Press Release from meeting of Rangers Supporters Clubs

[Frankie 8,843]

First of all, I'd like to thank Bluedell for attending on behalf of this website and the Nithsdale RSC for going to the time and effort of organising this project.

 

Being on holiday over the last few days myself I've not had a chance to speak with BD yet but I'd fancy the actual content of the meeting may not reflect the statement overly accurately. From experience I know it's not always easy to succinctly describe such events whilst also not giving away strategic plans for the future.

 

Suffice to say then, while I agree the statement wording is less than clear, I'm strongly of the opinion that the event will prove more fruitful going forward. Not just in terms of exploring how we ensure we're not penalised further by what is clearly an already well-rehearsed and practised targeting of our club but indeed, how we expose this sham for what it is. Not to mention ensuring other clubs and supports are treated in the same way.

 

Finally, I don't blame anyone for being somewhat suspicious of motives and who may or may not be involved. However, we can either continue to perpetuate divisions or try to move on irrespective of past differences. I'm confident that the guys involved with the Nithsdale will help avoid personality problems and facilitate a 'neutral' position on any agreed actions.

 

I look forward to finding out more and I respectfully suggest we all show a bit of patience before writing off the kind of united supporter dialogue we've all requested in recent times. It may not be perfect but it's a start.

[Guest David]

Would like to see minutes released detailing exactly what was discussed.

 

I saw on FF that GMS posted the statement (before all other forums got hold of it??) and repeatedly stated in the thread a couple of banned songs, but left the songs off of the actual statement... To me that suggests the people behind the statement are trying to curry favour with the press by making out its a lot more songs that are banned than what the true figure actually is.

 

The whole thing to me screams "Damage limitation" than "Time to face our enemies head on"...Which is rather disappointing, as I had high hopes for it.

[Frankie 8,843]

Would like to see minutes released detailing exactly what was discussed.

 

I saw on FF that GMS posted the statement (before all other forums got hold of it??) and repeatedly stated in the thread a couple of banned songs, but left the songs off of the actual statement... To me that suggests the people behind the statement are trying to curry favour with the press by making out its a lot more songs that are banned than what the true figure actually is.

 

The whole thing to me screams "Damage limitation" than "Time to face our enemies head on"...Which is rather disappointing, as I had high hopes for it.

 

I believe the statement was posted on most forums at the same time - we were slow here as the forum was down earlier.

 

I must admit I'm surprised the statement doesn't make clear what seems to be obvious from any debate on the subject. The problem though is that the authorities are less than clear themselves when it comes to discussing the subject - either prevaricating or referring to context dependence. Ergo, it may have been the meeting preference not to highlight anything that they are currently unsure on.

 

Like I say, I recommend a bit of patience here.

[Zappa 0]

The whole thing to me screams "Damage limitation" than "Time to face our enemies head on"...Which is rather disappointing, as I had high hopes for it.

 

Without an initial plan to limit damage there is no way to face our enemies head on. You can't fight a battle with weak defences. Traditionally the best fortification has been built on high ground. In our case it needs to be built on morally high ground.

[Guest David]

No, I totally agree TBH...I think its just because everyone had so much faith in it we were expecting an "All guns blazing" first statement but can totally understand.

 

There is certainly a few things that have set alatm bells ringing but I obviously hope it transpires that its something we can all back.

 

(I was sure the forum thing was correct, but fair do's regardless).

[ian1964 10,831]

Hopefully the meeting is a starting point and if it can continue then the strength will grow amongst the fans groups to take the fight on,I only wish the club was doing a bit of fighting for the fans.

[Tannochsidebear 2,481]

I will try to address some of the points made in this thread so far as I was one of the organisers involved in setting up the meeting and the release of the statement.

 

The meeting itself had a lot of discussions and covered a lot of topics. The full minutes are probably going to be released tomorrow morning to the people who attended, and who couldnt attend but wanted to be kept involved.

 

The difficulty in getting the Police to issue a banned list is that if they put down a list of 10 songs, it then says that the other songs are allowed, when a court of law may decide otherwise, and the Police dont want to get caught in the middle, so they will only deal with the phrases/songs/add-ons that they know can be prosecuted because the courts have already done so. If you really need it spelled out for you, any songs that have F----n B------s in it has to go, as does any reference to FTP, and The Famine Song also. There is no point discussing the rights and wrongs of wether it is fair that these are banned, and no point saying what about the IRA songs, we can only deal, and advise our fellow bears, based on the law as explained to us by the Match Commander and backed up at a seperate meeting by our own legal expert, a Rangers fan through and through who is just as sick of things just now as we all are.

 

This would therefore include songs The Billy Boys, The Famine Song, Super Rangers, to name but three and also any FTP add-ons must go. Super Rangers has not been banned itself, but the phrase F----n B------s would need to be changed to avoid this getting us into trouble.

 

Lets not forget if we do get our act together our enemies are not going to say well done and leave us alone, they are going to get desperate, as we have seen already with their pathetic attempts to claim offence from Penny Arcade and The Bouncy, but if we are able to cut out the songs that get us into trouble from which we have no defence, you can bet that we are going to go looking for them, and also are going to stoutly defend our rights, heritage and traditions to follow our teamas we see fit, within the laws.

 

The statement issued outlines only the beginnings, as if we dont get our own act together and eliminate the minority who continue to get our club and the support into trouble, we have no ground to stand on to fight back.

 

BTW the statement was issued to all media contacts at the same time, and the Assembly website was first to publish it, with FF and RM very closely behind. All these forums (and Gersnet of course) have been very helpful so far and there are no forums or websites getting preferential treatment, I can assure you of that.

[ian1964 10,831]

RANGERS supporters clubs are urging their members to clean up their act and take action among themselves to deal with sectarian singing.

Delegates from over 80 Rangers supporters clubs, who met in Glasgow at the weekend, said "self-policing" was the most effective way of getting the message across to the "minority" of fans they said were damaging the club's reputation.

 

They cited the Show Racism the Red Card campaign dealing with racism in football as the type of action which could be adopted.

 

The clubs claim such a strategy could be used in conjunction with the range of measures already taken by the football club itself, such as using CCTV cameras to identify, arrest and eject fans guilty of sectarian singing and removing season tickets from offending fans.

 

But critics maintain that the large number of fans involved in sectarian singing mitigates against "arresting your way out of the problem" and said the club should do more to remove season tickets from offenders.

 

However, while the fans' initiative was welcomed by anti-sectarian campaigners and Rangers, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said there was a danger of portraying sectarianism as a problem solely associated with football.

 

The "self-policing" initiative follows a decision by Uefa, European football's governing body, to fine Rangers and ban fans from attending their next away game in Europe after finding them guilty of discriminatory behaviour.

 

The action relates to both legs of Rangers' Europa League tie against PSV Eindhoven in March in which there were accusations made that a number of fans sang sectarian songs.

 

Rangers were ordered to pay �£35,652 in addition to the away ban, while a second veto on travelling fans, an order to play a home match behind closed doors and a further 40,000 euros fine were suspended for three years.

 

A statement released following the meeting at the weekend which included representatives from board members of the Rangers Assembly, the Rangers Supporters Trust, (RST) and the Rangers Supporters Association, read: "It was agreed that any songs with references to sectarian chanting as outlined by the police and the courts must go now and remain gone.

 

"We accepted that there is still a problem amongst a minority of our support, and while we are certainly not the only club with an offensive singing problem, we are the only ones being highlighted at present and whilst we need to clean up our own act we insist all supports must be treated the same."

 

A spokesman for the RST said: "We intend to look at the strategies other football clubs have used to deal with issues.

 

"For example, racism was addressed by involving the players, the managers, the fans, having messages on the programmes and educational outreach work.

 

"But we also need an attitude change to create an environment that it is unacceptable to sing sectarian songs.

 

"We don't have sectarian ghettoes in Glasgow and we want to get across to fans that they need to behave in the same way at matches as they do in their own communities or workplace.

 

"If anyone came out with songs like that at work they'd soon have their P45, and that's the way it should be at football matches too."

 

The spokesman added: "But Rangers fans can only do so much. What we need is a more honest debate about what sectarianism is all about."

 

A spokesman for Nil By Mouth, Scotland's biggest anti-sectarianism charity, said: "This is an important step in the campaign to eradicate the scourge of sectarianism from Scotland.

 

"It is absolutely right that people acknowledge there is a serious problem which must be dealt with immediately and self-policing is one of a range of effective measures to confront and tackle the issue. Sectarian chanting in any public forum is against the law and Nil By Mouth urges supporters of every football club to face up to and challenge this societal menace."

 

A Rangers spokesperson commented: "We welcome all initiatives to help eradicate sectarian singing at matches and the commitments from the supporters' meeting demonstrate that the vast majority of our fans understand the situation."

 

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said: "Sectarian behaviour is unacceptable at any football match and will not be tolerated by Strathclyde Police."

 

However Peter Kearney, director of the Roman Catholic Media Office in Scotland, said there was a need to look at the wider context of a problem which had existed in Scotland for hundreds of years

 

"What happens at football in Scotland is a symptom of sectarianism, not the cause.

 

"If we use the behaviour of fans as a barometer of this problem then a period of improved behaviour could mistakenly lead us to believe the problem was solved.

 

"In reality the problem of sectarianism is a much wider and deeper problem in Scotland than that of the behaviour of football fans."

A spokesman for the Celtic Supporters' Affiliation said: "We do not wish to comment on the decision taken by the Rangers' supporters clubs as it has nothing whatsoever to do with us."

 

http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Rangers-fans-39to-police-themselves39.6762118.jp?articlepage=2

[Tannochsidebear 2,481]

A typically warped article by an unknown author in a rag with plenty previous against us.

 

Why on earth, in an article about a statement by Rangers fans trying to get themselves sorted out, does the author go to the celtic supporters rep for comment, or the Catholic church, or even the untrustworthy NBM, if it was not a desperate attempt to take the statement in another direction.

 

Thank goodness I dont waste money buying such tripe.

[chilledbear 16]

Do they want us to succeed with this ?

 

Perhaps the light would be shone on the true causes of sectarianism.