Donald Findlay appeals against the "why don't you go home?" song conviction

[Bluedell 5,614]

A Rangers fan, who was convicted of breach of the peace after singing part of the 'Famine Song' at an away game, has appealed against his conviction.

 

William Walls, 20, was found guilty of the offence, aggravated by religious and racial prejudice, at Kilmarnock District Court in December last year.

 

He was put on probation for 18 months and given a football banning order.

 

The song refers to a famine which killed an estimated one million people in Ireland during the 1840s.

 

Rangers FC has asked the team's fans not to sing it.

 

It includes the line, "The famine's over, why don't you go home?" which Mr Walls was seen to sing at the match.

 

Although he only sang that one line from the song, the police match commander told the original trial that fans who heard it would know the rest of the words.

 

'Nothing racial'

 

Mr Walls' defence counsel for the appeal, Donald Findlay QC, said his client had not committed a crime in singing the line.

 

"There is nothing at all that could in any way be said to be racist or racially motivated about those words," he said.

 

In her report to the appeal judges, Sheriff Iona McDonald said Walls was clearly aware of the impact of the song. The song was clearly racist, she said, as it referred to people of Irish descent being told to return "home".

 

Mr Walls, from Cambuskenneth in Glasgow, was sentenced for singing the song and shouting sectarian remarks during a match at Kilmarnock's Rugby Park last November.

 

The appeal was heard at the Justiciary Appeal Court in Edinburgh on Friday. Appeal judges said they would give a ruling at a later date.

 

Mr Findlay said the views expressed in the song were political, rather than religious or racial.

 

"This is not about whether the political element is logical, rational or justified - that is neither here nor there," he said.

 

Referring to remarks made by Mr Walls which led to the charges, Mr Findlay said: "The reference to '******' is not a religious remark. It is in fact a political observation.

 

"Its origin is entirely political and relates to the quest for a non-British, united Ireland."

 

Mr Findlay compared his client's actions to an English person singing a song to Scots about historic battles their country had lost to England.

 

"The individual would be perfectly entitled to express that view because it is a historical fact.

 

He added: "The people who over-reacted might be guilty of a breach of the peace, but not the person singing it."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8052569.stm

 

Some common sense at last.

[gisabeer 409]

Welcome back mr Findlay!

[ian1964 10,720]

Published: Today

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FORMER Rangers chief Donald Findlay yesterday told appeal judges that offensive terrace chant The Famine Song is NOT racist.

 

Instead, the QC insisted the controversial Gers anthem was purely “political” — and part of the usual banter between two sets of football fans.

 

Mr Findlay was speaking as he challenged supporter William Walls’ conviction for belting out the sectarian ditty and a series of hate-filled slogans at an SPL match against Kilmarnock.

 

But the defence lawyer claimed offending people is not a crime, adding: “This is a country noted for its right to free speech.”

 

Walls, 20, of Glasgow, has gone to the Justiciary Appeal Court in Edinburgh in a bid to overturn his conviction for racially and religiously aggravated breach of the peace.

 

He was banned from all matches for two years after repeatedly yelling “****** b*******” and “f*** the Pope”.

Abuse

 

The yob was also heard singing the chorus, “The Famine is over, why don’t you go home” — a reference to the Irish potato famine which killed millions.

 

Crucially, he became the first person found guilty of sectarian crimes for singing the line.

 

But yesterday Mr Findlay said: “There is nothing at all that could in any way be said to be racist or racially motivated about those words.

 

“It is in my submission an expression of political opinion. This is not about whether the political element is logical, rational or justified. That is neither here nor there.”

 

The QC insisted there was no evidence anyone in the Rugby Park crowd had been upset by Walls’ singing last November.

 

Findlay told the appeal judges a football match was “an organised breach of the peace”.

 

He said for many supporters “an exchange of pleasantries in the form of abuse is part and parcel of going to the game”.

 

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Walls was hit with a football banning order and 18 months’ probation at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last November.

 

Yesterday senior appeal judge, Lord Carloway, said: “We will issue a decision as soon as possible, after the Cup Final.”

 

Mr Findlay has himself been at the centre of sectarian rows.

 

Two years ago he faced a Faculty of Advocates disciplinary hearing over a gag about the Pope at a Gers supporters’ bash.

 

He quit as Ibrox vice-chairman in 1999 after he was caught on video singing The Sash.

 

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scot...cle2431963.ece

Edit/Delete Message

[Bluedell 5,614]

He quit as Ibrox vice-chairman in 1999 after he was caught on video singing The Sash.

Incorrect. It was TBB.

[calscot 0]

Not the only thing wrong there. The famine did not kill, "millions of people", at most it was a million.

 

The song does not "refer to the famine", it actually does the opposite and refers to the current NON-famine.

 

Findlay has not been at the centre of sectarian rows, one incident was pure humour and hardly offensive and the other was the Sash - a non-sectarian song, a which is only controversial due to certain highly sectarian people being somehow offended by it.

[Bluedell 5,614]

Not the only thing wrong there. The famine did not kill, "millions of people", at most it was a million.

 

The song does not "refer to the famine", it actually does the opposite and refers to the current NON-famine.

 

Findlay has not been at the centre of sectarian rows, one incident was pure humour and hardly offensive and the other was the Sash - a non-sectarian song, a which is only controversial due to certain highly sectarian people being somehow offended by it.

 

I'll repeat again. It wasn't the Sash. it was the TBB.

[JMS 0]

I'll repeat again. It wasn't the Sash. it was the TBB.

 

 

And I will say in response it was the SASH.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/scottish_premier/357392.stm

[John Barr 0]

I think Donald Findlay makes some excellent arguments in defence for this lad.

 

Theres no doubt the lad is a bit of an arse, but this kind of public crusifiction for anything Rangers, and incorrect reporting of events is just a feeding frenzy for the public gullible enough to believe half the rubbish printed in the crap we call 'newspapers'.

 

Well done to the guys who put this topic on Gersnet, it shows not everyone is not up to scratch with the mhedias reporting!

[Bluedell 5,614]

And I will say in response it was the SASH.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/scottish_premier/357392.stm

 

It WAS the Billy Boys:

 

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/article1937649.ece

 

I've seen the video and it was TBB and it was this that he was criticised for singing. What is wrong with the Sash anyway? Why would he have to resign because of that?

 

I remember all the reporting at the time and he was criticised for the "Up to our..." line, and that is why he resigned.

 

This is just an attempt by the BBC to criminalise the Sash.

[Frankie 8,552]

It was TBB on the video I seen...

 

But the BBC reported the songs as the Sash and Follow Follow at the time as well.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/scottish_premier/357392.stm