Bill McMurdo - Sporting Fairness v Sporting Integrity

[ian1964 10,625]

As a Rangers fan, I have never understood what it means to be Celtic-minded.

 

Just this week, being sellic-minded means rushing out, presumably in oneâ??s Celtic top, to buy a book about Rangers.

 

And this book written by a man with little credibility among his fellow Celtic supporters.

 

It seems to me that sellic-mindedness seems to hinge on some deep-seated identity crisis with a liberal doze of schizophrenia somewhere in the works.

 

But, of course, the key ingredient is hate.

 

Now, not every Celtic fan is a hater. I know plenty who are decent spuds and I count them as friends.

 

But bigotry and hatred seems to be the real essence of Celtic-mindedness.

 

This was, of course, the opinion of former Celtic owner Fergus McCann who famously quipped that Celtic-minded meant Roman Catholic bigot.

 

The news that Celtic supporters are buying up copies of Phil Mac Giolla Bhainâ??s book on Rangers FC brings the whole concept of Celtic-minded thinking and its implications to the fore once more.

 

Mac Giolla Bhainâ??s reputation as a credible journalist lies in shreds after being denounced by The Sun as a man â??tarred with the sectarian brushâ? among other withering remarks. He has been outed as a bigot yet this seems to give him a new-found martyr status among the Celtic fanbase.

 

Now it has to be pointed out that the Celtic support were divided on Phil Mac Giolla Bhain prior to this episode with The Sun. Reasonable Celtic fans saw him as a bit of a rocket â?? a fantasist intent on causing bother and an attention-seeker, while those of a republican mindset despised him for his stand against the singing of IRA songs at Celtic games.

 

In short, Phil Mac Giolla Bhain was no big hero among Celtic fans until this week.

 

Maybe in a sane universe the outing of Phil Mac would have been greeted with relief and applause by Celtic supporters, happy that a festering malignancy in their ranks had been exposed and excised.

 

But thatâ??s Celtic-minded for you.

 

Instead of being content that a â??bad yinâ? among them had been dealt with, those same Celtic fans who, for widely differing reasons, had no time for Phil Mac Giolla Bhain, now grant him hero and martyr status.

 

I want to contrast the way Celtic-minded people seem to think with a Rangers mindset.

 

I remember back in 1993, after Marseille had won the European Cup and it was discovered that they had cheated in the French League to give them an advantage going into the European Cup/CL Final, there was a story doing the rounds that they could be stripped of the Champions League title.

 

Apparently David Murray, then chairman of Rangers, was offered a chance by UEFA to replay the Final against AC Milan but he turned it down, saying that if Rangers couldnâ??t win it when they had the chance, they didnâ??t want another one.

 

I fumed about this for years, thinking of the opportunity blown for Rangers to win the big one. How could Murray pass this up? Marseille were cheats and didnâ??t deserve it.

 

Recently I have come to see exactly where Murray was coming from â?? if, of course, the story had any substance and the offer was genuine.

 

When Rangers were docked ten points last season for going into administration, effectively handing the SPL title to Celtic, Celtic grabbed it eagerly and gratefully, spending a lot of time and energy telling the world how much they deserved it.

 

I thought of one man.

 

The Rangers manager, Ally McCoist.

 

I realised that if the ball had been on the other foot and Celtic had been docked ten points, Coisty would have felt cheated. He himself would probably have called the title win hollow, if not tainted.

 

As would most Rangers fans.

 

That, in a nutshell, is the difference.

 

Rangers donâ??t look for advantages or leg-ups or pauchles.

 

Rangers want to earn their victories the hard way â?? on the pitch.

 

Bluenoses donâ??t want privilege or being accused of having won a tainted title.

 

I donâ??t know if Catholic bigotry is what being Celtic-minded is all about; Fergus McCann was far better placed than I am to make that judgment.

 

And there is plenty â??proddyâ? bigotry among the Rangers support so itâ??s certainly not all one-sided.

 

It also has to be said that not all bigotry is based on religion.

 

I just see it as a very simple thing.

 

Celtic-minded looks awful complicated and convoluted to me â?? it refers to â??sporting integrityâ? while seeking to gain every advantage there is. And supporting a bigot just to spite your enemy.

 

While being a bluenose is about honesty and sporting fairness.

 

Of course, bigotry and mindless hate are not exclusive to some Rangers and Celtic fans.

 

Other SPL teams are jumping on the bigotry wagon, including Motherwell, who have taken to calling Rangers fans â??Hunsâ? and threatening to boycott their teamâ??s upcoming Cup fixture at Ibrox.

 

This boycott should be taken very seriously by Rangers as the Motherwell support is renowned for emptying stadiums.

 

Fir Park, for example.

 

http://billmcmurdo.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/sporting-fairness-v-sporting-integrity/

[aweebluesoandso 290]

I like this guys blogs, he's on my to read list at Breakfast or elevenses.

[calscot 0]

Part of it reminds me of a story about the Rangers v Marseilles game. Some fan spotted that their keeper had a short sleeved shirt on which was against the rules - as a long sleeve shirt of the goalie's colour meant it was easier to differentiate an illegal arm touching the ball in the box and that of the keeper. They told the TV guys who passed this onto the Rangers bench in the enthusiastic expectation that they would protest to the officials and Marseilles would forfeit the game.

 

However, their enthusiasm was severely deflated when they reported back that the Rangers bench had replied that they weren't in the slightest interested in winning on a technicality.

[Darthter 542]

they weren't in the slightest interested in winning on a technicality.

 

Unlike Ceptic, who harp on about being in the Europa League last season, and how good an achievement it was. Even though they were there due to a technicality, and went on to get knocked out the same competition twice in the one season.

[GovanAllan 0]

Decent Spuds. :clap:

 

Another great read.