“Banging my head against a brick wall here but look I have been doing that anyways for a long time so one more wont make a difference.
So much coverage this past couple weeks about discrimination and the condemnation of it across media outlets, players, ex-players etc which is great to see because it’s wrong and idiots should be held responsible for their actions and words as nobody should be subjected to that.
“Make no mistake about it or to take anything away from that but just to pose the question really, racism, gender, ethnic..the list of discrimination that goes on is unacceptable right, my question is here… does being abused for being Irish and anti-Irish abuse acceptable? Is it not popular enough to be seen to be acknowledged or spoke out about too?
I have highlighted the abuse publicly on social media recently and the silence from everyone is deafening!
If you are offended by me saying that then maybe that tells you something.“We are not criminals, we are Irishmen! This the crime we stand accused..”
Photo: Nigel French
“The silence from everyone is deafening,” James McClean
Republic of Ireland winger James McClean posted these words on his Instagram account last Friday. The 29 year old Ireland star, and of course a Celtic supporter, has been targeted for many years for refusing to wear a Poppy around Remembrance Day each November. The Nationalist community in Derry, where James is from, has every reason not to wear the Poppy and few if any do so. Yet because McClean plays football in England all hell breaks loose every year and he is subjected to vile abuse and indeed anti-Irish racism.
Now though it has gone too far with threats being made to his young family. “Don’t make me set your house on fire and burn everyone inside it,” is just one of the chilling, abusive and often racist messages James McClean has received since his Instagram post on Friday. It’s also the one he’s taken particular exception to as you can see below.
Many of you will have read them and for the many in the Celtic support we know exactly what he is talking about. Indeed just before that we carried an article on the same subject from an older reader of The Celtic Star, who has basically had a lifetime of dealing with this issue and felt the need to finally call it out using this website.
Francis Thompson is 69 years old and wanted to make very similar points as the Derry born Stoke City winger made a week or so later. Please have a read at what Francis has to say, using the link below.
READ IT HERE…Call It Out – Are Religious Discrimination and Religious Bigotry not a form of Racism?
Frank’s article was discussed on the Celtic Noise forum. Here are some of the comments.
“The UK Government’s own statistics on discrimination/hate crime show that Scots/Scots-Irish Catholics are the most abused group in the UK. That was a couple of years ago though, but I’m sure it’s still the same,” stated Richybhoy.
“This was reported in 2020 I believe Richy. And someone mentioned it on LBC. Unfortunately on that occasion it was lost in the BLM, anti-semitism and islamophobia conversation. Taking the knee has changed from the fight against racism to the fight against all discrimination in world football. It would be interesting to see how many players would stay on their feet if, for one week, in Scotland, it was suggested that the knee represents the fight against anti-irish bigotry and sectarianism.
“In a country (UK) where Black sport stars criticise the system (Rashford, Sterling, Danny Rose to name a few) and are fully supported for their views by the media and politicians but James McClean does the same thing and is hounded and abused by the same people….” Lubo’s left peg replied (again ahead of the current situation re James McClean who is actually mentioned in that post).
“Spot on Frank and some very pertinent points raised. If someone in the public eye is scared to pop his head up on these matters because their career would be in ruins, then it’s even harder for the rest of us. When I first joined the blogosphere of football forums I had hope that we would have a voice regarding these issues, unfortunately the MSN ignore as do the authorities anti-Catholic and Irish bigotry in the workplace and sporting environment.
“Like you I was convinced that the cheating would be off the charts this season and I even thought of starting a thread to highlight decisions that were obviously wrong but felt it would get marginalised with arguments about fouls and corners etc, whats needed is someone to correlate the major decisions against and for teams and present it to each and every board and media outlet, initially it wont change much and will even be ridiculed in some quarters, but if its done properly eventually notice will be taken.
“But you are right places like here (The Celtic Star) and other independent Celtic forums need to highlight this, I would also ask that the Celtic Trust take onboard these matters and ask Celtic PLC what if anything it can do.
“I have been heartened by the BLM campaign and its its obviously a world wide matter, also now whenever anyone from an ethnic community is attacked on the web its getting highlighted in the press, these attacks are not new it’s just that they are news due to the never ending war against the bigotry, it is something that I hope people with more clout than me can muster here in Scotland and a few other places in defence of my religion and football allegiance,” 50 Shades of Green added.
There are plenty of other interesting comments in this thread on Celtic Noise, so you should check it out.
After James McClean made those comments outlined at the beginning of this article (also see his Instagram post below) he has suffered the most vile abuse which needs to be called out. Look at James’ Instagram post them his update on the anti-Irish racist abuse he’s suffered and the threats to the life of his family, including young children.
James asks why the silence? Does anyone have anything to say? And there will be people out there across the UK saying ‘Yeah, but he brought it on himself”.
Time to call it out.
View this post on Instagram
And her is Erin McClean calling out the 9 years of constant abuse her man and indeed her family has suffered.
Watching him deal with this his entire career, so just having my say after 9 years of constant abuse. pic.twitter.com/5nEyujhpZw
— Erin McClean (@Erineyy) February 15, 2021
The sectarian abuse that @stokecity winger, James McClean, received over the weekend on social media is totally unacceptable. No player should have to face abuse based on their race, religion or nationality. We stand with all players against discrimination. pic.twitter.com/RTxa3ZhLGo
— Professional Footballers' Association (@PFA) February 15, 2021
