Jump to content

 

 

Rangers could face punishment over sectarian chanting


Recommended Posts

This is a battle that's winnable, sometimes in any war or battle you need to manoeuvre or even retreat a little for a final victory. Change a few of the words and a few months down the line and we will be wondering why we never done it in the past, it would have saved a lot of anguish imo. They of course will be still nashing their teeth lol

Link to post
Share on other sites

This is a battle that's winnable, sometimes in any war or battle you need to manoeuvre or even retreat a little for a final victory. Change a few of the words and a few months down the line and we will be wondering why we never done it in the past, it would have saved a lot of anguish imo. They of course will be still nashing their teeth lol

 

If only we possessed the collective wit to change the words.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The F word to Celtic. Why? because there is no finer sound in football than the Billy Boys ringing round a full Ibrox.

 

Nothing wrong with that but you know as well as I do that it doesn't matter what words are sung the usual pondlife in the Scottish Mhedia will do everything they can to use TBB to inflict whatever damage they can on Rangers & its support.

Edited by RANGERRAB
Link to post
Share on other sites

Nothing wrong with that but you know as well as I do that it doesn't matter what words are sung the usual pondlife in the Scottish Mhedia will do everything they can to use TBB to inflict whatever damage they can on Rangers & its support.

 

They'd simply end up damning themselves if they were to change their narrative from the F word.

Link to post
Share on other sites

What words are actually offensive? Is it the F word, or up to our knees in blood, or the admiration for The Billy Boys itself? Anybody know?

 

It cannot possibly be "up to our knees in blood" as that was being praised by Derek Rae at Tannadice.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Gordon Waddell: Notion of clubs helping cops with their enquiries into sectarian singing is laughable

 

GORDON believes there has to be clear guidelines on what’s criminal and what’s not, and clear and real consequences for offenders' actions.

 

HAPPY New Year, everyone. Here’s to a rip-roaring 1691… Sorry… we’re in 20what? Who knew, eh?

 

Anyone who thought we’d left the cesspool of sectarianism behind has sadly been forced to review their optimism settings after the Rangers-Hibs game.

 

Sure, we’ve had cloth-eared people trying to play it down, saying it never happened and we were duped into hearing what we were apparently

desperate to hear.

 

We’ve had social media’s always-offended cranking it up at every turn.

 

And yes, there are guys in the media who refuse to write about it because they don’t see the point.

 

They’re either culturally inured to it or they don’t think it’ll ever change.

 

Likewise others get lathered up at the first opportunity and who missed it when we actually had to start talking about football, God forbid.

 

The truth, as ever, lies somewhere in the middle. And it lies with the people who can separate right from wrong.

 

Who don’t need to be personally offended by something to understand that it is offensive.

 

The problem, as ever, is what you do about it. When no-one knows what the actual crime is, how is it possible to establish the punishment?

 

When Rangers re-appeared on the bottom rung three and a half year ago I wrote that they had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reinvent the club from the ground up.

 

To change their culture on the park and leave behind the baggage

off the field.

 

For three years we watched as they failed miserably with the first aspect – and the closer they get to a top-flight return, it seems the supporters are struggling with the second.

 

At least the club didn’t indulge the embarrassing denials made by some fans after the sectarian chanting at Ibrox on Monday.

 

They acknowledged it happened and issued a statement on the subject.

 

And at least they didn’t indulge in the wearisome whataboutery and arguments of equivalence offered by some fans.

 

The ones whose immediate response to their own misdemeanours is to say ‘Aye ok, but what about thaym? What about the IRA chants?’

 

If you’re living in a dump, pointing out that someone else is living in an equally squalid dump isn’t going to make your place any better. It’ll still be a dump. But let’s call their statement what it is, eh? A box-ticking exercise.

 

The black and white they have to produce to say they’re doing all they can to avoid being held accountable for their fans’ actions.

 

Zero tolerance? Check.

 

Co-operate with police and authorities? Check.

 

Disappointed with a small minority? Check.

 

Club proud of its anti-sectarian initiatives? Check.

 

And it’s hard to blame them. Because without strict liability, what more are they required to do?

 

The notion of them helping police enquiries is laughable. Identifying the tens of thousands heaping sectarian abuse on Alan Stubbs and have them all

up at the sheriff court on Monday morning?

 

The club may have tried hard to educate their fans that in the 21st century it is unacceptable.

 

But until there are clear guidelines on what’s criminal and what’s not, and clear and real consequences for their actions, they’re weeweeing in the wind.

 

The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications

(Scotland) Bill four years ago was such a botch job it created freedom-of-speech martyrs out of the very people they were supposed to be trying to rid the game of.

 

It was a mish-mash of catch-all phrases that ended up catching nothing.

 

Likewise the football authorities are powerless because their own members have chosen to make them powerless.

 

It’s more then two years now since the SFA tried to introduce strict liability for the clubs to accept responsibility for their supporters.

 

They needed 75 per cent of their 93 clubs to vote for it. They got five per cent.

 

Still, even if they’d got it through, you’d then have to be prepared to wield your authority properly.

 

Ask Peter Lawwell about the Catch 22 of strict liability. Celtic have had six

fines from UEFA in three years for unacceptable fan behaviour.

 

The problem is the punishments are trifling, a few grand in fines, and the fans end up not giving a monkey’s.

 

The club can afford it, right? Small price to pay for a bit of pyro and a sing song.

 

Until there are serious consequences, until fans are threatened with not seeing the games they supposedly live to see, how do you make them realise what they’re doing MUST stop?

 

Likewise at Rangers. Education and appeals clearly only go so far.

 

They ate the carrot for a while, but even donkeys get fed up with carrots. So does it need the stick? If it does who wields it? And how much power do they have?

 

We may be in 2016 – just – but there’s still work to be done.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gordon-waddell-notion-clubs-helping-7107873

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.