It is often the go to line for the media to talk about “a bigoted minority” ruining it for the rest of the supporters at Ibrox. In some instances that is true, for example the bottle throwing, although happening in each stand, was the work of a few idiots. However, it is not the case when it comes to songs of religious hatred.
Any attempts by pseudo-intellectuals to be balanced and even-handed by mentioning a minority singing the Billy Boys are not only incorrect, but entirely disingenuous. Indeed, close to 50,000 people were caught on camera singing the song, which was the anthem of a fascist razor gang and mentions being up to their knees in Fenian blood. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that the minority were not singing the song.
The refusal to acknowledge this fact or shun the singing doesn’t reflect well on a modern country or organisations such as Nil By Mouth. Imagine the reaction if Fenian was replaced by Muslim/Jewish/Black people’s blood. Yet it’s not seen as being so shocking when the people on the receiving end are of Irish Catholic extraction.
No doubt the comments section will also feature some lurkers attempting to patch over this or draw false parallels. It is a mark of where we are at present as the mainstream media enable the majority to continue bathing in religious hate by drawing false equivalences to political songs and attributing the bile to a small minority. They can’t deny the footage.