It is never the fault of Gers fans Another away trip, another bout of trouble. Cue feeble excuses – yet again. Maybe this time they will face the music
Graham Spiers
November 8, 2009
Sunday Times
If you are one of the legions of decent, fair-minded Rangers supporters then maybe you shouldn’t read on: you will only find the subject wearying, aggravating, a further embarrassment for your club. In fact, your only conclusion might be this: the humiliations that sections of Rangers supporters continue to heap upon their club appear to be limitless.
Villarreal, Pamplona, Manchester, now Bucharest. Why is it that, when Rangers FC and their spineless supporters’ spokesmen start groping around for excuses, the common themes of “heavy-handed policing” or “these are not real Rangers fans” are forever trotted out? Can’t any club official, or any supporters’ representative, ever come clean on this? Will someone at Rangers finally find the guts to say: “We have a major problem with our support and it is ruining this club”?
The scenes in Bucharest last Wednesday night at Rangers’ Champions League tie against Unirea were tediously familiar. But almost as bad, in the context of accountability, was Rangers’ feeble response to it. It was Manchester and the Uefa Cup final riots of 2008 all over again. Do you remember what happened there? The big TV screens in town went blank so the Rangers fans started rioting. The very next morning, amid some of the quickest gathering of intelligence I have ever come across, Martin Bain and Rangers hosted a press conference at which it was established that this was just “a small minority” of fans who had been involved, and that the miscreants were people who “don’t normally attach themselves to our support”.
This was about 30 minutes before Sky TV began to broadcast gruesome footage of hundreds of “not real Rangers fans” drunkenly setting about anything in sight in Manchester. And it was about 10 months before “not real Rangers fans” were humiliatingly strung up like felons on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme, as the quest to track them down went on. After the Manchester riots, just like after Bucharest four nights ago, Mr Bain and Rangers revealed an uncanny habit of placing more emphasis on defending, rather than condemning. Literally within half an hour of the aggro in Bucharest, Bain was issuing a 78-word statement, the first 21 of which said this: “Obviously, the behaviour of some of our fans in the stadium tonight is not acceptable — no one likes to see that.”
And the rest of it? Well, wasn’t it simply dreadful the way the Rangers fans were treated. I mean, come on, four turnstiles should have been operating, but instead there were only two. And all that CS gas being used on our poor fans. Note the different tone in Bain’s statement. The fact that Rangers fans rioted “was unacceptable” and “no-one likes to see that”. But the fact the Romanian police used CS gas to subdue them? Why, this was “totally unacceptable”.
The response of Andy Kerr, of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, was even worse. Kerr actually had the temerity to state: “I wouldn’t say the Rangers fans did anything wrong. The organisation was very poor.” And on the very same night we had the official Rangers website stating that “our fans suffered heavyhanded treatment by the police.” Ah, yes, the old “heavy-handed” policing line. This is an old Rangers favourite.
There is almost an indecent haste, as there was in Bucharest, to soft-soap some of this Rangers loutishness with anodyne utterances about policing, stewarding, whatever. I do not doubt for a moment that the situation in that Steaua stadium was unsatisfactory. One supporter I spoke to who was there testified to crumbling terraces and a bottleneck at the turnstiles, where Rangers fans were attempting to gain access to the ground. But is this a licence for thuggishness? Do decent human beings, in finding themselves in such a situation, start fist-fights, throw seats around, and brawl with stewards, as Rangers fans did the other night? Denial, denial, denial. It does Rangers FC no good. And it assumes that the rest of us are too dim-witted to recognise the cold, hard evidence that is staring us — and the governing body of European football — in the face.
In the expansive canon of excuse-making for Rangers and their fans’ antics, one of the great farragoes that is used is this “heavy-handed policing” line. In Villarreal in 2006, when the bigoted chanting by Rangers fans and the attack on the Spanish club’s team bus occurred, there was, if you were prepared to believe certain Rangers supporters groups, “heavy-handed policing” which only served to worsen the situation. Then we moved on to Pamplona a year later where — how unusual — some Rangers fans chanted bigoted anthems and fought with stewards. The Rangers supporters bodies’ reponse? “Really, we cannot condone some of the heavy-handed policing that we saw ... “
Then we got to Manchester in May 2008. Now, before I go any further here, can I just confirm one thing? The Greater Manchester Police — have they a reputation for aggression or heavy-handedness? No, I thought not. So we had these garish TV images of hundreds of Rangers supporters fighting, rioting, overturning cars. And what was the supporters clubs’ response? “While we cannot condone some of the antics of our supporters, we really believe that heavy-handed policing ...” Yes, yes. I think we’ve heard enough.
Rangers are the sick man of British football. They cannot gouge out the bigots and the undesirables from their support. There is something of the white underclass about a section of this club’s support which only guarantees intermittent but perennial embarrassment for Ibrox. It is as if a previously arrogant attitude around Rangers FC, now being overwhelmed by a more modern, multi-ethnic, ecumenical society around it, cannot cope with these changes and feels threatened by them.
On Thursday Uefa quite rightly stepped in, cut through all the obfuscation around the events in Bucharest, and opened yet another prosecution case against Rangers. For the long-term good of Rangers, I hope Uefa throw the book at them, and I believe they will.
----------------------
Another fine article from Graham Spiers - a guy who grow up as a Rangers supporter, but who couldn't abide the bigotry associated with the club.
I doubt this article would ever be printed in the Scottish media.
Scottish PSC - 10,000 Palestinian Flags To Be Handed out at Celtic v Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv
The usual excellent media release by the SPSC, complete with easy to use links and references, so that lazy corporate journalists can have no excuses for not reporting on this story.
Media Release; Sunday November 29th 2009: Football fans to fly the flag for Palestine
Celtic fans are set to show solidarity with Palestine when their team takes on Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Europa League on Wednesday.
Campaigners aim to issue ten thousand Palestine flags to fans entering the Parkhead venue, as an act of solidarity almost one year after the Israeli attacks on Gaza that left over 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Mick Napier, chair of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign described the flag-waving as "an opportunity to let the Palestinians know that we have not forgotten their ongoing suffering.
"Ministers and generals back in Israel, and the Israeli Ambassador who plans to attend the game, believe they will once again evade United Nations demands that they be prosecuted for war crimes. Whether they do or not, the flags will show that Israel has already been convicted in the world court of public opinion.
Lifelong Rangers fan, Alasdair Smith, has been leafleting recent Celtic games to publicise the upcoming activity: "The public in general is outraged at Israel’s crimes, and football fans are no different. We oppose each other on the terraces, but we stand together when it comes to human rights."
The flags are being funded by the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) as part of its support for the Boycott Israel campaign. Deputy General Secretary, Dave Moxham, said, "We hope that Celtic fans will join with us in a demonstration of support for a just and lasting peace in Israel/Palestine."
ENDS
BBC Scotland - Celtic 'concerned' by STUC Palestinian flag call
Waving Palestinian flags at tonight's match at Celtic Park is being made into a public safety issue.
A demonstration of support, in the usual time-honoured tradition of football supporters the world over, is being construed as some kind of other type of 'demonstration' it seems -
Celtic 'concerned' by STUC Palestinian flag call http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8388962.stm
BBC Scotland
01 Dec 2009
Dr John Reid MP is the current chairman of Celtic, I'm ashamed to say. The Celtic management seemed worried that the reputation of the club might be brought into disrepute tonight. They didn't seem too worried about Celtic's public image when they hired this war criminal and professional islamophobe.
I was recently banned from a popular celtic fan site for challenging Islamophobic scumbags on there - there was no warning, no common decency, just a ban. The prick who runs it doesn't have the skill of a first year tech student and his interaction with people showed him to be nothing but an incapable and scared little turd, so it wasn't a surprise really. I'd say its name, but they're not worth the steam off my shite. Fact is though, there's a noticable element of scum in the ranks of the fans on that site which is tolerated - and they besmurch Celtic's good name. The problem lies in so many of them turning a blind eye to the individual actions of certain people for the 'greater good'. I will never stand for that, so fuck them and their pathetic shit about which trainers are coolest, or which fucking LCD tv they can buy to impress their shitty bastard neighbours. Half of them don't even have loyalty to the club, they're just thick fuckers who don't know how to think any other way.
As for the STUC and Palestinian Solidarity group - more power to them! The game's on ITV4 across the UK later this evening, so I'll try and get some screenshots or clips.
Walter: I sang the songs of hate
By ROBERT GRIEVE
9th April 2011
The Scottish Sun
WALTER SMITH has admitted HE used to sing sectarian songs as a kid. But in a desperate plea to Rangers fans last night he urged them to STOP. UEFA are threatening to take action against the Ibrox club over supporters' chants. Gers face a three-match fans ban and whopping £100,000 fine if they're found guilty.
And Smith said: "I've sung songs. I've been on the terracing as a youngster, I've done that. But I certainly wouldn't put myself in a position to do it now. That's what I would ask supporters to do. They have to give up singing sectarian songs. Considering the problems our club have, I would ask them to take that into account and stop singing the songs that are offensive. The club is going to suffer quite drastic consequences if they don't stop."
Smith added: "Thinking about it, when I was a Rangers supporter it was 50 years ago. I started going in my early teens and when I sang the songs I had no realisation of what they meant - but I sang them. That was regarded as part of the traditions but it didn't mean anything to me at the time and it doesn't mean anything to me now. It's still an aspect a lot of supporters look upon as a traditional aspect of the club - but it's no longer acceptable therefore they shouldn't do it."
Gers' fans chants during the Europa League clash with PSV in Eindhoven last month are the latest to land their club in the dock. Smith fears that the potential UEFA sanctions could have a huge affect on Rangers, who have been hit with fines in the past. But chief executive Martin Bain is bracing himself for a whopping £100,000 fine and having fans banned from three away games.
Smith added: "If it continues, the consequences must become greater than previously. If it doesn't stop and we don't put an end to it, what is the next one? Banned from Europe altogether for a specific period of time? That would end an income stream that obviously helps the club be competitive in a domestic sense never mind at European level. That would have a huge consequence for the club."
Smith insists there are similar issues at other clubs but says Rangers can only look at themselves. He added: "It would be wrong to say Rangers are the only club to cause UEFA a problem. They are not. But there comes a time when you have to look at your own aspect of it and there is no doubt that is what we will have to do."
Celtic parcel bombs: celebrity fans told to watch out for suspect packages Police issue warning after 'viable incendiary devices' sent to football club manager Neil Lennon and two well-known Scots
Severin Carrell,
guardian.co.uk,
20 April 2011
Famous Celtic fans have been warned to watch out for suspect packages after four incendiary bombs capable of causing "real harm" were sent to the club's manager, Neil Lennon, and two other senior figures. Sources said the four crude but viable devices – sent to Lennon, his lawyer and a former Labour MSP over a six-week period from early March – used a potentially explosive liquid in a small bottle packaged up with nails.
The terror campaign has led police to warn "many" famous Celtic fans, including – it is believed – a BBC presenter. Staff at the Glasgow club and postal workers have also been told to be vigilant. Police stressed that this was a precautionary measure and there was no evidence or intelligence that any other individuals were being targeted. "The advice is to make sure that they keep themselves safe," said Chief Superintendent Ruaraidh Nicolson, head of community safety at Strathclyde police.
The force is now putting in place much tighter security for the Old Firm match between Celtic and Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday 24 April – recent games between the bitter rivals have seen dozens of fans arrested and a violent confrontation between Lennon and the Rangers assistant manager, Ally McCoist. The police believe these incidents, which led to an emergency summit hosted by first minister Alex Salmond, have sparked off the letter-bombing campaign. The parcels were posted when reporting of Old Firm and sectarian tensions was at a height.
Detective Chief Superintendent John Mitchell, head of Strathclyde CID, told a press conference the devices were very unusual but were "very definitely capable of causing considerable harm or injury to people." Salmond said the attempted attacks were "despicable and cowardly" and added that the "lunatic element responsible for this outrage" would be prosecuted vigorously. "They will be dealt with using the full force of the law. We're not going to tolerate this sort of criminality in Scottish society," he said.
The chief executive of the Scottish Football Association (SFA), Stewart Regan, said the news was "depressing and deplorable". He said the SFA was "horrified and saddened" by the attacks, and that sectarian hatred was an "unwanted poison" in football
Police said a suspicious package sent to the former Labour minister and Celtic director, Brian Wilson, at industrial premises at Shawbost, on the Isle of Lewis, had proved to be a false alarm. The first device was sent to Lennon, a Northern Irish Catholic, on 4 March and was intercepted by Royal Mail staff. Police originally believed it was hoax – the package was said to be cruder than a second device addressed to Lennon which was found at Kirkintilloch sorting office on 26 March.
Two days later a device addressed to Trish Godman, the former deputy presiding officer of the Scottish parliament who has just retired as a Labour MSP, was delivered to her constituency office. A fourth package was sent to Paul McBride QC, Lennon's lawyer, last week having been posted in Kilwinning, Ayrshire.
The police only realised the devices were viable and dangerous last week after forensic investigation; it is thought the liquid involved could explode after contact with air or sunlight. Mitchell said the police had not failed by initially downplaying the significance of the packages. "These devices were unusual. We'd never seen anything like them before," he said. "The initial assessment was that they might have been a hoax. That being said, we sent the devices for specialist forensic examination and because of that we're now aware that they are viable devices."
Mitchell appealed for witnesses. He said: "Sending these types of packages through the post is a despicable and cowardly act – whoever has done this has put not only the person to whom they were addressed in danger but they've also put postroom staff in harm's way. We're acutely aware of the alarm these incidents can cause, which is why we've got a full plan in place to give guidance to Royal Mail workers and postroom staff."
Mitchell said the "wide-ranging investigation" was focusing on a number of lines of inquiry, but the police had no clear evidence about who was responsible. "We're keeping an open mind," he said. Detectives were studying online Rangers fan forums where abuse and death threats against Lennon have previously been posted.
Although the devices all appeared to have been posted in Scotland and there was no immediate evidence of paramilitary involvement, officers were talking to other forces including the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Mitchell said. "We've no information or intelligence to suggest that anyone else would be targeted. However, at this particular time, it would be sensible to take precautions."
----------------
This quote from the Greme Speirs article above is more than apt here... " It is as if a previously arrogant attitude around Rangers FC, now being overwhelmed by a more modern, multi-ethnic, ecumenical society around it, cannot cope with these changes and feels threatened by them."
Bigotry, Bombs and Football
As this year's Scottish football season draws to an end, will it be remembered for the quality of football or for the ugly face sectarianism? It was a football season marked with parcel bombs, sectarian chanting and even a political summit. Scotland's football seemed to make the headlines across the world for all the wrong reasons.
Reevel Alderson investigates the sectarian scar that seems to blight Scottish football and explores the roots of the problem. With contributions from many of the people caught up in this year's sectarian headlines, the programme asks if we will ever be able to solve Scotland's not-so-secret shame.
Lads... please... let's face FACTS.
I'm a Rangers supporter who's a half-Scot and lives in Italy, but I was born and bred Gers through and through. My Scottish family does not deal with sectarian stuff, they're prebyterian and they care more for their jobs and the unemployment that's been plaguing Scotland for so many decades uo till now.
OF COURSE there's RIVALRY towards the Catholics, but it's just as if they were from another wee town, it's simply RIVALRY, no racism at all included, it's just "where you come from" that matters.
What I wanted to point out is that what LiviCelt wrote about Rangers is NOT ALL TRUE.
First of all: RANGERS ARE NOT A CONSERVATIVE LOT.
People at Ibrox Park are generally working class and Labour/SNP voters, and this simply FOLLOWS THE TREND OF GLASGOW'S POLITICS.
I mean, take a look at the polls: Glasgow's main party is Labour, with the centre-left SNP coming second, another centre-left party (Lib-Dems) coming third and the Tories ONLY COMING FOURTH!
Now, Rangers are a MAJORITY in Glasgow: how can such a majority be REDUCED TO THAT 10% WHO VOTES CONSERVATIVE???
These are facts you cannot ignore...
I really hardly ever met a Tory rangers fellow, really.
BUT... yes, I know what happens with the ESTABLISHED ULTRAS AT IBROX: red hand salutes being mistaken as fascist salutes... sectarianism... racism... the feeling of supremacy for the Protestants over the Catholics... some people even wearing English jerseys...
SOME of the ultras at Ibrox ACT LIKE THIS.
Yet, this has NOTHING TO DO WITH FASCISM... this is SIMPLY STUPID VILE BIGOTRY.
What happens at Celtic Park will be REVERTED at Ibrox, so if the Celts support Plaestine, the Gers will support Israel, but it's just a GAME OF PROVOCATION, I don't really think most of those people really care for what happens in the Middle east... probably Celtic fans might even care, because they tend to identify themselves with the so-called "oppressed" ones, but the Rangers lot simply PROVOKE THEM...
Unionism and loyalism is such a different thing: I feel British, i.e., a half-Briton, as well as half-Scottish.
I don't want Scotland to part from the Union, and ALSO LABOUR DOESN'T!!!
I don't want to be governed by a republic, YET I'M A LEFTIST AND I STILL VOTE LABOUR OR - after years of New Labour horrors - SNP or Lib-Dem...
Now, WILL YOU DESCRIBE RANGERS AS BEING "THE CONSERVATIVE SIDE OF GLASGOW" SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE'S A MINORITY OF CUNTS WHO WANT TO DEAL WITH BELFAST AND SECTARIANISM?
It's them who show themselves more than anyone else at Ibrox, they bring the Jack, they chant horrible stuff, YET THEY'RE NOT BNP FASCIST SUPPORTERS, THEY'RE JUST A STUPID SECTARIAN LOT... but WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF US?
HOW CAN YOU LET THAT LIE GO ON? RANGERS DO NOT HAVE A "CONSERVATIVE" FANBASE, JUST TAKE A LOOK AT GLASGOW'S POLITICS, IT'S FAIRLY IMPOSSIBLE!!!
Glasgow's red and has been for years and years... if once it was true that the Tories use to back the Protestant working class and Labour used to back the Catholics, it's now been quite a lot of decades since GLASGOW'S WORKING CLASS HAS STARTED TO JOIN FORCES AND OVERWHELMINGLY VOTE LABOUR OR LEFTIST. Be it Protestant or Labour.
DO NOT JUDGE A TEAM FROM ITS RADICAL EXTENTS...
Need a conservative club? Do take a look at SOUTHERN ENGLAND, where the Tories really make it big... you'll find entire football grounds packed up of Tories... NOT AT IBROX!
Those who wear English jerseys are another sheer minority: the feeling for Scotland is OH SO STRONG AT IBROX, believe me, also because people at Celtic Park tend to support Ireland rather than Scotland...
PLEASE, DO NOT LET CELTIC PROPAGANDA PASS BY AS IF IT WERE ANY GIVEN TRUTH...
I won't ever deny them the right to be whoever they please, Celtic is A WORKING CLASS CATHOLIC CLUB, on the whole, probably that 10% of Tories in Glasgow might prefer Rangers to Celtic, but what about the rest of us Gers fans? It's about 60& Rangers vs 40% Cetic in Glasgow, so, if we even count that 10% Tory inside Ibrox, WHAT ABOUT THE 50% OF GLASWEGIAN CENTRE OF LEFT RANGERS FANS???
Come on, let's be honest...
You can't judge a club from its extremists...
Most of us at Ibrox DO FEEL THIS RIVALRY WITH CATHOLICS, CELTIC AND THE IRISH, yes, this doesn't mean we're racist or don't vote leftist any longer yet!
It's just a RIVALRY, although some cunts would like it to be some sort of civil war...
Come on, lads, try and be sensible.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
