On and off the field Celtic received some much deserved and positive headlines this morning. The team took care of a Scottish Cup tie – one I’ll freely admit to having had more than a few pre-match nerves about – with a professional and convincing performance, meanwhile off it both sets of supporters supplied a proper cup-tie atmosphere.
And whilst the noise from Dundee United support perhaps understandably waned as Celtic took control of the game, the Celtic support before, during and after the game, were in fine voice. Yet a few seem bent on impinging on that reputation.
Post-match, the highly respected Dundonian journalist Jim Spence took to social media to question the sectarian nature of songs sung by a minority within the support, including the line ‘soon there’ll be no Protestants at all ‘ and ‘Roamin in the gloamin’ both of which received a throaty airing at Tannadice last night.
“I heard the old line ‘soon there’ll be no Protestants at all ‘ sung by a small section of Celtic support last night. they need to knock that right on the head. One thing which always marked the club out was it’s openness to all and a significant number of non catholic supporters,” Jim Spence
And former SPL Chief executive Roger Mitchell also weighed into the debate, pointing out, quite rightly that this amounts to a level of intolerance to others coming from some of the support that is not aligned to the ethos of the club.
“I keep saying it Jim, there is a clear direction of travel with the celtic fans in recent years. Its called “intolerance”. I watch it all from afar with deep sadness and increasing detachment,” Roger Mitchell
Whilst I appreciate much of the politics within the Celtic song book may not be palatable to some, in truth I don’t much care – perhaps I’m wrong in that. After all the world has differing political opinions, and when it comes to standing up to a colonial power and being borne of the immigrant population who fled their brutality, I’d happily defend anyone’s rights to sing about it and ensure it is not forgotten nor history rewritten.
However, sectarianism -and that’s what it is – alongside some idea of religious superiority over anyone else, has no place in this day and age and never has at Celtic, a club open to all since the very beginning.
Indeed, religious intolerance is something many within the Celtic support and beyond have to endure from the other side of the city, who appear to revel in it. As such to retreat to their level, and of some form of perceived superiority, seems evidently at odds with challenging that behaviour. Instead, it gives fresh ammunition to fire for those who would wish to lump the sectarian debate into a convenient two cheeks of the same backside argument. In short it sets us back years and plays into the hands of those, who without it, would be standing alone and ostracised in their outdated sectarian position.
Yet perhaps there is a debate to be had, perhaps I’m wrong. Are there those amongst our support who genuinely feel the way to challenge anti-Catholicism and anti-Irish bigotry is to meet fire with fire? Are there some who perhaps even feel the songs of politics and the add-ons around Irish Republicanism are just as outdated and irrelevant in modern society as anything sectarian being sung by a minority of the support last night? Perhaps that is a debate worth having, after all many will have their reasons for singing what they did last night, and those who tried to drown them out will also wish to share their own, as such feel free to open that debate in the comment sections below.
My own position is simple, much of our support is drawn from all spectrums of any perceived religious divide. Differing political opinions are what makes the world go round, however religious intolerance at Celtic means pitting Celtic supporter against Celtic supporter, even if that is not the intended target. And that simply cannot be palatable for a support who knows how it feels to bear the brunt of such intolerance and if we ever hope to challenge it.
Niall J
