Why the Billy Boys will never surrender

[Frankie 8,663]

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/325-why-the-billy-boys-will-never-surrender

 

It's been another fascinating few weeks in the myopic goldfish bowl of the Scottish football/sectarianism debate.

 

First of all, Chris Graham, appointed as a non-executive director to represent fans in the Rangers boardroom, resigned after the media exposure of a two-month old tweet in which the prophet Mohammed was engaged in a sexual act. The tweet, not one of Graham's proudest moments I'm sure, was in retaliation to the provocative comments of radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary on the day of the Charlie Hebdo atrocities. Now, the overly crass nature of his social media message can't be defended but the irony was clear in relation to the context of the day's events and free speech. Was it enough to resign over? Well, that decision was Chris' but I doubt he or Rangers fancied the overwhelming attention the media was bringing upon him and the club. Perhaps it was the right call to step down for the sake of his own family’s safety but Rangers fans should never forget the associated witch-hunt.

 

In the days after the story broke, Tom English of the BBC, described Chris as 'bright and decent guy' but also 'foul-mouthed, objectionable and a troll'. Meanwhile, freelancer Graham Spiers - currently featured in The Times, The Herald and on BBC Scotland - suggested via Twitter that Chris had a 'screw loose' while his behaviour online was 'poisonous'. We must remember that Mr Spiers gave evidence in front of a Scottish Government committee during the creation of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act so his opinion – avidly enjoyed by his 65,000 Twitter followers – is clearly respected by the political classes in Scotland with regard to such issues.

 

Fast forward less than a fortnight later we find ourselves in the position of examining the SFA inviting on-loan Swedish Celtic striker John Guidetti to a disciplinary panel to explain comments he made on Dutch TV in relation to Rangers where he repeated a chant referencing Rangers as ‘deid h*ns’. The song, regularly sung by many thousands of Celtic fans during the course of the 2014/15 season, uses a controversial term which mirrors the Rangers support’s use of fen*an – most popularly attributed to the Billy Boys song. Keen followers of the sectarianism in Scottish football debate will remember UEFA purportedly banned this chant in 2006 and the new Act discussed above ensures your arrest if you sing it now. Thankfully, other than a few misguided airings over the years since – most recently at Hampden in a Scottish League Cup game against Celtic – the chant has largely disappeared from the terraces. Even keener followers of the bigotry argument will recall Graham Spiers being at the forefront of pressuring the authorities to act to remove this song. He proudly boasts of a letter he received from the late UEFA disciplinary inspector Gerhard Kapl on the issue.

 

Moving back to Guidetti’s behaviour the reaction – in comparison to the attention placed on Chris Graham – has been more muted. Not only have Celtic FC expressed ‘surprise’ to the disciplinary hearing news but neither they nor the player have apologised for his behaviour. Similarly, they’ve made no comment on the song itself, in its derogatory reference to ‘h*ns’ or another member club – in itself a breach of SPFL rules. Meanwhile, in the media, Tom English gently criticised Celtic while describing Guidetti as ‘out of his depth’. No comment was offered on the connotations of the word beyond it being ‘abusive and loaded’.

 

To my knowledge Graham Spiers has yet to comment on Guidetti’s behaviour other than to downplay the obvious sectarian nature of the word ‘h*n’ – suggesting it’s merely disparaging rather than bigoted per se. The journalist bizarrely then went on to say using the word was fine as Rangers fans used it to label themselves referencing his experiences with comedian Andy Cameron and a few Follow Follow forum users from years previous. Asked why he didn’t apply the same logic to his vigorous pursuit of the literally identical fen!an, Spiers then spoke of African Americans using the ‘n*gger’ word to describe themselves and compared Celtic fans (who label their supporters clubs and chants with the term) to such people. At this point, like me, I assume the reader is confused by Spiers rationale so I’ll leave you with the fact that Scottish media’s foremost sectarianism crusader, also feels his opinion isn’t important. Will someone please convey that to the SNP’s law-makers and the publicly funded BBC as this is one mainstream media commentator that lacks an obvious balance to his opinions.

 

Indeed as Spiers often (deliberately?) does during such debates he seems to miss the overall point of why the Guidetti issue is important in the greater scheme of things so let's examine the issue sensibly:

 

1. Most fair-minded people would agree with Tom English in that there's an element of reasonable doubt about what Guidetti meant when he used the word. For that, I doubt I'd be wanting the guy thrown in jail or the police wasting their time. Context is all-important and it’s difficult (perhaps impossible) to genuinely know what people mean when they sing these chants. However, either they’re against the law or they’re not so we can’t have one person jailed and one person made light of.

 

2. Furthermore, neither the player nor his club have attempted to easily quash the issue via offering a simple apology. Instead Celtic, as they’ve done with the similar antagonistic behaviour of Neil Lennon, John Hartson, Stephen Pearson, Leigh Griffiths and Aleksandar Tonev over the years are attempting to deflect from any culpability. That’s the biggest disappointment of this issue and I’m glad Tom English touched on it – however mildly.

 

3. Moreover, despite seven UEFA censures in little over three years, Celtic continue to defend the behaviour of their fans and apparently do the minimum to remove songs about terrorism or the sectarian use of ‘h*n’ by their staff and fans. Yet, our media say little and certain journalists certainly don’t highlight their communications with the relevant authorities. Why is that? What are they afraid of?

 

4. As a result of the above tolerated inconsistencies many Celtic fans - tens of thousands in fact - will continue to use such terms and chants. Yes, it may be difficult to determine if they are using them merely offensively or with a sectarian motive but the provocative nature of their continued and widespread usage will mean sections of other fan-bases will react - most probably in a negative way.

 

5. The outcome: songs like the Billy Boys – previously self-policed out of existence by the vast majority of the Rangers support – return to occasional prominence. Thus perpetuating further sporting and social tension which tragically does occasionally result in assault, serious injury and death. We only need to go back to the last Old Firm game in February where a child was bottled and a man almost kicked to death outside a Glasgow pub. It doesn’t matter if it’s Bob Malcolm scrawling crude autographs or John Guidetti having a joke on Dutch telly, this all filters down to the man, woman and child in the street.

 

To conclude, there is no doubt football fans can be over sensitive to otherwise harmless chants and behaviour. Football stands have always contained an element of offensive behaviour and while it shouldn’t necessarily be considered acceptable, removing such stuff fairly and in a balanced fashion isn’t an easy task and will, to be honest, probably never happen. That means the reporting of when it does occur and, above all, the associated punishment must be fair, objective and beyond reproach.

 

Unfortunately, I think this article shows that instead the debate isn’t fair, lacks neutrality and has often caused more harm than good. With that in mind, it’s quite clear that some journalists cannot be trusted to comment in a genuine fashion while politicians are often more opportunistic than genuine. Quite simply, until we approach such issues in a more mature fashion and accept responsibility for our own behaviour we’ll get nowhere fast. We either get rid of crap about the IRA, the UVF, fen*ans, h*ns, p**fs, and refugees as one whole package or we simply push folk further onto the defensive via selective cherry-picking of our own unconscious bias.

 

As it stands, despite expensive new laws, dozens of arrests and convictions, and millions of pounds of charity donations, on the defensive is where we all remain and there’s precious few people capable of standing above the usual self-interest.

 

Is that Scotland’s greatest shame? Maybe not but we should all be embarrassed by it and misguided football fans (or players) are the least of our problems when those in the greatest positions of responsibility lack the bona fide integrity to take us forward.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Frankie

[26th of foot 6,119]

I have penned in another article, it's all about amplification.

 

Guidetti, Sellik's continuing censures from UEFA, land deals, ..... etc; all presented amid a soundtrack of low, ambient tones.

 

Rangers and Rangers supporters transgressions are cranked up to eleven on all amplifiers. Demands ensue, immediacy is demanded.

 

It's only three weeks past that the then Head of Sport at Radio Snyde, Jim Delahunt was demanding Sandy Easdale(a man steeped in both Rangers and west of Scotland culture") provide a statement on the marble steps reference the club's on going problems with sectarianism. The stimulus was the chanting at Starks Park, Jim had demanded nothing of no one after the League Cup semi-final the week before. Even Jim's accepted resignation from Radio Snyde today, has been buried in the inside pages of today's papers; confined to a few paragraphs by friendly journos.

[Bearman 9]

Very good article.

 

Frankie - It says at the bottom of the link you inserted, (Some words were censored in this article as Newsnow won't publish articles with certain terms).

 

What's that about?

[pmu 0]

I have penned in another article, it's all about amplification.

 

Guidetti, Sellik's continuing censures from UEFA, land deals, ..... etc; all presented amid a soundtrack of low, ambient tones.

 

Rangers and Rangers supporters transgressions are cranked up to eleven on all amplifiers. Demands ensue, immediacy is demanded.

 

It's only three weeks past that the then Head of Sport at Radio Snyde, Jim Delahunt was demanding Sandy Easdale(a man steeped in both Rangers and west of Scotland culture") provide a statement on the marble steps reference the club's on going problems with sectarianism. The stimulus was the chanting at Starks Park, Jim had demanded nothing of no one after the League Cup semi-final the week before. Even Jim's accepted resignation from Radio Snyde today, has been buried in the inside pages of today's papers; confined to a few paragraphs by friendly journos.

 

it's a funny old society where a few insulting words or cartoons are deemed more socially unacceptable than a drink driver with the obvious "killer" Aspect that entails from such actions. och well what a great wee cuntry we are

[Frankie 8,663]

Very good article.

 

Frankie - It says at the bottom of the link you inserted, (Some words were censored in this article as Newsnow won't publish articles with certain terms).

 

What's that about?

 

Normally we can discuss such terms on the forum without the need to star out certain words but I had to here or Newsnow wouldn't publish as they automatically block submissions with the such terms.

[compo 7,217]

I take the dog up on to the Fenwick moor for his walk and give him a full blast of the billy boys as well as derrys walls and the birdie

[D'Artagnan 173]

An excellent thought provoking article Frankie, absolutely top class.

 

Ive rarely entered the debate on this issue as I felt there were more pressing issues for our club than a song. However as the debate has raged on and the imbalance has become more and more obvious. its become clear its no longer about the words of a song but a far more serious and wider issue, at the heart of which is prejudicial behaviour towards both our club and its support.

 

Ive also changed my opinion regarding Spiers, I no longer feel he is an egotistical idiot who cant see the woods for the trees, but now view him as a deliberately vindictive and malicious individual who sees his future as penning articles which lack balance and rationale.

[D'Artagnan 173]

Apologies double post

Edited March 26, 2015 by D'Artagnan

[trublusince1982 243]

great piece frankie. Reminds me of the days of reading articles that made you think. The death of journalism is seen no clearer than when reading the scottish papers. Not even good enough to wrap yer chips in nowadays.

[Doc 280]

Excellent piece Frankie. Articulate and damning of the state of our lawmakers and the lazy journalists who are happy to trade in anti-Rangers bias, masquerading as objectivity. Every time I see or hear Spiers on the radio or TV trotted out as some kind of expert on Scottish football and the Old Firm I feel physically sick.

 

Your words are better than I (and I suspect many of us) could muster. Thank you and keep up the good work.