You can accept that surely?
Now against all this, including Rangers publicly asking their fans NOT to sing TFS, we have Celtic fans continuing to sing songs the club has been asking us not to for years. This was the opportunity they (the establishment) were waiting for – whether they were offended or not by songs we have sung for years, they wanted to even things up. In a sense knowing that Celtic FC had proven ineffective in stopping the away support (after all, the club had cut down successfully on them by and large at home) they moved the goalposts.
I think it was the assault on Lennon at Tynecastle, after which the support really got into with Hearts fans that really got things stoked up. After all to “balance” the unprovoked on-pitch assault of Lennon the press were at pains to point out the poisinous atmosphere (as if it isn’t there anyway and then heightened by the assault) provided by BOTH sets of fans and for once it wasn’t involving Rangers!
As I say, IMO, and only mine it seems, if we’d have stopped some of the songs the club had asked us to, I don’t think they’d have the ammunition to come after us in the way they have. I’m not saying they wouldn’t have done, absolutely not saying that, but I think they’d have less to go on.
And finally, I think the 28th December will be the acid test. I think everyone’s going to have been on the p1ss for Christmas and all day on the Wednesday (7.45 kickoff ffs!), it’s all to play for, tensions are high and the eyes and camperas of the polis and the world will be on us – I hope we are smarter than them.
Moonbeams WD etc 20 December, 2011 at 15:58
Jock Bhoy is not very well educated me thinks. Well MWD, methinks Jocky Bhoy doesn’t give a rat’s ‘arris about what “you thinks” of his education :o)
Now I’m off home – flipside from you BSR: I’ll then be switching to smartphone, so shorter posts from there!
Posted a short while ago on CU twitter
leebowers999
Green Brigade “Huns FC”banner case.Sectarian part dropped as PF accepts that Hun is NOT RELIGIOUSLY MOTIVATED.Oh dear HUNS wont be happy.
1 hour ago
johnnyquest says:
20 December, 2011 at 18:20
I have posted before about my visit to France 98 during the world cup. Busy bar, fans from all over the world. When word got round we were from Scotland loads of folk wanted to know about ‘anti Catholic Scotland’. The Rod McDonald incident at Firhill where he was sent off for blessing himself was front page news all over South America. I was there with a blue nose mate too, the reaction was a complete shock to him. But he is a decent bloke anyway so maybe the shock would not have been the norm among the horribles.
I have been wondering over the last few days about a situation developing here where we have a claim for asylum in some foreign land from a Catholic Irish Scot. Not entirely in jest.
Yes all those games on xmas day…..i think xmas day became a holiday after 1975 in scotland …….how dare anyone say we have never moved on………..what an embarrasment
Jockybhoy
Eh who accused you of being a hun. Please go back and read the very first sentence of my post.
Lads why couldn’t we just appeal the UEFA charges and blame it on the Chelsea fans after all the huns use that line frequently I’m sure it would work.
MUGSW.
topkat I remember my Dad taking day off work on Christmas Day ,it became a public holiday in this great Christian country in 1958.
Hail Hail.
One of my most prised possessions is a Brigade Rosse T-shirt. As worn by Punk Icon and Mr fantastic human being Joe Strummer of The Clash, The Pogues, The Mescaleros. Would I be arrested if I wore this at CP? Would my Frank Ryan former IRA / Brigadista International Brigade officer T shirt (Some men must die lest all men live like slaves) render me likely for arrest if worn at CP? Just trying to highlight the futility of the new law
Can anyone comment on the rumour that Izzy got injured in todays bounce game against Morton?
Just heared from a few sources now so getting worried!
HH
/Bishop B
ok bhoys
just in and as i don’t read scum papers is it true that cesear has taking the queens shilling..
or liewells?
johnnyquest @1820
Sadly, Scotland is not the place we all once knew. It is a backward thinking, narrow minded, anti-Catholic, anti -Irish, full of bigots. The scenery is nice!!
Hail Hail
KINGLuBO
blantyretim says:
20 December, 2011 at 19:08
ok bhoys
just in and as i don’t read scum papers is it true that cesear has taking the queens shilling..
or liewells?
share
Yes I read it last night it seems we’re getting it from all angles.
BlantyreKev – Hail Hail to the Kano Foundation says:
I have been wondering over the last few days about a situation developing here where we have a claim for asylum in some foreign land from a Catholic Irish Scot. Not entirely in jest.
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Mo Chara you are home let no one tell you different. When the huns sing ‘why don’t you go home?” you can now state genetics prove I AM HOME
“Overall, the genetic structure of the [British] Isles is stubbornly Celtic, if we by that mean descent from people who were here before the Romans and who spoke the Celtic language. We are an ancient people …genetically rooted in the Celtic past. The Irish, the Welsh, and the Scots know this, but the English sometimesthink otherwise.” Dal Riada Celts – When considered in a narrowgenetic sense, the Gaels of Ireland, as identified by the DNA signature of OGAP8, are as close as any group to being considered the root line and forbearers of Celts of today. When present in Scotland, it is suggested that OGAP8 represents the signature of the Dal Riada Celts.
Picts – It is asserted that OGAP4 best represents the Pictish ancestry of Scotland. While there is no fundamental genetic difference between the Picts and the Celts, i.e., both being R1b, they are both from the same mixture of Iberian and European Mesolithic ancestry that forms the Pictish/Celtic substructure of the Isles. But on the contrary, it is extremely difficult,from which we can confidently conclude that the Picts and the Celts have the same underlying genetic origins.”
On the ubiquitous presence of the Haplotype OGAP4 across Scotland Sykes writes… “There is nosurviving mythology around the Picts…. Grampian and Tayside – is Pictland … The reason I cannot be more certain is itself very relevant to the myth of the Picts. It is precisely because they are genetically close to the Gaelic Irish that these estimates are so difficult. If they had been a relic people, a genetic isolate, then it would have been easy to distinguish them from Irish Gaels.
Len Brennan says:
20 December, 2011 at 19:07
Can anyone comment on the rumour that Izzy got injured in todays bounce game against Morton?
Just heared from a few sources now so getting worried!
HH
/Bishop B
share
That’s a new 1 to me
Len Brennan
Nothing on twitter about it. Only relevant tweet from Laura Brannan: “Everyone’s asking about Izaguirre, he’s not in the injury update because he’s no longer injured, just a case of regaining match fitness now.”
Sounds good. Hope he’s available for Kilmarnock -he was superb in games against them last season.
Maybe if we banned cameras, at whatever the expense from Celtic Park , there would be little for anyone to complain about. Check the lost TV revenue against the cost of fines etc.
Worth considering perhaps
Hail Hail
KINGLuBo
up_over_goal says:
20 December, 2011 at 19:14
Cheers mate.
Let hope it’s all nonsense.
HH
/Bishop B
Oglach UFB:
I seem to have survived.
Like plod, the SNP and the Celtic ‘body corporate’ I will take silence as acquiescence.
Don’t explain it to them mind…
:-)))
Good eveing friends,
Thoroughly enjoying the Darryl and Mark laugh in tonight. Comedy Gold. There, I’ve admitted it…
Darryls recent gem, that HMRC have only won “about 4% of these cases” was the best yet…
Jobo
leebowers999 They hid in shipyard
Green Brigade “Huns FC”banner case.Sectarian part dropped as PF accepts that Hun is NOT RELIGIOUSLY MOTIVATED.Oh dear HUNS wont be happy.
2 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
Retweeted by celticrumours
_______
PF – Procurator Fiscal
jobo
taxmen usually are on the ball… in my experiance…
good bhoy on Snyde there re the lapdogs,TBF Guidi told King it is prevelant
Hamilton – yeah I know. I thought that as i walked to the tubemaybe wishful thinking… Ach well back to being a minority Tim I suppose.
TopCorner
Looks like the erse falling out the SNP’s showcase bill already… :)
Len Brennan
Izzaguire played for 90 minutes.
blantyretim –
Up there with ‘Bob’ from earlier this morning… ;-)
Jobo
When considering the new law one is reminded to one of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s musings “It is only an error in judgment to make a mistake, but it shows infirmity of character to adhere to it when discovered” Are you reading this little Alex??
Anyone else finding that CQN is taking an age to refresh a page or post a comment?
Posted at 9.52am on 28th June 1914.
PS Emdy seen or heard of Gavrilo Princip lately?
Concerned.
Lads anyone here that caller on RC there regarding Taxcase?
I have seen a couple of posts about the sign of the cross being potentially offensive/sectarian. Cannot find anything online though – can someone please explain what it is all about please?
Assume it is nonsense though to be honest – surely any appeal court (certainly the European Court) would throw this out straight away, and with it, bring some horribly unpleasant publicity upon the scottish government.
philvisreturns says:
20 December, 2011 at 12:35
Here I come to save the day! (thumbsup)
======================================
is that you overdosed on the Pedigree Chum again, PAL?
The current Mrs Gabriel asked her loved one (moi) for a cup of tea & one of the nice mince pies in the cupboard.
I gladly saw to Mrs G,s wishes but turned on Snyde while in the kitchen. Thank feck for quick boiling kettles !
Radio off & back to being a CQN lurker.
Compare and contrast the reporting of Celtic fans by the Italian press to the rags we have to suffer
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k18/ozzietim/Udinese2.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k18/ozzietim/Udinese3.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k18/ozzietim/Udinese1.jpg