Ah Mr Dick, We Meet Again....

[Frankie 8,552]

An excellent article from GeneralCartmanLee of which I'm sure most of us will agree with the concerns raised...

 

http://www.gersnetonline.co.uk/newsite/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=751&Itemid=2

 

If reports in this mornings rags are to be believed then we will be reported again for sectarian singing after Sunday's match. Possibly it will be songs directed at Scott Brown while the imaginatively titled famine song seem to have upset the attending match delegate Mr Alan Dick.

 

For anyone who isn’t aware what an SPL delegate is; this was a scheme introduced in 2005-2006 where a range of people who have been involved at one level or another in Scottish football will attend the match on behalf of the SPL to oversee the game. The match delegates liaise with the match commander, inspect the pitch and act as an eyes and ears in the crowd to watch what is happening on the pitch and in the stands. They produce a report on this which they then submit to the SPL with observations and recommendations.

 

We seem to have made an enemy of one of these delegates and it now seems a one man crusade against our fans is underway from a former Motherwell and Partick thistle director called Alan Dick. Mr Dick has now reported Rangers to the SPL for sectarian singing on three separate occasions. Once for a game at Ibrox against Aberdeen at the end of the season in 2006, then at the beginning of the new season in 2007 at Inverness and finally on Sunday. Now, let's make it clear that just now it’s only speculation as the SPL have not confirmed what is in Mr Dick's report but I will say that on the previous two occasions he reported us, the information was leaked to the media before the report was submitted (now who could have done that, Mr Dick?) so we can safely assume this will happen again.

 

Let’s examine this a little more closely. Mr Dick attends a game of football every week and we are being asked to believe that since 2005, when this scheme was introduced and an observer was placed in the stand at every SPL game, that he (or any other SPL delegate) has only heard offensive chanting three times and they all involved Rangers.

 

The latest one was an Old Firm match for goodness sake. I have attended these games for many years and to pretend what is now termed as unacceptable chanting comes from one end if beyond a joke. During the Celtic fans every visit to Ibrox they will frequently chant about the IRA, use derogatory terms for protestants, make vile references to the Queen and Davie Cooper but these seem to be ignored. Dick reported us at Inverness for sectarian singing on the first game of last season but just two weeks ago various Celtic fans were arrested in the stadium for sectarian and racist chanting but the SPL delegate for reasons best known to himself, heard nothing.

 

Finally our first report was concerning an Aberdeen game at Ibrox. I am sure I don’t need to tell anyone who has regularly attended these games over the years what we hear from the away fans - references to the Ibrox Stadium disaster being a particular favourite of these 'supporters'. Are we to believe that this chanting is acceptable to the SPL? Why were the reports in these games only about us? Where is the parity in all this?

 

I shall digress, slightly, and ask one to cast their mind back to Love Street on November 13th, 2006; Armistice day, a day when all British citizens quietly reflect the sacrifices their fathers and grandfathers made in the two great wars. Celtic were playing there that day and because of that a minutes silence was cancelled; too risky no doubt given the Celtic fans appalling record on these occasions. This riled the home support, as coupled with this, they were to be subjected to 45 minutes of vile anti-protestant and anti-British singing. The stadium announcer so upset by all he had seen decided to make an announcement at half time asking the home fans not to react to the filth being spewed from the stands and to keep their heads. For the singing to be this bad you would have thought the SPL delegate would have mentioned all of this in his report and Celtic would have been at least warned by the SPL about their future conduct? Sadly this did not happen. Now a quick check would reveal who the SPL delegate was that day, can you see where this is going……yes it was Mr Alan Dick. No media exclusives either that Monday, eh?

 

I am not trying to paint us as the innocents in all this, some of us will need to accept that part of our repertoire is now seen as unacceptable and will only bring us bad publicity and the quicker we drop these tunes the better. I more wanted to draw a comparison between the treatment we receive and the treatment that every other club in Scotland receive. I could go through each club in the SPL and find offence at something they chant whether it be homophobic, sectarian, racist or sheepist(!) - you will find this happening in every ground in Scotland.

 

Surely people must see that we as a group of fans will be more willing to co-operate if these rules are applied to everyone. If there are rules written in stone somewhere saying what we can and can’t sing then enforce them across the board. After all, if fen!an is offensive then so is hun or if we are to believe that songs mocking the faux Irishness of our friends in the east end are so upsetting that they are causing their children to burst into tears then songs about people who murdered indiscriminately on this island are at least equally as offensive to us and any other normal member of society.

 

At the beginning of last season Mr Dick said “If there is any flak for the delegate after the game because his name has been in the media then we've just got to put up with it. I am big enough, ugly enough and old enough to suffer the consequences but I don't feel intimidated at all.” This only seems to apply when Rangers are playing though Mr Dick and when you only apply these rules to one team then your motives will rightly be questioned and only one conclusion will be drawn...

 

[Norris Cole 0]

Seat belts on lads, this season's witch hunt is ready for take-off.

[Bluedell 5,614]

Sums up the situation well.

 

There ain't no level playing field.

[Bluedell 5,614]

Seat belts on lads, this season's witch hunt is ready for take-off.

 

But had McDonald scored that goal and they had won the game, we wouldn't hear a dickie bird.

[Norris Cole 0]

But had McDonald scored that goal and they had won the game, we wouldn't hear a dickie bird.

 

See how it works...

[Guest johnnyb]

excellent article.

 

should be sent to the spl.

[maineflyer 0]

They probably can and very well may stop us winning the league again this year but I'm damned if they're going to get away with wholesale cheating without some resistance.

 

The only problem on Sunday was that we didn't sing it loud enough or long enough. The SPL and their pocket monkeys need to be challenged on this. If only those running Rangers would tell them to relocate their bikes and pedal, we wouldn't have a fraction of this nonsense. Feenyans to the left, feenyans to the right, King Billy in the middle and......

[Guest GeneralCartmanLee]

They probably can and very well may stop us winning the league again this year but I'm damned if they're going to get away with wholesale cheating without some resistance.

 

The only problem on Sunday was that we didn't sing it loud enough or long enough. The SPL and their pocket monkeys need to be challenged on this. If only those running Rangers would tell them to relocate their bikes and pedal, we wouldn't have a fraction of this nonsense. Feenyans to the left, feenyans to the right, King Billy in the middle and......

 

Itââ?¬â?¢s not the rules they need to be challenged on itââ?¬â?¢s the application of these rules. I know of three other clubs who have sung ââ?¬Å?the famine songââ?¬Â at the piggery this season and there has been no action taken but we do it and a report is sent to the SPL.

 

This is not a call to action over the famine song but for our club not to be singled out for unfair attention

[johnny123 0]

Very good article mate, seems to be a few delegates who have hearing problems when it comes to the celtic supporters.

 

To think there are still a large number of Rangers fans out there who think we don't get a raw deal from the authorities in this country.

 

I have contacted the SPL before about this guy Dick and will do so again if we do receive a negative report from him. I would urge all Rangers supporters to do the same.

[Frankie 8,552]

johnny:

 

I contacted Iain Blair about Mr Dick over a year ago about his cosiness with the media. Blair refuted any claims of bias or that his employee would use the press.

 

I'd definitely urge all bears to contact the SPL and ask if this is still his position.