gersnet article (image) Negatives By Mouth

[Rousseau 10,642]

@Rick Roberts challenges Nil By Mouth hypocrisy:

 

https://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news-category/current-affairs/1435-negatives-by-mouth

 

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Let’s start with my view on Nil By Mouth, today in 2021 – Nil By Mouth need to seriously review their objectives and their performance and explain to the paying public why there appears to be a clear and growing trend of bias (i.e. sectarianism) across their own work and in particular their public output.

 

The straw that has broken the camel’s back for many Rangers fan was their tweets against the choice of music used in the Rangers 150th anniversary kit launch advert. Unbelievably, their tweets are actually still there.  In short, they directly conflated the ‘4 lads had a dream’ song with the ‘famine song’. They slaughtered the ‘Everyone, Anyone’ campaign. Managed to mention racism, dog-whistles, bigotry and criminals. Then accused Rangers of ‘zero responsibility’ not ‘zero tolerance’. All in three short tweets.

 

 

There is so much to discuss there. NBM state their sole purpose to be ‘achieving a society free from sectarianism where cultural and religious diversity is respected and celebrated by everyone’. In football stadiums in Scotland sectarianism is measured by words, it has to be, how else can it be measured? Besides, I know this because NBM themselves told me that sectarian language defines what and who is considered sectarian (not something I wholly agree with). If songs are sung with those certain words then that is considered a problem. Remove those words, no problem? That has always been the message and understanding. And the best way to consign a certain song to the dust-bin is to replace it. This is what ‘4 lads had a dream’ is – a proactive, progressive antidote. And more importantly simply a fantastic football song. NBM should be pushing and praising this message. Instead, we get treated to that series of tweets.  

 

A look at the NBM timeline on twitter suggests their work falls into certain categories, namely; highlighting stories involving Rangers fans, highlighting anti-Catholic graffiti and their work at schools. This feed is their headline news. This is important as people look to them to lead and listen to what they say. They may rebuke other items offline or in the background but that doesn’t hold close to the same weight as a public statement or tweet. We know and they know that sectarianism exists elsewhere in Scotland but it somehow doesn’t merit a mention. Their silence over the Daily Record scandal says a lot as this exposed sections of the media as rotten, sectarian and further justified growing calls of agendas. As does their silence over the continued sectarianism and racism (defined by NBMs own standards) aired inside stadiums by celtic fans - Are all fans not equal? Is sectarianism from Rangers rivals somehow less sectarian? They have just responded to sectarian comments by St Mirren director John Needham. His tweets were denounced as merely derogatory. What a comparison to the salvo Rangers endured for playing a Beach Boys tune. What message does this send and how can this inconsistency be explained?

 

 

 

We then had a national interlude on the 26/10/2021 with the devastating news of the passing of the great Walter Smith. The world seemed to stop and the clouds parted and allowed tributes and respect to shine through. The level of respect and love shown from across the footballing world was truly breath-taking. Closer to home and the walls of rivalry were brought down as scarves were laid down. It really made me think about what football and rivalry should and can be. It’s been too long since I’ve seen such respect given and received. As a country, and footballing community, we regularly lose sight of who and what is important and often celebrate the wrong things whilst not celebrating the right things, at the right time.

 

Of course, respect isn’t for everyone and an article (https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/hibs-1-celtic-3-gubbins-ange-postecoglous-men-sparkle-but-away-fans-show-ugly-side-during-walter-smith-minutes-silence-3435284) on the Scotsman appeared the following evening. It mentioned the denigration of the minutes silence but went further and pointedly called out sectarianism from within the travelling Celtic support:

 

“… with chants of Orange Bastards - Orange shorthand for Protestant in the same way it is understood the use of Fenian in the west of Scotland means Irish Catholic. Let no pious Celtic supporters claim sectarianism is entirely one-sided.” This is surprising not for its veracity (because it’s always been true) but for its refreshing honesty following its almost complete omission from the debate and headlines in recent years. Just last month Tom Devine and BBC Scotland told us it was solely and specifically Rangers and that no other support had these problems or behaved this way (see my last article: https://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news-category/current-affairs/1428-to-forgive-is-human-to-err-is-devine).

 

It’s perhaps a sad reflection on myself that I first looked at the author, ex-celtic view editor and no friend of Rangers Andrew Smith, and my first though was what’s the catch? If this is honesty and decency transcending tribalism then it is most welcome.

 

However, what wasn’t welcome was NBMs late and laboured response:

 

 

 

No mention of the team. No direct or crushing condemnation of the actions. No call for punishment, contrition or rehabilitation. No mention of the similar behaviour and chants that has been present at most games this season, and far beyond.

 

The problem for NBM is that Rangers fans are now fully aware of a campaign against the club and its support from certain quarters in the press and in Holyrood. Perhaps some of it is overly sensitive but much of it is largely justified. Hypocrisy can be and often is an expression and extension of sectarian beliefs and attitudes. Sectarianism isn’t just words, it is actions. To deny that is to not understand humans. Using professional positions to discriminate against a group you don’t like is very much sectarian.

 

Unfortunately for NBM (and more so for ourselves) this isn’t just the one incident, or even series of incidents and oversights in the last month or so, there is a history of mistrust and dubious performance in their treatment of the Rangers support. There is a history of opaqueness and inconsistency when dealing with Rangers and questions from Rangers fans on their handling of sectarianism. Even if (and it’s a big if) we accepted that the alleged ‘quantity’ of sectarian singing in a football stadium was to be the starting point and focal point then that is no longer an excuse. Ibrox is all but free of sectarian singing and has been for some time. If the remit has changed from tackling larger expressions of sectarianism to now only targeting small groups outside of the stadium wearing blue scarves then this feels like a significant and important change to the scope.

 

This isn’t a new thing. The most well-known story goes back almost 20 years and is of one sceptical Rangers fan who wrote two letters to NBM - one from a Rangers supporter and one a Celtic supporter. The two responses were stark in their difference, with one met with a swift reply which was helpful, instructive and supportive and the other letter (and it's follow up letter) were lost – I’ll let you guess which applied to each one. To be honest, this should’ve seen an abrupt stop in play and a public explanation for their behaviour at this point. That it never happened perhaps points to our collective naivety and powerlessness at that stage. I'd like to think that both club and support would be cognisant enough to stop this now? But are we? Is this another pivotal moment for us? If we don’t demand and fight for parity now will we be denied it for another 20 years?

 

The question is what do NBM they think they are achieving with this positioning? It certainly debatable if it’s helping anything related to sectarian divides or tension at all. I certainly don’t think emotions on either side of the divide are being quelled, although for opposing reasons. One simple answer is that it is designed to be bad PR for Rangers and mitigating PR for Celtic. I would hope that isn’t true but with what we have seen elsewhere I’m starting to think it really is that straight-forward.

 

This leads to the further question of whether Nil By Mouth are themselves a sectarian organisation? There has to be more to being an anti-sectarian charity than simply calling yourselves an anti-sectarian charity. If it is the beliefs and understandings of individuals at the organisation that IRA songs are political and have no part in the sectarianism equation then that feels very closed and blinkered and frankly incorrect. If they genuinely feel that only Rangers fans can be sectarian and only Rangers fans should be highlighted, then that again feels wholly inappropriate for someone in that line of work.

 

It could be that NBM are operating under pressure and coercion of those that hold the purse strings? We know the current government like their charities to display certain political qualities and we also know that there is now a considerable amount of money involved in the industry for people to compete for. Compliance can be bought. If those leading doctrines are prejudiced then it follows that the resulting actions downstream will be too. It could be that some in the media are bigoted (which has been shown) and therefore NBMs output will be skewed and misrepresented by this. If either of these are true then I think we should expect better from a publicly funded organisation preaching impartiality and morality and that they should have the strength and courage to call out any nefarious external influence. Whatever the excuse, ultimately it doesn’t matter, all that matters is that their output is consistently prejudiced.

 

There’s then the argument that they do good work elsewhere and that a deal with the devil is necessary to facilitate this work? If that is so then they need to reconsider the price they are paying. Because talking to a classroom of school kids verses the targeted labelling, 'othering' and ultimately failing of hundreds of thousands of citizens based on their football team somehow doesn’t feel like a sensible trade and is in essence more than a little self-defeating.

 

As always, this isn’t about defending the indefensible, this isn’t pretending that baggage or problems don’t exist and that groups or society shouldn’t be encouraged to improve or move forward. This is about 'achieving a society free from sectarian behaviour' and how perhaps Nil By Mouth should be asking themselves questions and deciding what they really want to achieve and how they want to achieve it?

 

A final thought. Sectarianism is defined as 'excessive attachment to a particular sect or party, especially in religion'. In Scottish society anti-sectarianism does not really concern itself with the excessive attachment component (which is often actively encouraged) but does with the predictable bigotry, prejudice and discrimination which follows. Where you have two sects then you will have differences. Where these ideologies are in direct competition for people, prizes and propagation then there will be struggle. At one extreme there will be war, at the threshold there will be banter. It’s probably fair to say Scotland these days largely lives closer to the latter but at times it undoubtedly spills over. No one wants that. However, the analogy of people playing out an ongoing war is accurate enough. These battles could be over words, laws, rules, football, media, headlines, education, charities, funding etc. Maybe Scotland needs be more honest about that?

 

[Rousseau 10,642]

@Rick Roberts's article republished after the sad loss midweek.

 

@Frankie

[Frankie 8,570]

Great stuff from Rick as always.

 

In terms of their action, seems to most people they're being led by the hand politically more than ever and their recent tweets infer an organisation trying to appear objective but failing miserably. 

 

Rangers are in a difficult position here - do we pull out of any of their initiatives (which are often pretty good) and look worse than ever or do we hold our nose and attempt to influence?

[Gonzo79 15,294]

28 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Rangers are in a difficult position here

Maybe the club could continue to participate in the initiatives but also make public concerns about the objectivity of NBM?

 

 

[Frankie 8,570]

47 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Maybe the club could continue to participate in the initiatives but also make public concerns about the objectivity of NBM?

 

 

It's perhaps the obvious strategy but if we're effectively calling them one-sided publicly it makes any partnership untenable.

 

We should be lobbying privately for sure.