Yesterday, before the news of Rangers getting into trouble with UEFA again broke, I was chatting to my best mate, a solicitor and Gers fan. Apart from that, he's an okay guy; at least his recent attendance at their last Europa League game puts him in a minority - Rangers fans who have actually bothered to go to watch their team play in the last decade.
He made the point that sectarianism is not really Scotland's "secret shame", the headline-grabbing but fairly meaningless quote used by former First Minister Jack "Flash" McConnell. Rangers fans are not really 24-7 haters of popery and catholicism, and Celtic supporters do not support the cause of the IRA and wish death on the royal family (there will, I suppose be some nutjobs who are the exception to this general statement).
"Sectarianism" is basically an excuse for a bunch of idiot thugs to goad each other, an excuse for them all to get tanked up and go out and beat the living crap out of each other, and, according to the police, their own wives and girlfriends as well. No, Scotland's "secret shame" is not religious hatred. Nor, despite my smartarse best mate's suggestion, is it George Burley. As any Scot will tell you, alcohol is the root of it all.
Just give me a moment while I climb down from my moral high ground...
Anyway, I must admit to surprise at the reaction from Ibrox today, with Chief Executive Martin Bain harping on about how Rangers have done everything possible to deal with the problem, and how everyone else sings nasty songs as well. The problem is that Rangers fans appear to be unique in travelling to Catholic countries, such as Portugal last month, and singing songs whilst there like Billy Boys, with its infamous line "we're up to our knees in fenian blood, surrender or you die". They also sing it loudly and proudly even in venues like Inverness, not just when they want to piss off the other half of the Old Firm.
As for dealing with the problem, Rangers must know who the people who buy the allocation of away tickets are and where they are sitting (or standing, as is often the case); I refuse to believe that, had they the motivation, they would be unable to identify these people and ban them from attending these matches. And whilst those with pure sectarian beliefs are likely few and far between, those who sing the songs are hardly a minority, as the background noise at the recent League Cup Final showed.
Let's get one thing straight; regular readers of this blog (hello, all three of you) know I try to loathe both halves of the Old Firm as equally as possible - like childhood vaccinations, they are unpleasant and cause discomfort but do appear necessary for the greater good. And so I will happily point out that Celtic supporters have a rather curious selection of tunes as well - I simply have less knowledge of what the lyrics are. I don't know why they belt out The Fields of Athenry and what a song about a famine in another country, 150 years ago, has to do with football; I am also aware that their version has been known to include lyrics about the IRA. But, for some reason Rangers can't fathom, UEFA don't care. Maybe it's because Celtic fans haven't caused so many problems before, like when Rangers were previously sanctioned for dodgy songs in Spain in 2007. Or because Celtic fans can go to European finals without wrecking the host city; just compare the parties in Seville in 2003 and the riots in Manchester in 2008.
Anyway, sectarianism isn't really the problem. The problem is the moronic thugs who cite it as their reason for kicking other folk in the head and who the clubs don't have the guts to tackle, and who are fuelled to the eyeballs by booze that the government don't have the guts to tackle. And so the problem goes on, and on, and on, to the point where I suspect that, to most people outside the country, it's the only thing about Scottish football that they know about.
L.
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