Call It Out – Are Religious Discrimination and Religious Bigotry not a form of Racism?

I am a lifelong Celtic supporter ( 69 years) to be precise. For some reason, I have only recently stumbled on your website, The Celtic Star. The reason for this is probably the fact that I never believed that Celtic supporters were ever capable of being organised into a “Bona Fide” protest group. I have spent a lifetime listening to Celtic supporters moaning among themselves, berating the fact that, no matter what you do or say, protest from within Celtic ranks will be written-off by the majority of the “Blue leaning Press “, as paranoid ravings.

Before the Ten-in-a-Row season even began, like most supporters, I highlighted to all who would listen:- That every devious device, every dirty trick , every manipulation of the rules would be used to undermine Celtic’s attempt to win ,”Ten-in-a-Row “. That was, of course , before Lawwell, Lennon & Co. went into “self-destruct Mode”, rendering my theory as irrelevant. What has happened to Celtic in-house, however, only further highlights the fact that, even despite Celtic’s abysmal on-field displays, this has not deterred anti- Celtic elements from redoubling their own efforts.

Last year I was so disgusted by the lack of punishment being metted-out to Alfredo Morelos that I took the time to write to Humza Yousaf (Secretary of State for Justice) in the Scottish Parliament. I took this step because I knew that in both the SFA and The Scottish Referees Committee would conveniently file any protest in the dust bin. At the time, I did not realise that Humza Yousaf was indeed a Celtic supporter. He contacted me to state his position and that to openly act on such an issue would be political suicide. I obviously accepted his explanation.

The situation, this season, if anything has worsened. Morelos in games against Celtic, Dundee United and Hibernian was allowed to play-on (after sending-off offences). In some instances, retrospective punishment has been metted-out, but only after Rangers have three points in the bag. The Football authorities really do think that the viewing public are totally brainless and do not realise the deviousness of their actions. This week, again against St Johnstone the referee had another sudden onset of blindness when Roofe of Rangers should again have been sent-off after a career-threatening tackle . Once again , the referee is five yards from the incident and only a symbolic “yellow card”, is the punishment. Again Rangers walk away with a victory and three points.

You may think I am ranting-on a bit but I have spent a life-time witnessing Celtic and Celtic Supporters being cheated, deprived and laughed-at, when they had the audacity to flag-up corruption in Scottish Football and in British Society in general. You see , I come from a generation who went for job interviews (with excellent qualifications from High School or University) to be asked, ” What school did you go to”?” As soon as you mentioned a Roman Catholic school, the interview was effectively over.

The thing that annoys me most, however is that that type of Bigotry and Religious discrimination still exists in a more subtle manner. What Celtic supporter does not know :- That referees and officials are specially selected for special games, that a Penalty-kick or sending-off will be awarded against Celtic , that every fifty-fifty decision goes to Rangers and that Rangers are mysteriously awarded the most Penalty-kicks in Scottish Football year after year? What really baffles me , most of all, however, is that this type of corruption is allowed to persist without any organised challenge from Celtic FC in the first instance and then from Celtic supporters and supporters of other clubs.

The challenge from other clubs might be naive to contemplate, since unfortunately I think we all realise that they comprise mainly of “Rangers supporters without the bus fare”, who will do little to harm the bigoted environment they perpetuate. There must surely be some decent people among them , who like ourselves, witness this blatant bigotry week after week, and year after year , and realise that it is fundamentally wrong.

The challenge from Celtic must also be questioned. Surely Celtic’s management must realise that to overcome all this adversity, they must not only have a good team they they must have a great team. In recent years they came close to this but unfortunately that era appears to be over. Moreover, Celtic as an institution have often left themselves as easy prey to their mockers and enemies. During the Kelly/White regimes (which I suffered through) , huge sums of cash changed hands in Glasgow pubs, to get a job on the turnstiles of Celtic Park. This became a huge joke in the , “Blue Press”, when Celtic Park was bulging at the seems and Celtic would issue crowd figures of 40,000. Celtic, at this time ( especially during the War years) were accused of ,” Unpatriotic behaviour “, by defrauding the Inland Revenue. As you can see, at various times, it was not our enemies who were harming Celtic.

It is an insult to Celtic supporters and people of Roman Catholic persuasion to witness the SPFL, SFA and British Society support issues , such as :- “Give Racism a Red Card “, and “Black Lives Matter “, whilst perpetuating religious discrimination, bigotry and corruption within their own ranks. Are Religious discrimination and Religious bigotry not a form of Racism?

The purpose of this article is to ask why Celtic supporters and Roman Catholics have tolerated this abuse for so long without forming any kind of cohesive opposition? We have enough Celtic supporting MPs and MSPs in both Westminster and Holyrood to raise this issue and yet they remain totally silent, not wishing to rock the boat.
It is, therefore imperative that organisations such as yours encourage and give support to Celtic supporters wishing to finally put an end to the Bigotry , Racism and Anti- Celtic ethos which exists within Scottish Football and in general Scottish Society. It is time that these people and their hidden agendas are put into the public domain. It is time to ask all the awkward questions about:- Selection of Referees , the obvious bias of Referees (which should not be too difficult to prove from TV recordings ), Retrospective punishment (after points have been awarded0 and why neutral referees have never been sanctioned for, “Old Firm ” games , the number of Penalty Kicks awarded to Rangers relative to other Scottish teams etc. etc .

I therefore, respectfully request that you use your Forum in a positive fashion and give a voice to Celtic supporters who like me have attempted to fight this blight on our Irish Catholic heritage which has existed since 1888 and beyond .

Francis g. Thompson