Arthur Numan Loyal RSC Branded â??Problematicâ?� By East Dunbartonshire Council

[ian1964 10,691]

Following the ridiculous news that the organisers of Gibson Street Gala had refused The Founders Trail from opening their stall again this year, another suspicious refusal has come to light.

 

In case you missed it last week, the Gibson Street Gala organisers branded The Founders Trail as â??too controversialâ?. The story made its way from RangersMedia, to all mainstream supportersâ?? discussion forums, and even in to the Evening Times.

 

Last year The Founders Trail raised money for both Erskine and Yorkhill Childrens Hospital through their Gibson Street stall, and despite the organisers being told that these charities would be the ones missing out, the suspicious refusal was upheld.

 

True to form, Rangers supporters from all over the world raised an incredible £1200 (and counting) in the immediate 48 hours after The Founders Trail had told their story, meaning the charities would not miss out â?? but no thanks to Gibson Street Gala!

 

Unfortunately, yet more charities have missed out due to the suspicious refusal of a Rangers supportersâ?? event.

 

The Arthur Numan Loyal RSC, based in Milngavie, have up until this year held their annual end-of-season party at Milngavie Town Hall. Milngavie Town Hall is of course operated by East Dunbartonshire Council; the same East Dunbartonshire Council whom in March, were exposed by the Kirkintilloch Herald for financially driven plans to close and merge primary schools, building new ones, to save £300,000 per primary school, despite having publicly stated that the controversial plans were not just a desperate effort to balance the books â?? but weâ??ll come back to that later.

 

Milngavie Town Hall has been the venue for this successful and well attended end-of-season bash for an impressive fifteen years! Each year, the £50(ish) deposit has been paid and the venue booked around September, as each Scottish football season is in its infancy.

 

With many a Rangers legend usually in attendance (Richard Gough had already been lined up this year ) the event usually attracts 250 people. Over the course of those fifteen years thousands of pounds have been donated to numerous charities â?? such as Erskine, the Davie Cooper Centre and the Former Playersâ?? Benevolent Fund.

 

In September 2012 this was no different, with Arthur Numan Loyalâ??s Iain Sinclair booking the venue, as normal, without any issue.

 

Fast-forward five months, to February 2013, and Iain is contacted by East Dunbartonshire Council to inform him that the event could no longer take place at Milngavie Town Hall! This regular, successful and friendly event was all of a sudden deemed as â??problematicâ? by East Dunbartonshire Council?!

 

As you can imagine, this came as a complete surprise to Iain.

 

â??On February 12th I received a surprise email from the council, asking all sorts of questions about the event that had never been asked before. Bear in mind weâ??ve never received any complaints before, and definitely not from last year, so I was really surprised to hear from them so long after we had booked and paid our deposit.

 

â??After a few emails back and forth I was told that we could no longer use the Town Hall as the council were now declaring this event as problematic! I couldnâ??t believe it.

 

â??Funnily enough, after we had been told about this and tried to find out why, a mysterious complaint appeared out of thin air.

 

â??I immediately requested a sit-down meeting with the decision makers and was told a meeting would be arranged â?? but weâ??re still waiting for that meeting.

 

â??It took five weeks for them to pay back our deposit and there wasnâ??t any offer of compensation for Richard Goughâ??s flights, which they knew had already been paid for.â?

 

Rangers legend Colin Jackson has been in attendance numerous times over the years â?? including last year â?? and could not believe that the East Dunbartonshire Council had come to this very late and ridiculous decision.

 

â??Iâ??ve been there the past few years now and I have to say itâ??s a very well run event. Everyone has a good time, and thereâ??s never once been even the slightest murmur of any trouble.

 

â??The Milngavie Police Station is only a stoneâ??s throw away and Iâ??ve never seen them having to interrupt proceedings, or even parked outside keeping an eye on things.

 

â??Something doesnâ??t add up.â?

 

Surely a cash-strapped council â?? and one which is looking down every possible avenue to reduce debt, including the controversial closure and merging of numerous primary schools â?? should not be turning away £350 of easy money?

 

Is it bias?

 

Is it bigotry?

 

I wouldnâ??t like to say.

 

It might not be mega-bucks involved, but the simple fact is that East Dunbartonshire Council have made a ridiculous decision and one which hurts the aforementioned charities the most.

 

Luckily for Arthur Numan Loyal, The Louden Tavern stepped in to host the event (last Friday, April 26th), but there was only room for around 100 people, rather than the usual 250-strong attendance â?? so at least some monies could be raised, although nowhere near as much.

 

How many more suspicious, and quite blatantly anti-Rangers, â??refusalsâ?? do these excellent charities have to suffer from?

 

I for one, sincerely hope there are no more.

 

If you, or your Rangers-related organisation, have been on the receiving end of a similar suspicious â??refusalâ?? by any authority, or organisers, please contact james.donaldson@rangersmedia.co.uk with all the relevant information.

 

http://www.rangersmedia.co.uk/?p=296

[Gers4Life 0]

you could bet some bitter twisted individuals would be behind this and its absolutely ridiculous and in no way surprising!! its they big bad rangers supporters! honestly you couldn't make this up!