Are the Scottish FA & Rangers FC gutless in stamping out Sectarianism?

Sectarianism once again reared its ugly head this weekend as Rangers fans travelled down to London to watch their team take on Paris St. Germain and Arsenal in the Emirates Cup. However once again Rangers fans have shamed Scottish Football with their antics. This time its not about hooliganism, but once again their penchant for singing sectarian and racist songs at a football match.

Throughout the matches against PSG and Arsenal you could constantly hear the bile being spouted out by Rangers fans in the Emirates, singing the likes of The Billy Boys [which has been banned], the Sash [plus the add ons], b*g j**k k**w and The Famine Song [which has been deemed a racist song]. How can any Rangers fan justify singing such songs in a stadium that has no links to Celtic FC and yet whenever someone complains about such songs being sung, they claim it is all in jest and its just banter. Well the Judge who ruled over one William Walls’ appeal stated otherwise. It is not just banter and its certainly not songs that would get your club’s players fired up to be more determined in the game - in fact I bet the majority of the players would be sickened by the chants and the songs.

However with Rangers FC being a Protestant institution and according to Walter Smith, who was quoted in Graham Speir’s book on Paul Le Guen’s tenureship at Ibrox, “There is a Protestant superiority syndrome around this club . . . you can feel it.” Do the majority of those at Rangers actually want to weed out the sectarianism that is rife amongst their fan base? While Sir David Murray has actively campaigned during his years as Rangers Chairman to weed out troublemakers and the dregs of society who shame the club with their repertoire, is he the only one genuinely campaigning for it to be weeded out? He has been in charge for over 20 years and yet there are still a horde of fans singing sectarian songs, add ons to Simply the Best and the Sash, not to mention the sick and vile songs surrounding Jock Stein and the racist, The Famine Song. If everyone at the club was hell bent on weeding out the scum - why are they still there? And it certainly isn’t a minority as some would like us to believe.

Rangers have to their credit instituted campaigns such as, Pride over Prejudice and Follow with Pride over the years to combat the dregs of their support shaming the club, but as yet it is not making any headway into riding their club of those who love to sing such songs, not because its banter to them, but because they see such songs as an extension of being a Rangers supporter, of being a good Protestant man or woman.

If Rangers cannot control their fans, if Rangers cannot weed out the so-called football fans who sing such songs and shame not only their club but all of Scottish football, then maybe its time it was taken out of their hands.

Now the SFA and the Scottish Government have over the years backed campaigns such as Kick Out Bigotry and Nil by Mouth etc, but are we actually seeing a fall in sectarianism? or has it just manifested into a whole new issue that encompasses sectarianism, racism, inappropriate behaviour and hooliganism?

Rangers fans rioted in Manchester in 2007, what was done then to punish the supporters for their behaviour? Nothing. Rather than own up to responsibility of a few hundred fans within a reported 150,000 fans, the supporters groups blamed hooligans outwith the Rangers support. Yet with the evidence slowly building up since, we know the majority of those who have been charged so far are from Scotland and not as claimed from hooligans in Manchester or England. Did the Scottish Football Association come downhard on the club? No. The only government body to actually come out and condemn the behaviour of these so-called fans was Glasgow City Council, who apologised to Manchester for the violence. What were the SFA doing at the time? The likes of Messrs Peat and Smith, were they calling up Rangers to denounce the violence or were they having a wee tipple down in Manchester following a Scottish club in the UEFA Cup Final and turning a blind eye to the violence? Still to this day the likes of the Rangers Supporters Trust, the Rangers Assembly and such hate filled sites such as Follow Follow and Vanguagrd Bears, launch the blame squarely at the actions of the Police and not of their fellow Rangers fans - but yes thats right, it was Manchester and Chelsea hooligans wasn’t it?

Rangers had been warned by both UEFA and supposedly the SFA about their fans behaviour in recent years, and yet a pitiful fine from UEFA is all that has been handed out to the quintessential British club. They were slammed for the songs sung at Inverness a few seasons ago and warned by the SFA then, and yet towards the end of last season, F*** the Pope, u*f, u*f, f****n b*stards and such were being sung or chanted within Scottish football grounds. And what did the SFA do? Nothing. The song b*g j**k k**w has been sung for roughly two seasons now, which attacks the memory of one of the greatest Scottish football manager’s in our history, what have the SFA done about it? To one of their former employees who died while on duty with the Scotland National side in Cardiff? Nothing. What have Rangers Football Club to prevent their fans from singing such a song? A man who during the Ibrox disaster helped the injured and the dying from the stands alongside other Celtic staff, as well as the Rangers staff - have the Rangers support forgotten about this Great Protestant man who helped their fellow fans at a time when many more lives could have been lost? But thats right its all just banter isn’t it?

And the Famine Song - a song that the club itself called Police in for to discuss it being made an arrestable offence. A song that has been condemned by Scottish and Irish politicians alike, a song that has been deemed racist by notable anti-racism organisations in this country, including Give Racism the Red Card. But what has been done to stop the fans from singing this? The SFA have done sweet FA, the club have done sweet FA, the Police have done sweet FA also, it would be good to see their records on how many fans have been arrested over such songs to date. And what have Rangers FC have done about the fans singing the song? again sweet FA.

Its all well and good preaching about riding sectarianism, racism and bigotry out of football in Scotland. But it is all talk, and the workshops put on by organisations may prevent a few youngsters following in the footsteps of those fans before them, but in most who conduct such songs and chants, it is inbred. It passes down from Father to Son through the generations, and a system which just breeds more hate filled, vile thugs who infest our game.

Now I cannot claim that any club is holier than thou, but the majority of clubs who have had problems in the past or still do have some elements of troublemakers in the ranks, are actively weeding them out, that includes Rangers rivals Celtic FC.

Only recently down in England, four Spurs fans were fined and banned from attending football matches after admitting to racist and homophobic chanting aimed at Sol Campbell. 11 fans in total were charged with racist and homophobic chanting. But what has happened in Scotland? Very little to say the least. Is it okay for fans to sing songs that are Racist towards the Irish and yet its not okay if it was aimed at a black player? The claims that the Irish are not a race is just a feable attempt by a mindless horde who travel to games revelling in singing such songs, even more than seeing their club play and win. These sort of fans give football fans in Scotland a bad name and drag all of us down to the gutter alongside them.

This season will once again be overshadowed by such incidents of sectarianism, racism and bigotry - but what will be done about it? Will the SFA and the Scottish Government clamp down on the fans, the clubs? Will the clubs themselves finally weed all the scum out? Doubtful.

Such comments that are rife in certain Rangers forums, just prove to everyone that sectarianism is not a small problem, that its not a minority who are undertaking such behaviour, that it is instilled in the mindset of a lot of fans.

“Good to hear, along with TFO, and I hope they are sung when the domestic season starts. Time for the fans to stand up (or sing up) and be counted on this issue. Millions of us have sung TBB over the years whilst TFO is not sectarian in anyway. Watching Rangers is not the same without hearing TBB.”

“You sing TBB and the papes squeal. No surprise there, nor that their many friends will be penning indignant outrage in almost every gutter paper in the country. I say let the bastarts squeal and let their friends write their shyte - but keep on singing our songs. It’s what we should have done when it all kicked off, instead of being panicked by Murray and every jelly-spined do-gooder in the Rangers support. Seriously, fukk them all.”

“To this day I still find it hard to believe that our entire support stopped singing TBB without any sort of a challenge. I don’t know one bear who had a problem singing it before it was banned. Any great atmosphere anywhere Rangers played would involve tens of thousands singing TBB without any hint of shame, regret or embarassment. For decades it was our anthem on the terraces and in the stands. We all sang it and to stop it overnight made the support out to be hypocrites because it only stopped after someone decided it should be banned. I hope to hear it all season long.”

“Fantastic to hear it today, i hope we sing it even louder tomorrow and f–k the handwringers.”

“Basically the Billy Boys was banned because a shower of Bheasts and a maggot called Spiers claimed “f****n” means Roman Catholic. Lest we forget they worked so hard on this they even contacted the Oxford English Dictionary to have the definition changed.”

“One of my highlights of the day yesterday was belting out the Billy Boys. Haven’t seen the papers today but I’d be very surprised if the mhedia haven’t got a few things to say about it.”

“Was good to hear the famine song getting belted out and was i right in hearing the billy boys aswell.”

“Heard it loud and proud. It is not illegal to be a Rangers Supporter in England. Sadly it is devolution which is responsible for the sad situation we have here.”

And for all those thinking this is just another instance of a site attacking Rangers fans for nothing at all take a look at the following videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eTXzwd8PPM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLfhiNtyWrY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qYdbMwdgMg

Note to Rangers FC, the Police, the Scottish Government, the SFA and the SPL. The time for words have ended and now action must be taken - otherwise Sectarianism and Racism will not being weeded out of our game. Time for you to stand up and grow a pair.

Taken from Scotzine