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.

“a permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace”

 “a permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace”  Posted by at 12:05 am  Celtic fans Views, Scottish football, SFA, SFL, SPL  No Responses »
Jul 302012
 

Well it never took long for the ‘new’ Rangers to disgrace themselves. One match against Brechin City was enough to introduce a club in the lower divisions to sectarian songs and banners regarding paedophilia something the ‘new’ Rangers seem to feel is worth making fun out of.
Charles Greens remarks about bigotry were both ill advised and inflammatory.
We should not be surprised by Mr Greens remarks as we have been treated to a multitude of threats and intimidation over the past while from McCoist, Jardine and ‘Bomber’ Brown.
To me there is only one decision the SFA have to take and that is whether Scottish football need this club and it’s supremacist and threatening attitude.
Unfortunately as we have seen by the provision from the SFA of an unprecedented ‘temporary’ licence they are more than willing to help Sevco to become members of the SFA.
Sadly Ian Archers words ring true today as they did in The Herald some decades ago. “As a Scottish football club, they [Rangers] are a permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace. This country would be a better place if Rangers did not exist.”

Disgusting Racism from Hearts Supporters

 Disgusting Racism from Hearts Supporters  Posted by at 9:59 am  Celtic fans Views, Racism, Scottish football, sectarianism, SFA, SPL  16 Responses »
Apr 172012
 

Since the start of The Celtic Network we have formed a close working relationship with Maley’s Bhoys forum and over that time I have been fortunate to meet Frank the creator of the site. I can testify to the fact that Frank is a very honest and decent guy. Yesterday he contacted us to ask if we would publish an article he was planing to release on the Maley’s Bhoys forum in the hope that he could reach as wide an audience as possible.

We were more than happy to agree and I’m glad to say that the article has had over 8,000 views on Maleys bhoys. However regardless of that we are more than happy to stick by our promise and publish the article on TCN.

The article shows the under belly of the vile Hearts support, a support that I have always considered as being worse than the Rangers support when it comes to overt racism and bigotry. This article backs up that assertion

Important:Before anyone reads this article, I must highlight that it is not suitable for children, and that some of the slurs within it (even when ***’d out) are quotes, in context, that I feel need to be shared. At Maley’s Bhoys, we are, and will always continue to be, fully opposed to any sort of racism. I only use these quotes as I feel this sickening story needs to be told, and because we should not ignore what some people in this country seem to believe is acceptable. This article has been read and approved prior to publishing by the individuals mentioned within it. Thank you.

Seven years ago, almost to the day (10th April 2005), Celtic faced Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Cup semi final, at Hampden Park, Glasgow. In fact, the score, 2-1, read the same as it did yesterday, except for the fact it was the other way around, with Celtic progressing to the final that day. However, this is not an article about football; this is an article about what surrounds football, in “the best wee country in the world”.

A little over a week previous to that tie, Pope John Paul II, the leader of one of the world’s largest religions, sadly lost his life at the age of eighty four. As a mark of respect, the Scottish Football Association decided there would be a minute of silence held for the late Pontiff before each of the weekend’s semi-finals. The silence held at the first semi final, played on Saturday between Dundee United and Hibernian, was observed very well by both sets of supporters.

Sadly, the next day, the minute’s silence was ended by referee Stuart Dougal after approximately twenty seconds; such was the noise being generated within the sections of the stadium which housed the Hearts supporters. This disruption was not generated by a few “drunken hooligans”, but, by all accounts, by thousands upon thousands of Hearts supporters, booing, whistling, and waving their scarves above their heads. Despite claims from Hearts Chief Executive, Phil Anderton, that only a “small section” of their fans were responsible for the interruption, this was a show of racism and bigotry ‘en masse’ from the Tynecastle club’s supporters. For the record, only six arrests were made that day for “sectarian hate crimes”, but I digress.

In light of this embarrassing incident, Mr Anderton (correctly) wrote to both the SFA and Celtic Football Club to express his regret and apologise for the manner in which some Hearts supporters acted that day, stating “We are trying to generate an atmosphere where families are happy to return to football grounds”. Clearly, Hearts have not had much success in controlling some of their supporters, as last season Celtic saw their manager, Neil Lennon, attacked by a Hearts fan on the touchline at Tynecastle after a Celtic goal.

Now, if I may fast forward your mind to the present day, and the incidents this article relates to. Yesterday, Celtic lost 2-1 to Heart of Midlothian. Congratulations to the Edinburgh side in this regard. It sets up a mouth watering tie between themselves and their city rivals, Hibernian, in the Scottish Cup Final in May.

However, sadly, this is where my praise for Heart of Midlothian Football Club ends today. Tens of thousands of supporters visited the national stadium yesterday, and while many will remember a fairly dreary game where their team lost, or an exciting game which their team won, there are some people who will not remember yesterday for the football.

Akbar and Haaris are not names any of you will know. They are the names of two young Celtic supporters, aged fourteen and twelve respectively, who attended their first football match yesterday, at Hampden Park. Along with their older cousin, Josh (18), his little brother Saif (15) and their older cousin Shumsad (28), they travelled to the semi final filled with excitement, because Josh had “hyped them up to believe that seeing Celtic really is magic”.

However, before the group, including the two youngest Bhoys, had even reached their turnstiles at Hampden Park, they were subjected to some truly Draconian abuse from Hearts supporters. Josh describes walking along the road towards the stadium, a street filled with a mixture of both Celtic and Hearts supporters. As he held Haaris’ hand, guiding him through the mass of bodies, he tells how Hearts fans were jumping in front of their group, shouting (amongst other insults), “Fenian B******s” and “Rule Britannia! F**k Ireland! Go Back Home!” At one stage, a Hearts supporter even attempted to grab one of the group’s scarves and spat at them.

Thankfully, once the party managed to merge themselves in with a larger group of Celtic supporters, they continued to the ground with only the occasional slur being thrown their way. Around the same time yesterday, before the match itself, another Celtic supporter, Karen, walked to the ground from the nearby train station.

Once again, on a street she describes as being “50-50” in terms of supporters allegiances, chants of “Championees” from Celtic fans were met by chants of “Dirty Fenian B******s” and the Tynecastle adaption of that well known anthem of peace and love, the “Billy Boys”. Continuing their open minded songbook, they proceeded to sing about the child abuse that happened decades ago at Celtic Boys Club, and make what appeared to be Nazi salutes. All this, while hundreds of children (supporters of both sides may I add), were within earshot, innocently heading to watch a football match.

As a “very reasonable older man and his wife” complained to the police about the sectarian chanting, they were told to “move on” by officers who instead decided to book someone for walking along the street with an open can of beer. There were also reports of street vendors selling T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Oh the Hibees Are Gay” and, unsurprisingly, similar incidents involving sectarian singing from the Hearts support during, and after, the match.

It was only after telling me all of this that Karen mentioned she had attended the match with her young nephew, and while describing herself as “a far from overly sensitive person”, she admitted she felt unsafe for him on a couple of occasions yesterday. Plainly, this is totally unacceptable.

Now, sadly, we return to the first group of people we spoke about. After watching Celtic lose to a resilient Hearts side, Josh and his family began what should have been a “ten minute walk home”. The young Bhoys had enjoyed the game itself, especially singing with the rest of the Celtic support, but this was all to change as (once again) they found themselves the targets of abuse from Hearts supporters.

Once they had left the stadium, Josh and his relatives walked towards the end of the ground which had housed the Hearts support. As they walked amongst the Celtic support, the larger group as a whole were the subject of laughs and shouts, but this was to become much more personal only moments later. As they turned onto another road, now walking past Hearts supporters heading in the other direction, Josh says “then it started”.

When Josh says “it”, he means racist abuse. As the cries of “P**i Fenian B******s” and “F***ing C***s, Go Back Home You P**i B******s” rained down upon the group, Josh described how one man jumped in front of Haaris and shouted “P**i B*****d” in his face. Now, just consider that for a second. What sort of person (let alone an adult) think it’s acceptable to jump in front of a twelve year old child and scream racist abuse in his face? I’ll tell you; a moronic, bigoted, racist individual who should be locked up for their crime…and in this case, this individual (who must have been incredibly brave to take on a twelve year old) was also a Hearts supporter.

Clearly, some Hearts supporters don’t celebrate in the same way as the rest of us football fans. While he could have been singing his team’s praises and relishing a historic semi final win for the underdog, he decided instead to scare the life out of a child, who posed absolutely no threat to him whatsoever.

As Josh gripped Haaris’ hand and attempted to guide him through the crowds, he says “there was nothing more he could do”, other than to grip his little cousin’s hand tighter and attempt to get out of the situation they found themselves in as quickly as possible. As they eventually found their way out of the crowds, and the racist slurs subsided, the group took a different route home from that they normally take, and arrived home around half an hour after they left the ground (keep in mind this was meant to be a ten minute journey).

Josh assures me that they are all ok after their ordeal, but that the younger Bhoys are, understandably, shocked by what they experienced. I could only despair when I heard this story after the match yesterday. It shocked me, utterly, but in a sad way, did not massively surprise me. This “One Scotland, Many Cultures” slogan that is banded about is a great ideal. People should be able to live in a country with each other without fear of persecution, regardless of what colour their skin is, regardless of what religion they follow (if indeed they choose to follow one), and regardless of what football team they support.

Today, in the newspapers, we will all see stories of how “Celtic Bottled It” and “A Gritty Hearts Performance Sent Their Support Into Raptures”. What we will not see are stories like those I have written about, and in truth, these are far more important any football match.

I remember my first Celtic match vividly. Celtic beat Aberdeen 3-0 at Celtic Park in 1997, with two goals from Jorge Cadete, and one from Simon Donnelly. Very few people remember that match, but I do, like it was yesterday, because it meant so much to me.

These Bhoys will not look back on their first match with a tinge of unhappiness because Celtic were beaten, but because they were subject to clear, repeated, vocal racist abuse that went totally unpunished. It is a sad reflection not only on the Hearts support, but on Scottish Society as a whole.

Oh, and while I remember, I should mention the saddest things of all. The abuse directed at these people from the Hearts supporters did not come just from the stereotypical “drunken hooligans”, but from men and women, young and old. Also, had yesterday been another day, and if he had not have been at a friend’s birthday party, Josh’s youngest brother, Kess (11), would have been there too.

Imagine if that was your son or daughter, niece or nephew or cousin, whoever you support. Just imagine how you’d feel. Welcome to Scotland, 2012, the “best wee country in the world”.

A guide to Twitter Violations and reporting Violations

 A guide to Twitter Violations and reporting Violations  Posted by at 2:39 pm  media, sectarianism  2 Responses »
Feb 282012
 

A guide to Twitter Violations and reporting Violations

Twitter is probably the best social media platform I have used to date. No rambling posts, a good community platform and messages are short and sweet allowing for better interactions between users. Unfortunately, like all social media there are those who use it to dole out vile abuse.

To combat this Twitter has some clear lines in terms of what they perceive as a violation of user rights.

The Twitter Rules

  • Impersonation: You may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse, or deceive others
  • Trademark: We reserve the right to reclaim user names on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim or trademark on those user names. Accounts using business names and/or logos to mislead others will be permanently suspended.
  • Privacy: You may not publish or post other people’s private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission.
  • Violence and Threats: You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others.
  • Copyright: We will respond to clear and complete notices of alleged copyright infringement. Our copyright procedures are set forth in the Terms of Service.
  • Unlawful Use: You may not use our service for any unlawful purposes or in furtherance of illegal activities. International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content.
  • Misuse of Twitter Badges: You may not use a Verified Account badge or Promoted Products badge unless it is provided by Twitter. Accounts using these badges as part of profile pictures, background images, or in a way that falsely implies affiliation with Twitter will be suspended.

 

Please note the highlighted paragraph on Unlawful Use :  We recommend that from the  March 3rd  2012 if you live in Scotland and make a complaint regarding Sectarian or racist posts or posts containing threats that you explain to Twitter staff that these types of posts are illegal under the  ‘The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland)’.This should ensure that all accounts breaking this law are closed down.

 

How To Report Violations

The Twitter Trust & Safety team responds to potential violations of the Twitter Rules and Terms of Service. Using the information below, find out what constitutes a violation, and what information you’ll need to provide to get the quickest resolution to a problem.

Here’s what we’ll require when you file a report:

  • Your Twitter Username
  • A detailed description of your issue
  • Direct links to any Tweets you’d like us to review (to find the direct status links to individual Tweets, see our help page.)

Each policy page below has more information on the reporting topic and submitting a support ticket request.

Policy Issues

Spam and System Abuse

You can report spam directly from the user profile page; find out how on the Reporting Spam on Twitter help page. The Twitter Rules describes what behaviors indicate spam. If you’re experiencing an issue of spam or malware that’s impacting your ability to use our service, please file a support request.

We hope this helps you to make complaints regarding law breaking accounts.

Institutional Sectarianism in Scotland ?

 Institutional Sectarianism in Scotland ?  Posted by at 4:00 pm  media, sectarianism  1 Response »
Oct 112011
 

We picked up a tweet by @FACKilltheBill today which contained a link to an article on the Scottish Law Reporter blog. It appears that the statistics for sectarian attacks in Scotland since 2003 have been destroyed by the Crown office.

These are the very statistics that Alex Salmond assured the Catholic church would be released in order to show the true nature of sectarian attacks since 2003. It is believed that the Statistics would show that the majority of victims of sectarian attacks were Roman Catholics and that the vast majority were surrounding Orange parades  and NOT football games as the Police would like us to believe.

Once again this reinforces the view that the current anti football fan bill making it’s way through Parliament is a nonsense as it would appear that the majority of sectarian offences have nothing to do with football and everything to do with the intolerance of the Roman Catholic faith in Scotland.

The fact that these statistics were destroyed by the Crown office should raise many questions not only from the public but from MSP’s as well. However the main question that should be asked is. “Is this evidence of Institutional Sectarianism in Scotland”?

You can read the blog here http://scottishlaw.blogspot.com/2011/10/sectarian-scotland-cover-up-crown.html

This Bill will do nothing to address the root cause of sectarianism. The problem runs through Scottish society like a cancer.

 

 

%d bloggers like this: