THE END OF THE ROAD – by Pensionerbhoy

 THE END OF THE ROAD – by Pensionerbhoy  Posted by at 10:00 am  Anti discrimination Blogs, Racism, sectarianism  No Responses »
Feb 282013
 

There must be many today who feel we have reached the end of the road with regard to the behaviour of football fans.  For quite some time now there have been ongoing controversies surrounding Celtic supporters, the singing of “patriotic” songs and the display of distasteful or inappropriate banners.  The Green Brigade has been the centre of potential division among the Celtic support.  The Celtic Disabled Supporters Association has had to appeal for consideration from fans.  So Celtic Football Club has not had its troubles to seek from its supporters.  That is an undeniable certainty.  However, the club has always recognised the failings of its fans and has constantly rebuked them and taken strong action against them.   Banning orders have not been short on the ground and the club has never been reluctant to denounce misbehaviour.  There are those who might even claim it has gone over the top with some fans in this regard.

Could the same be said of The Rangers after the objectionable singing by supporters last Saturday at Berwick upon Tweed.  It would appear that a great number stepped beyond the pale if reports are to be believed.  And why would they not be?  One could have little doubt about the extent of the vile songs, given that the presenter, Ray Stubbs, for ESPN made a formal apology to viewers and protested to the police.  For at least forty five minutes, the singing was regarded as so offensive and deemed so distasteful to the general public that the commentator decided it was not fit for broadcast any longer.  While decent supporters would compliment ESPN for its action, I would go further and say that its stance was pretty well unique as media responses go.  Normally, the despicable chants that were heard would have gone unnoticed, without comment or excused.  If that seems an exaggeration, remember that only last season Scotland were misled by politicians who greeted sectarian filled cup final bile with acclaim.  It is just not the done thing to rebuke or criticise The Rangers.  And, what if you do?

Take the reaction of The Rangers to the condemnations of last Saturday.  Before looking at what was said by the club, should we join in the praise for its speedy response or should we, perhaps, examine its statement first?  The latter may give us a better opportunity to judge how we should react.

“The club is disappointed at some outbursts of inappropriate singing by a section of the support at Berwick.  Our fans have been excellent this season both home and away and we do not want to see this tarnished”.

The first word to jump out at me is “disappointed”.  I am a mere supporter and not a club official but I am “ashamed” when Celtic fans tarnish the club, not simply “disappointed”.  The next word to catch my attention is “outbursts”.  My understanding is that for forty five minutes it was pretty well constant not sporadic as this word would imply.  “inappropriate singing“ is the next description of events.  No!  The singing was sectarian, racist and extremely offensive to “many sections“ of viewers.  (We could question the use of “singing” but we will leave that to the X factor).  “a section of the support” comes next.  Reports maintain that the songs in question were heard practically all around the ground and were obviously so whole hearted as to be clearly heard on the broadcast.  Then we are asked to accept that “Our fans have been excellent this season both home and away”.  As in the same excellence that Kenny MacAskill and David Longmuir witnessed at the League Cup final one might ask?  Or the wee glitch at the game against Queens Park?  Perhaps we should believe it is simply a Hampden phenomena.  Given the lack of reaction from the corridors of that edifice, that might be a consideration.  “and we do not want to see this tarnished” is not exactly the strength of response to see this lofty and commendable ambition realised.  It smacks more of face saving than apology and threat.

Now that you have seen the words, dear reader, would you join with me in the praise?  No?  I well understand as this is as lily-livered a protest as one could make, unless that is, one does not wish to alienate the perpetrators.  Where were the demands for investigation into the events, the exposure of and action against the offenders?  In my opinion and in view of the words used, I would maintain nowhere to be seen nor heard.  But then, how can a club condemn those whom it regularly wants to or needs to pamper.

The football authorities have also been once again complicit in allowing this to go unpunished.  The media, no doubt intimating what should happen, claim that the SFA and SPL do not have rules to cover these transgressions and are unlikely to take any action.  However, at least in an apparent attempt to legitimise the “cover up”, Vincent Lunny has asked for an explanation from The Rangers.  So expect another “him speak with forked tongue” reply from Mr. Green or, if on another Phileas Fogg world tour, his intellectually, if not otherwise, challenged pr guru, Mr. Traynor.  I guess that will justify another full drawer in the cabinet of unresolved cases at the Hampden Headquarters.  Of course, no one should expect severe criticism from the impartial Scottish media who excused it all with highlighted reports of only two arrests and comforting quotes for all of Scotland when The Rangers come calling.

“Rangers’ away trips this season have been good-natured and uneventful, although The Billy Boys was briefly sung at Hampden against Queen’s Park, after a late winning goal and when some fans were attempting to bring the song back with acceptable lyrics. There was more sustained singing at this game, with No Pope Of Rome even heard at one point, a song that has long been abandoned by Rangers fans.” (Herald Scotland).

“a song that has long been abandoned by Rangers fans”, so it must be presumed those Timmy infiltrators were at it again.  An idea not too far fetched given Gordon Dalziel’s contention that the choirs involved did not consist of “real Rangers fans”.

I have neither the time nor the inclination at this time to undertake a similar dissection of Mr. McCoist’s various comments which fluctuated as frequently as a barometer in a winter heat-wave.  Whatever mood he encountered dictated how he reacted.  He twisted and squirmed from “Bear” hugs to rebuke with the frequency of a diarrhoea attack along with the reliability of the local bus service, not usually a good combination when on the run.  The resultant stink of acquiescence pervaded every public announcement from the manager’s mouth.  Once again the cotton wool of media approbation was in evidence providing protection for his unparalleled equivocation.

In the interest of balance, it must be pointed out that the head of The Rangers supporters John McMillan roundly condemned the singing and called for lifetime bans for those found guilty of it as did many fans of The Rangers.  Going by Gordon Dalziel’s beliefs that will mean a lot of non Rangers supporters being punished – REALLY!   At last some are on the same wavelength as Celtic FC and Celtic fans.  However, it took McMillan’s unequivocal statement to draw any kind of similar comment from the Ibrox “heid yins“.  Instead, Ally was spouting about song sheets and other “toilet” paper weight solutions.  Given he claimed not to have heard the singing, it will be interesting to see what desert island selections he chooses to include in his suggested alternative repertoire.  No doubt the Hampden hard-men will see fit to impose this perfect solution and with the help of another dose of legal gibberish from Salmond and co. to enter it into the already over exercised statute books.  Thus the serious problems of sectarianism, bigotry, racism and other similar unquantifiable Scottish football offences will come to the end of the road with one foul sheet.

Since when do you need a songbook as a moral compass ?

 Since when do you need a songbook as a moral compass ?  Posted by at 11:03 am  Anti discrimination Blogs, Racism, sectarianism  2 Responses »
Feb 262013
 

If some thing is wrong then it is wrong. We humans are gifted with common history, intelligence and a thing called gut feeling to help us form moral judgments. Unless it’s a book of religious hymns we don’t rely on an approved song book to know the difference between what is good and what is morally repugnant.

Ally McCoist media darling and cheeky chappy has insisted that a song book will stop sevco fans singing morally repugnant songs. So this will be ‘the wee blue book’ volume two. Since the last one in 2007 did not work how does he expect the new one to work? Are they going to include pictures?

We all know that a song book will not kill off sectarianism and racism in society. These are deep routed and ingrained mindsets that need challenging full on in society ,in the class room and most importantly in the home. Sevco will never eradicate the bile from their support while the media in Scotland give them an easy ride and while Alex Salmond turns a blind eye when it suits him.

We keep being told that it is a minority of Sevco supporters who indulge in anti Catholic/Irish hate songs but I think we all know that is not the case. If it is indeed a minority it’s a large minority. We also hear that decent The Rangers supporters are fed up with this. If that’s the case where are they, who is their voice, where is their representation ?

These problems at sevco need to be tackled from the inside. The old cry of  ’both sides are as bad as each other’ is a lie. When Rangers FC died and the new club was formed their was a chance for a fresh start unfortunately Charles Green aided and abetted by Mr McCoist and elements of the Scottish media decided to pander to the lowest common denominator in the dead clubs support the ‘white underclass’ as it has been coined. From that moment on it became carry on as before.

Once again the Scottish Football Administrators and Mr Salmond should hang their heads in shame for letting down the decent people in this country.

Sevco Sectarianism but Police Swamp CATB gig

 Sevco Sectarianism but Police Swamp CATB gig  Posted by at 9:23 pm  Anti discrimination Blogs, Racism, Scottish football, sectarianism, SFA, SFL, SPL  12 Responses »
Feb 252013
 
green brigade badge

TCN Supports the Green Brigade

Well once again it’s been a crazy weekend in the ‘best wee country in the world’. Sectarian singing is condemned by an ESPN presenter and they say they will contact the Police and Authorities to ‘see if they can do something’. Once again it takes someone from outside Scotland to highlight the bigotry in the Sevco support.

What the FOcUS unit were doing while this was going on remains at this point a mystery. Ok the game was played in England but a Strathclyde police FOcUS unit would have been attached to that game since it is a game regulated by Scottish football authorities with Scottish fans in attendance and therefor falls nicely into the new football laws.

So lets take a look at the Police. Just over a week ago the Green Brigade walked away from Celtic Park because of what they seen is constant harassment and bully boy tactics of Strathclyde’s finest. Some quarters in our support were quick to point the finger at the group for bringing it on themselves. What I want to ask is the following is the following another example of people bringing it on themselves ?

On Saturday I was contacted by a close friend who attended a Charlie and the Bhoys gig in the Bank Roll in Balmore industrial estate in Glasgow. My friend lives roughly o.2 km from the event so she knows the area well and the normal level of beat constables assigned to that area.

Despite this being a private function where everyone was asked to submit their names and the promoter hiring extra security that did not seem to be enough for Strathclyde Police who had roughly 50 officers deployed to Police around 85 people and as things turned out they did not appear to my friend and others to be there to protect anyone.

From 6.00 pm 2 hrs before the gig there where three riot vans and and 2 marked police cars plus CID plain cloth units. Over the course of the gig the Police were constantly ‘visiting’ the venue. Over policing ? I would think so. On the way home my friend was stopped 4 times by different sets of officers ask for names and addresses and what they were up to. Now remember their home was only o.2 from the venue. My friend also had to intervene on 2 occasions to stop the Police needlessly trying to lift a 19 yr old in a Celtic top. The 19 yr old was with a crowd of pals but he was the only one with a Celtic Top on. My friend managed to organise Taxis  to get the younger people out of the area asap.

The police were constantly stopping people at random and seemed intent on getting a few collars. Thankfully the people attending the gig behaved and got out the road. I know and trust the person who gave me this info. The person in question is grown up with a family and is a law abiding citizen but what they witnessed made them so angry they contacted me. Unfortunately due to a ‘busy’ weekend I was unable to talk to my friend until tonight.

So were these people at the CATB gig bringing it on themselves or is it a case of anyone who shows any interest in anything Irish be it politics or songs are now targets for the Police ?

Remember this is a country that sweeps anti Catholic and Irish racism and sectarianism under the carpet and calls it simply ‘inappropriate’ .

 

Newco Rangers still condoning religious intollerance

 Newco Rangers still condoning religious intollerance  Posted by at 9:23 am  Anti discrimination Blogs, sectarianism, The Celtic Board  4 Responses »
Dec 282012
 
religious intolerance in Scotland

Quote from newco player Fran Sandaza

Well,well what would you know? Roman Catholic players at Newco Rangers are not allowed to bless themselves. This news is brought to us by the same rag who are today running Celtic fans into the ground.

This rag does not choose to be outraged or even question the suppression of religious freedom,nor does it ask the Police as it it’s against the law of the land or the SFA/SFL as it is against their initiatives to get rid of religious intolerance.

And where is Mr Salmond’s comments on this ? The whole story reminds me of some lyrics from a Bowie song “Same old thing in brand new drag”

So this is the New Scotland? God help us all.

‘Still Acting In Support of Our Dark-Ages’

 ‘Still Acting In Support of Our Dark-Ages’  Posted by at 1:58 pm  Anti discrimination Blogs, Celtic fans Views, media, Racism, Scottish football, sectarianism  1 Response »
Oct 272012
 
Orange Order of Scotland

‘Organised sectarianism…a throw-back to the Dark-Ages’

I write this article by way of reply to something of a thought provoking, discussion piece by Alex Thomson of C4 News and thereafter an article written and posted on this very on this site by oor very own JasCam, http://www.thecelticnetwork.com/2012/10/27/the-hatred-and-thrats-of-rfc-pondlife/.

Without further a-do, here goes!

It says something quite appalling about a sizeable section of society, never mind a football clubs active supporter base, that I’m by so very little of all this reprehensible behaviour.

The fact that, at Sevco, there are so many bigotry infested violent and aggressive morons within the support is old news to myself, personal experience taught me this many, many years ago…sadly I have to say their actions in particular have become the norm for me to deal with.

I must say society has a problem and not just Scottish society either, this modern-day world lacks teachings of respect and proper empowerment of authority, I only foresee the situation worsening in the years ahead.

It is however systemic of an apparently incurable ‘Presbyterian Scotland’ disease that only know in 2012 is this subject even opened for public debate, for too long these items have been ‘intimidated’ back under the carpet and that is what we are seeing once more in Alex Thompson’s report.

It’s widely that since our inception in 1888, almost universally acknowledged in fact, yet never spoken of and certainly never properly criticised or a notion discouraged in any way that Rangers v Celtic was a battle of proud, staunch, patriotic Presbyterian Scots v dangerous power seeking Catholic missionaries.

They feared a groundswell of free thinking minds would no longer fit in with a social demographic that they fiercely chose to support, the volume of troubled Irish immigrants and the Catholic church’s presence in Scotland somehow, bizarrely so, threatened their way of life and they sensed the Reformation Part II, they mobilised and they did so in strong shows of unity…if a light is ever shone upon the actual traditions of their club, be it the anti-Catholic signing policy or its entirely false declarations of love and devotion to Her Majesty, then one thing would reflect back brightly and for all to see;

The ‘We Are The People – Brigade’, the traditional guardians and leaders of their club, their entire social demographic, their secret societies, their Orange Order and their entire belief system would be open to condemnation and proved conclusively to be unwarranted.

More over, it would reflect brightly back upon those aiming the light upon this rotten sub-culture that’s still to this very day, largely denied (most vociferously so as well), hidden from view, active in recruitment and nurturing of its ‘faithful’ (particularly of those lesser minded individuals, who are easier manipulated and less inquisitive), militant in both its methodology and its application, intimidatory to outsiders.

The reason for all the above are what this Scottish sub-culture are hiding its deepest, most inner-most secrets, its members chose to bury their heads into the sand in order to plead ignorance to the matter. The matter is this;

They are secretly ashamed, embarrassed and in denial of their sub-cultures very real weaknesses…weaknesses of mind, of spirit and of actual faith, weaknesses of character, of dignity and of decency, weaknesses that have manifested themselves for hundreds of years, that have been passed on from generation to generation, that were enforced rigidly for fear of failure and that are borne out of not a sense of establishment, authority and of entitlement at all, but that were borne out of deep-rooted insecurities, jealousy, self-deprecation and unquestionable, unwavering and uneducated minds.

Today it is still very much the same falsified facade, the same tiresome pretence and the same level of unquestioning, unhealthy, uneducated and insecure mind that peddles, that practises and that refuses to see or to hear anything negative in light of its cultural indebtedness, immorality and arrogance.

To this very day, any such negatively shone light, is treated as if a declaration of war, an attack on the freedoms, the traditions and the moral righteousness of an entire religion, nation, social entitlement and a challenge to the independence of thoughts and of minds…that is why they seek to hush, through either intimidation or through propaganda, the great act of positively reinforcing ones belief through lies, exaggeration and through vetiginous bedamnment of the positivity of others.

‘Ra Peepil’ are today, just as insecure, unquestioning, uneducatable and unwavering in their blind faith of ‘traditions and values’…never questioning of the morality of their acts, the necessity of their aggression and their lack civility (I did want to say Seville-ity though).

It’s an age old situation that has afflicted this once proud nation, but since the Reformation there has been a constant campaign to discredit and denounce the faith and cultures of anyone who they perceive as to be either a threat or a counter-balance to their desired monopolistic presence in social significance.

What we see today with first Rangers, since with Sevco, is only a continuation of this childish fit of insecurity and of self-entitlement…it is a facade, an illusion and more importantly, one they choose to blindly swallow time and time and time again.

My concern is that people like Messrs McCoist, Green, Traynor, Graham and so many more have been able to continue and to promote, through public proclamations, the even more sinister undertone that accompanies their self-worthlessness…the Orange Order’s usual remit…and to enforce the sense of religious and social resentment and embattlement, to declare all others a threat and to in turn enforce hostility within what should be a civilised, modern and progressive society.

More pertinently, they were neither appropriately censored nor degraded as to have challenged this foul and unwarranted stigmatic scar worn so proudly by many in Scottish society today.

It seems to me that despite all the small steps taken to reduce the blight that is bigotry within society, it has been one step forward, two steps back and that any meaningful actions will be wholly contingent on the singular approval of a sub-culture who crave that power, who crave that attention and that notoriety and who are scared to not be at the vanguard of Scotland’s social significance.

Meaningful change is no closer today than at a time when having a signing policy that deprived Catholic persons of any significant place in the affection of ’the people’ and that excluded, alienated, marginalised and preserved the demonizing of anyone or anything not Scottish Presbyterian of birth-right.

Oh wait, Salt & Vinegar Walkers, green Pepperami, Eggs Benedict and green store signage…they too were deemed unacceptable threats to an entire religious zealot…one that sadly is far from being a minority within our modern day society thanks to the strangle-hold of an antiquated and subordinating cultural phenomenon.

Someone please shine a light upon this, lets take Scotland right out of its continual ‘dark-age’ state of mind.

The Hatred and threats of RFC PondLife

 The Hatred and threats of RFC PondLife  Posted by at 1:18 am  Anti discrimination Blogs, media, Scottish football, sectarianism, security  2 Responses »
Oct 272012
 

When will it end ? Will it ever end? Why has none of this stuff been investigated by the Scottish Media? Guys like Alex Thompson and Phil Mac Giolla Bhain both from outside Scotland have put their heads above the parapet of hate to tell a true story.

The latest is Gary Allan QC who I’ve never heard of in my life telling another true story.

So apart from investigating a football club and it’s illegal business practices what have these guys and it seems many others got in common?

They have all had police protection from Rangers supporters linked to the UVF and UDA.

And what has been the response from this vile bigoted club both Old and New “we don’t condone this” while at the same time their manager has directly put pressure on these dangerous underclass thugs to ‘find out who these people are’ when he knew full well who they were.

It’s time for Scottish football to stand up and kick this oldco/newco out of Scottish football. As for the money the police and Special Branch have had to pay out that should also be taken from the owners of Newco.

This interview below repulsed me.

‘Four Outrageously Misguided, Menacing & Defamatory Charges…Now Publish A Grovelling Apology’

 ‘Four Outrageously Misguided, Menacing & Defamatory Charges…Now Publish A Grovelling Apology’  Posted by at 8:22 pm  Anti discrimination Blogs, Celtic Banners, Celtic fans Views, media, Racism, Scottish football, sectarianism, SFA, The Green Brigade  4 Responses »
Oct 112012
 

I hope sincerely that today is a watershed moment in Scottish media history, in Scottish footballing history and in Scottish societies history.

Unfortunately I very much doubt it, indeed the only water I foresee being shed is a few tears of laughter from our fans, our people, our family.

On Tuesday 24th of July, Celtic lined up against Norwich in a pre-season friendly, that Tuesday night our fans filled Celtic Park with a unique atmosphere, a friendly encounter against our recently made Canary chums.

That fateful evening the Celtic support put on something of a spectacular display, albeit sadly not on the hallowed turf where the team succumbed to a boring one goal defeat, Grant Holt scoring the Canaries winner. No, this display was entirely off the field of play and in the North East corner of our stadium, where the Green Brigade unfurled a banner, now as spectacularly misinterpreted, misconstrued and misrepresented, as it was marvellously inventive and hilariously funny.

Without further a-do, I present to you the banner;

The banner, grossly offensive and clearly inflamatory…or so the SFA, the media and the living-dead would have had us believe.

The banner is clearly well-considered, well created and well…funny!

Hilarious, plain and simple.

They couldn’t quite appreciate the humour, they couldn’t quite applaud the sentiment behind such a great big ‘get it right up ye’ gesture to the institutional establishment that WAS Rangers, they couldn’t quite bring themselves to hear us cheer, to see us smile and more importantly they couldn’t quite accept that we held the moral high ground.

Now I have chosen not to comment upon this matter, not a single passage,nor sentence, nor even a phrase, has since been dedicated, or more accurately wasted upon the disproportionate fallout that then ensued….UNTIL NOW that is!

I have long-awaited this moment, at which my comments have some purpose and some credence firmly attached to them. I chose not to waste a breath nor a keystroke on the matter until either a ‘guilty’ or an ‘innocent’ verdict was returned.

Today, the latter, an innocent verdict was declared…with it rightfully a comprehensive and positive sense of vindication was also returned.

Oh how the establishments will hurt, their pride, their feelings and their reputations, must now be aching, throbbing and to be in dire need of some attention…nae surgery!!

The harm having been done may never be fully repaired, though to be perfectly honest, such is the low esteem the outside world must now have of our extremely ignorant, intolerant and oppressive footballing authorities, deceased neighbours and of the overwhelmingly vocal section our society…nae fabric.

Bigotry, petty jealousy, oppression and bullying are rife, indeed they are so well woven into our nations culture that they are surely recognised as the fabric of choice and to be considered as a fundamental and objectionable stance of the moral indignance and the unacceptably ugly face of many within a vociferous and backwards cross-section of our society.

Racism and bigotry is most certainly alive and well…the Scottish mainstream media play out the role of conductors in this very off-key orchestral performance.

The very fact that they rose to the bait and that they graced the back ‘sports’ pages to a very ill-conceived level of attention on a harmless and humorous banner says it all…they sell the nation short, they pedal the filth and the racist nonsense of the dark-days, they give it a platform, they shine a light upon it.

Yet they do so not to act on what’s really required, what’s really right or wrong, what’s morally and socially responsible…no instead they whip the baying hordes of maliciously intending madmen into a frenzy, a free-for-all and a fever-pitch of sectarian sick-mindedness, where of course they should indeed just whip and lash their backs, in lieu of punishment for their sickening and frankly absurd, out-dated and unacceptable behavioural incompetence.

The media love to stir up connotations of Irish-rebel foot soldiers, pro IRA activists and wannabe terrorist masses among our support, publishing and therefore endorsing or at least adding credence, by lending a voice to these outrageous sentiments and to the shockingly defamatory beliefs cycles and statements of so many,

I, sadly, am left in very little doubt that they would have further reveled in peddling the notoriety, the stigmatic scars and of perceived immorality among the Celtic support had institutions gotten its way today.

I hope I am very, very wrong…I fear I am more accurately ‘bang on’ however.

The sincere apologies of all who voiced their vicious and misguided allegations towards us, must now be heard…they are long overdue.

The very notion that the banner may have on any level been intended as a mass Celtic supporters act of unrepentant sectarianism and of proud pro-terrorist extremism is both offensive, narrow-minded and defamatory.

Indeed, as the charges would clearly have implied wrong-doing on behalf of the club it must ’ve been considered that the banner constituted a display of the utter ignorance and unacceptable condoning of such behavioural incompetence by our great, open and inclusive to all, football club.

In all, we the supporters and by association of our banners and of our cheeky gloating antics, Celtic Football Club, were charged, all-in-all, on four counts, .

The Compliance Officer has issued the following Notice of Complaint:

Alleged Party in Breach: Celtic FC Match: Celtic v Norwich City Date: 24th July 2012 Disciplinary Rule(s) allegedly breached:

(1) Disciplinary Rule 26 (Failing to take all such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure the good conduct and behaviour of Celtic FC supporters at Celtic Park during the above match: by failing to prevent said supporters from bringing into the ground and displaying an offensive banner.)

(2) Disciplinary Rule 28 (Failing to take all such steps as are reasonably practicable to prevent misbehaviour by spectators at the above match: by failing to prevent spectators from bringing into the ground and displaying an offensive banner.)

(3) Disciplinary Rule 31 ((i) Failing to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that policies and procedures have been adopted and implemented to prevent instances of Unacceptable Conduct: by failing to prevent spectators at the above match from bringing into the ground and displaying an offensive banner and; (ii) by failing to deal effectively with an instance of Unacceptable Conduct: by allowing spectators to retain possession of said offensive banner after it had been initially displayed, which allowed them to display the banner on a second occasion during the above match.)

(4) Disciplinary Rule 32 (Failing to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that supporters of Celtic FC did not engage in Unacceptable Conduct at the above match: by failing to prevent said supporters from bringing into the ground and displaying an offensive banner.)

Principal Hearing Date: Thursday, 11th October 2012

Celtic FC have until Thursday, 27th September 2012 to respond to the Notice of Complaint.

Rule 26: A club shall take all such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure the safety, good conduct and behaviour of its supporters on any ground. A club playing at its own ground or allowing its ground to be used for a match in which it is not participating shall also take all such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure the safety, good conduct and behaviour of all spectators at that ground.

Rule 28: Any misbehaviour by spectators before, during or at the close of a match resulting from the failure of a club or recognised football body to take all reasonably practicable steps to avoid the misbehaviour shall render that club or recognised football body liable to any combination of sanctions provided in this Protocol.

Rule 31: A club playing at its own ground or allowing its ground to be used for a match in which it is not participating must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, (i) good order and security; (ii) that policies and procedures have been adopted and are implemented to prevent instances of Unacceptable Conduct; and (iii) that any instance of Unacceptable Conduct is effectively dealt with, all at its own ground, on the occasion of a match.

Rule 32: Each club must ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that its players, officials, supporters and any person exercising a function for or in connection with the club do not engage in Unacceptable Conduct at any club’s ground on the occasion of a match. Any failure by a club to discharge a requirement to which it is subject by virtue of Article 28.6 and this Article 28.7 shall constitute a breach of these Articles.

Even in my lifetime, this appears to be a new and unacceptable low; in bringing forth this issue and in pandering to the real bigots of the piece, or to actually acting out the role of same, the SFA, the Rangers support and the media showed overtly, a newly heightened determination to tar us with an entirely undeserving reputation, to censor our joy, to oppress our voices, to criminalize our traditions, to alienate and to pigeon-hole our supporters, to criminalize our every word…to steal our freedoms, of speech and of mind.

Today I gladly say they failed!

Indeed the SFA who organised this sham of a charge sheet, who, when implored by the real bigoted extremists, pandered to their every whim, their every desire and in doing so, much like they did in the tri-colour flag scandal of old, they showed that real bigotry has manifested itself on corridors of power within our game, had today to make yet another embarrassing climb-down, they had once more to bow to the overt, the obvious and the utterly inexcusable miscalculation of proceeding to trial with our club, to going to war with our support, all the while being utterly dismissive of the even greater evils peddled by Mr Green and his bigot boys down Govan way!

Make no mistake, the SFA wanted our heads on a plate, they seek an opportunity to tear strips off our club and to censor us fans. Today was a close call but now their pride is once more hurting…their efforts to take us to task will now double, we must be mindful of that fact. We must make no mistakes, we must act righteously and in the best traditions of the club we hold dear.

I for one have long hoped to stamp out the utterly poisoned chalice, the utterly disgusting and the utterly embarrassing and uninformed ‘pro-IRA’ chanting, the illicit signing and the misguided political demonstrations of a minority within our great support.

Could this be a tipping point, a landmark moment and a watershed event in the cleansing of our, very few, sins…I sincerely hope so.

There would be no better way to fuck up a system than to not fall foolishly into its traps; they want us to fail, they want us to hand them the moral superiority we possess, they want all that they so far cannot reach…we must never let them oppress our voices, we must never concede our freedoms in a fool-hardy ‘GIRFUY’ moment.

We are the real people, the good folks and the morally compassed individuals, lets keep it clean, keep it legal and keep our voices be recognised, unlike them we have a footballing hymn sheet. So what do you say we ‘let the people sing’, our stories and our songs and the music of their native land? Lets not hand them any more reasons to cast doubt upon us all, we are football fans, Celtic fans, first, foremost and in entirety…the political bullshit has and will never define us.

There really is something inside so strong…morals! Now let ours never be doubted again through the actions of anyone in Celtics name. Hold our traditions and our morality dear…in it we have something no level of financial could ever buy…moral high-ground!!

I will now welcome the thoroughly expected and imminently delivery of mass public apologies…who’s big enough to kick it off?…C’mon seriously who’s first?!

Hail Hail

@CeltOnAMission

‘For The Intellectually Challenged’

 ‘For The Intellectually Challenged’  Posted by at 10:35 pm  Celtic fans Views, Football General, Scottish football, sectarianism, SFA, SFL, SPL  12 Responses »
Sep 092012
 

Yesterday was quite a challenging day for me, I had much personal and professional issues which were requiring of my fullest attention.

I did however manage to squeeze in a shortened tour of one of my favourite blog pages, ‘Random Thoughts Re Scots Law’ by the esteemed Paul McConville.

Whilst surveying Paul’s latest article, ‘The Corporate Entity is NOT Rangers Football Club, Unless Mr Green Tries To Sell Shares In It?’, I was forced due to time constraints to skim read over it. Even at that it was a damn fine read and contained a very reasoned, very articulate and as-per Paul’s usual, thorough approach, a very logical and detailed analysis of the subject matter.

http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/the-corporate-entity-is-not-rangers-football-club-unless-mr-green-tries-to-sell-shares-in-it/

I did however find myself drawn this evening to re-visit the article in order to fully appreciate its intricacies and to allow my thoughts a fuller level of provocation than my quick glance over yesterday could ever have permitted.

I, once more, found myself captivated by the ease at which Paul repeatedly breaks down a complex subject matter all the whilst dissecting it and expanding upon the legal ramifications or the legal complexities of it all. Yet Paul somehow makes the complexity of his thought far more palatable to his readers than any legal text-book ever could, he utilises his expertise in law and combines it with his enviable ability to communicate on a level more akin to most readers level of comprehension…he repeatedly breaks text down, phrase by phrase and the if the devil really is in the detail, then Paul makes damn sure to enlighten his readers to the otherwise covert intricacies therein.

Still though some people seem to struggle in comprehension of his very literal explanation…Paul will rarely if ever deviate from his serious and concise explanation and go on the kind of whimsical world tour that I more often choose to indulge upon.

For those people, a further drop in the required intellectual criteria must be found.

I say that, half as much in a tongue in cheek manner as I do truly mean it…so please calm down if you are one of the many readers of a McConville blog who may have wrestled with your comprehension of the subject matter or with the specific articles delivery.

My intended target for ridicule is not the average man who has on occasions struggled to connect with an issue of great complexity…it is the hard of thinking, the lazy or perhaps closed-minded individuals, the intellectually challenged.

Oh come on, the knuckle dragging, union jack flying, brain-dead, moronic and absurdly ignorant amongst the Rangers support. The kind of Rangers faithful who ‘conveniently’ choose to misinterpret even the clearest of terminologies and definitions…the kind of person who believes that liquidation is but another way of exiting administration with a company’s head held high and their status as a going-concern having been fully preserved.

For those intellectually challenged, I have another method of description as to what Paul was trying, and largely succeeding, to explain yesterday.

I will act as the intellectual, or lack thereof, buffer…I hope this is clear enough for them should you ever wish to explain the corporate structure of the newco to a ‘taken in’, wilfully fooled, prospective Sevco share-holder.

Paul quite clearly pointed out that Charles Green, if he chooses to list the newco on the stock-market, stands to generate quite a substantial level of funds…funds that belong to the corporate entity, which is not as Rangers fans keep telling us, their beloved Rangers Football Club.

The corporate entity, i.e. Charles Green and, in my words not Paul’s, Craig Whyte, stand to own the assets they purchased from the soon to be liquidated ‘holding company’ once owned lock, stock and barrel by Sir David ‘Moonbeams’ Murray…even in event of a sale of the separate, as defined by Rangers fans, footballing entity.

Rangers fans have indeed, and in very large numbers, subscribed to the theory that the football club and the corporate side are mutual friends, work partners but not co-dependant bodies.

Paul, quite cunningly, used the Russian doll analogy to describe their belief of a differential between same.

Still however, some people don’t or perhaps point-blank refuse to accept that Uefa laws, Companies House registration and standard corporate practice does not fully, or even to any degree, support their assertion that Rangers are the very same club.

I have decided that for myself Paul’s explanation is entirely correct and I would not choose to simplify most of the detail in his articles findings. His musings are by and largely as transferable in understanding as I could ever express them to a layman…all except one.

You see I think Rangers fans are so desperate to maintain their bond, their affiliation and their devotion to a club that they have chosen to be complicitly fooled and to buy into the theory that a transfer of SFA membership constitutes a tangible and full-proof legal acknowledgement of RANGERS and SEVCO being one of the same.

That is understandable, I and most Celtic fans who are being entirely honest with themselves, would recognise that we too would choose to favour any explanation, to seize upon any link and to create if necessary a fictional bond with a corporate identity if of course it ‘preserved’ our clubs history.

I don’t subscribe to a newco being able to purchase a history by merging, or more accurately ‘morphing’ into another altogether unrelated club or company. Take Clydebank for example…their share of SFA membership was purchased by Airdrie United, who of course we all know are emotionally connected with the now defunct and utterly consigned to history ‘Airdrie F.C.’…so if you were one of the Clydebank fans, is it feasible to say that Airdrie United in 1990, twelve years before their inception had actually reached a Scottish Cup semi-final.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clydebank_F.C.

Or perhaps East Stirlingshire can claim to be playing in the Scottish First Division right at this very moment, yes they have a position in Scottish Division Three along side Sevco, Rangers or whatever they are, but due to a year-long merger in 1964-1965, East Stirlingshire jointly became Clydebank FC…if East Stirlingshire fans were glory hunters, I’m sure they’d be convinced of their ‘real’ position in Division One.

Anyway, I digress.

The main issue that I see to show the hypocritical nature of the Rangers support is this controversial, and I must be totally honest, regrettable analogy, which has nothing at all to do with football;

In the early 16th century, Martin Luther, a Germanic monk and professor of theology looked to use his position of influence to reform the teachings of Roman Catholicism.

Martin Luther had no designs on dividing the faith, he merely wanted to dispense of certain liturgical notions of which he thought were not fit for purpose.

Later on in that century, a reformation swept across Europe, a division of the Roman Catholic faith, created by protesting Catholics, namely Protestantism was born.

Now apart from the very fact I am using this by way of comparison, I have no desire to further debate the theology behind the reformation and I am not in any way shape or form ridiculing anyone’s religion when I say, that by virtue of Rangers fans very casual form of acceptance that history is so utterly transferable, so factual, and so undeniable, I wonder how many of the ‘intellectually challenged bigots’ amongst their support would be willing to be told by ourselves and by every other clubs fans…that they are a ‘Catholic club’.

I am a diehard Celtic fan, I do not however subscribe to us being a ‘Catholic club’, or them being a ‘Protestant Club’…that is a nonsense, an absolute fallacy. A completely unhealthy one at that.

How many of the ‘knuckle-draggers’ would however take kindly to their staunch Protestant and deeply held bigoted beliefs and traditions being traced back to another moment in time and their entire ‘perceived’ existence being thrown into question.

After all, the silly side to their support were always proud to sing out loudly “up to our knees in Fenian blood” and they did so with the intent of being derogatory to Catholic persons.

Were they indeed being derogatory to themselves, well no not really, you see ‘Fenian’ refers to people of Irish Catholic descent and we all know just how anti-Irish this Germanic bunch of Catholics are…oops sorry ‘Protesting Catholics’.

Next time you want to explain just why a history cannot be taken as fact and the finer details ignored, just try asking a staunch, proud Presbyterian, Rangers fan if he wants to come with you and to take Holy Communion at St Mary’s R.C.

After the expletives, he, or she, will no doubt communicate in a reasonable manner just how offence your invitation is to their theological beliefs…at that point just point out how utterly undeniable the transfer of history actually is. Tell them that their religion is not real and that they are desperately misguided fools who know not what they preach.

After a massive strop has ensued and presuming they have not resorted to sectarian driven acts of violence, then perhaps you can calm them down and describe just how identical that particular transfer of history is, to Rangers/Sevco’s.

They will, by then no doubt calmly and reasonably, point out that the SFA transfer of membership is the crux of their reason…at that point strap on your body armour and your protective helmet, or be ready to seriously physically restrain their angry arses and  remind them that what they learn in the Presbyterian faith is a diluted version of Catholicism. Tell them their fore-fathers were either to convinced of Catholic merit or too damn lazy and unimaginative to create an entirely new religion and by virtue of transferring some 39 of the 46 Catholic scriptures the argument is fatally flawed.

Then if you dare you can remind them that the New Testament in both faiths, are identically taught…tell them they are just lazy Catholics and that they transferred the Catholic faith and therefore its history by using 39 of the 46 Catholic Old Testament scriptures.

If that isn’t a layman enough example of quite why history cannot be so conveniently traded regardless of the will and beliefs of others, then I don’t know what is.

Perhaps if still talking to you, you could then try to explain why a Rangers fan who buys shares in The Rangers, is actually buying shares in Sevco and that he owns a small piece of an absolutely new company, nothing at all to do with his football club.

If doing so however, stand back, their intellectually challenged head may just explode!!

 

Hail Hail

@brianbhoy07

 

Charlie Green and Bigotry

 Charlie Green and Bigotry  Posted by at 9:26 am  Football General, Scottish football, sectarianism, SFA, SFL, SPL  5 Responses »
Aug 162012
 

So Charlie green thinks that there is ‘bigotry’ and ‘agendas’ taking place against his beloved club, the club he’s love ever since he scrounged them off the scrappy, well Charlie all I can say is welcome to the world of the Celtic support for the last 50 years, seem old Charlie’s bought the wrong club to be coming out with this kind of patter!

One thing that has been different though is the ‘media’ (I use the term loosely) and their reaction to these attempts to enhance the victim status and circle the wagons within the rangers support, when Celtic fans(not our CEO, but imagine the reaction if he did!) complained of the same treatment to our club we were laughed at and derided in equal measure in the papers and on the radio.

I’m sure we all remember the playing of the x-files theme whenever a Celtic fan called up the now deceased real radio (who’s laughing now?) to be lampooned in the press and called paranoid from all and sundry, chants of ‘ITS A CONSPIRACY’ aimed at celts fans from every support in scotland yet poor old Charlie it seems is being taken at face value, well I say to Charlie chalk go and speak to a Celtic fan who’s watched Scottish football for the last 50 odd years about bigotry and agendas ‘coz you’ve been in the door two mins and have no idea what your talking about me old china!

From Farry-gate to Dougie-gate to the season of the honest mistake to bullets bombs and death threats, that’s REAL ‘agendas’ and ‘bigotry’ at work charlie. And while we are on the subject of fans lets talk about those who he covets so much, take a look at any message board and you will hear wild tales of Peter Lawell ‘placing’ Stuart Regan in charge at the S.F.A (hand picked is the term being used at the mo’) to being in cahoots with Neil Doncaster to run the SPL in favor of Celtic to my personal favourite that is ‘this is all just part of the catholic mafia’s secret agenda that they’ve been planning for years, get Catholics into high positions of power in banking,politics and such like then take over and form a ‘republic of Scotland’ of sorts’ Even opus die are in on it apparently going by some of the posts!

Wow! Is that not just breathtaking!
At least with Farry-gate etc we had FACTS and PROOF!

You tell me who’s ‘paranoid’
You tell me who deserves ‘its a conspiracy chants’.
You tell me who’s REALLY the tin foil hat brigade.
You tell me who’s the ‘tin foil loyal’ ©

Wee lubo

‘It’s Not Me, It’s You…It’s Complicated!!’

 ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You…It’s Complicated!!’  Posted by at 8:40 pm  Anti discrimination Blogs, Celtic fans Views, celtic football club, Celtic News, Celtic Supporters Clubs, Football General, Fun, General Blogs, media, Racism, Scottish football, sectarianism, SFA, SFL, SPL, Sport other, The Celtic Board, The Celtic Network, The Green Brigade  2 Responses »
Jul 312012
 

“We are a massive new club…we’re this big!”

 

It has become something of a cliché, but “it’s a funny old game” has rarely been more accurate a statement.

Celtic resisted all temptation to deliver a dose of verbal reality to both the Scottish mainstream media and to Sevco in the wake of another pantomime performance, nae a circus clown show by Mr Charles ‘mind bogglingly ignorant’ Green at the day weekend.

In the day that saw Sevco take their bow in front of a crowd of around 4,500 in Brechin’s Glebe Park stadium in a Ramsdens Cup tie, that of course may not yet be finished but more on that later, Mr Green took the opportunity to attempt and curry favour with the Rangers Football Club’s grieving fan base.

Ironically and if you share my sense of humour you may too have laughed at this, the crowd, at least all that could be seen on television cameras, looked largely to be full of Rangers tops and scarfs. 4,500, four and a half thousand, I’ll repeat that…FOUR AND A HALF THOUSAND fans within Glebe Park. From what we are led to believe that means every Sevco season ticket holder and some 3,000 or so extra squeezed into the ground to watch the team they want to wrestle control of, a team they so resolutely stated they would shun, in order to financially ‘starve out’ the owners, only a few short weeks ago.

They say a week is a long time in politics, to use yet another cliché, but it’s an altogether more lengthy affair in the goldfish like minds of a Rangers(R.I.P.) fan.

It seems the Teddy Bears fan club are quite easily manipulated, no surprise there then, and quite lacking in will-power and militancy of mind. These ex-Rangers fans seem to have been suckered in to not just supporting a ‘new’ club but to believing their owners simply risible and arrogant manner.

A few face-saving, cheaply aimed ‘us’ and ‘them’ type calls to arms and a recognisable sense of entitlement seems to have converted the brainless Govan contingent.

The performance on the park was as unspectacular and as lackluster as anything I recognised from the deceased Rangers ‘omnipotent’ era, the football, both in style and in substance, no more flamboyant or as cavalier as the 10-1 formation of Walter Smith.

The hatchet men too survived to see the transition from old to new, to assist in the metamorphose from caterpillar to something, if possible, even more laborious and indeed hideous. Ian Black will fit in well with his horrendous discipline record, his cowardly tackling and his greeting wee coupon and with news of Dean Shiels signing just confirmed, yet another coupon that could rival Ribery in the ugliness stakes has pledged his lack of footballing ambition to this newco.

All though from my Monday morning email, courtesy of stv.tv, you’d never have known…the headline read “Rangers thrash Brechin”…HONESTLY?! 1-1 in normal time and a tight 2-1 victory after 120mins, the propaganda knows no shame!

Off the park however, that’s where the real comedy show was. Alf Garnett would be proud of the quintessentially British whingeing and aspersion casting rant, it had a cross between Alf Garnett and Nick Griffin stamped all over it.

See Mr Green, not content with having already gotten away with murder, wants to publicly slate the victims families.

He rather ironically, arrogantly and pathetically tried to tar, with the same brush, the rest of the Scottish football inclusive of all it’s fans, as a bunch of bigots and small-minded fools. If only they done prizes for hypocrisy at the Olympics…Mr Green could break national, games and world records en route to a deservingly shiny gold coloured medal!

He decried everyone in positions of trust in our game as sub-standard businessmen, weak and misguided fools and hinted that they were corrupt and agenda driven individuals.

If Romanov had done half as much the papers would have slated him for each and every word of it, he would have been called for everything, he would have been labelled as an infidel, a racist and a madman.

Mr Green however wears the right tie, of which its colours they are fine, this makes all the difference to many within the narrow-minded mainstream media. He got away lightly and somehow they even took him seriously and they pandered to his desperate PR driven agenda.

After all several thousand additional fans just couldn’t stay away from the might Sevco’s first tentative steps in footballing history, a place they may soon be consigned to ironically enough.

He decried the SFA, he even applauded the bitter anti Uncle Regan chants, as if in full agreement and as if so involved in their emotional bond with a deceased club for whom they so obviously long for.

Another cheap PR stunt which only stands to ridicule what support his newco can gather, he treats them as foolish and gullible, he plays with their ‘questionable’ ethics and plays upon their non-existent intellect.

Was he finished there?!…hell no!

After making not so finely veiled allegations concerning the fair-mindedness of Celtic, he continued his nonsensical tirade by claiming the proud Celtic FC to have been incarnated three times and to have such a complicated corporate structure as to be less ‘Celtic’ than Sevco are ‘Rangers’…a tad misguided at least.

He knows how to evoke paper inches that is for sure, he knows how to provoke punishment clearly. He does so either to create a siege mentality or to provoke expulsion, either way he wants others to do his dirty work, the hard labour of it at least, for him. Add devious to the ‘ignorant’.

He finished the weekend on another high, well a low, but he was surely high when he said it. Mr Green then mocked, his targets seemingly the Scottish clubs, but as likely to have offended the many businesses, including one he will have no choice but to deal with again, queue HMRC.

He claimed the Sevco balance sheet to be an enormously healthy one, he declared them ‘proudly’ as debt free, he suggested financial successes where only right-minded folks can see failures.

He mocked the clubs he chose to, he did however attempt to placate his more immediate opponents, the SPL clubs. He did in fact lavish praise upon them and claimed them to be welcoming of a great institution, more forward thinking than the rest of us ‘fools’. Currying favour of minnows…how far the Sevco have fallen.

His team may also be standing, legally and regulatory wise, in rapidly sinking sands…quick sands if you will.

See they played the Brechin game as Rangers, they used the strips, the players, the name and the entire heritage, as ugly as that may be, of Rangers…only he couldn’t use their share of SFA membership. That particular swap was not fully approved, not legally anyhow.

That could very well be a problem for them sometime soon.

See Rangers, the oldco, the soon to be liquidated have the membership of the SFA, newco, Sevco, they want to ‘transfer’ that membership, they want the history, they want the entitlement, they do not want a new one issued in its own right…no, no, NO!

Did Rangers then play the game, or did Sevco, quite clearly it can’t be one of the same…remember Mr Green claimed our corporate position to ‘complicated’, he claimed the transfer of history, he claimed reincarnation however, to be seemless, simple and par of the course…strange that.

The SFA must be wondering just how often they can allow Messrs Green and McCoist to bite the hand that so lavishly feeds them, they must be getting quite impatient, they are after all being questioned, undermined and humiliated on a near daily basis.

Does Mr Green really want to be here long-term? With such short sighted-ness, I have my considerable doubts.

Hail Hail

@brianbhoy07

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