Knock it on the head
Folk
have called Jim Spence many things over the years but no one can claim he doesn’t
call it as he sees it. His troubles with elements of the Rangers support, after
the old club’s demise in 2012, stemmed from his refusal to join the historical
revisionism which some journalists cravenly fostered to deny the verifiable
fact that the Ibrox club went bust and started again as a new club. Only he
will know the full extent of the harassment and hassle his ethical standards caused
him both personally and professionally. He told me once that he offered to ‘take
the jaiket off’ in the street to one particularly nasty critic from the
blue side.
Like
him or not, Jim knows the hypocrisy involved in criticising the bile which some
Rangers supporters indulge in and remaining silent when some followers of
Celtic indulge in similar antics. He said on Twitter last night in the wake of
Celtic’s trip to Tannadice…
‘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 its openness to all and a significant number of non-Catholic
supporters.’
Most who responded to his tweet were supportive
of his call for this regressive and frankly moronic nonsense to be knocked on
the head. This sort of trash and that God-awful ‘roamin in the gloamin’
dirge go against every principle Celtic stand for. The great thing about Celtic
Football Club was that it opened its arms to all at a time when the club and
many who followed it felt the bitter sting of bigotry in their own lives. This
is the club of John Thomson, Jock Stein, Bobby Evans, Bertie Peacock, Tommy Gemmell, Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain and
many more wonderful players who gave their all for that famous shirt despite
not coming from what some would call a ‘Celtic background.’ As Willie Maley
once said, ‘It’s not the creed or nationality that counts, but the man himself.’
I have attended perhaps more than a thousand
Celtic matches in my life and have seen the supporters in all hues of emotion.
From the ecstatic highs of victory to the deep lows which occur now and then at
every club. I have always found a warmth and a comradeship among Celtic fans.
There has been a compassion for those suffering injustice or poverty from Parkhead
to Palestine, and that compassion has always led to action to help out where
they can. The charitable roots of the club continue to flourish in the work of
the Foundation Celtic and in the many kindnesses and charitable works, large
and small, I see happening every day. The ethos of this club has always been inclusive.
It is, undeniably rooted in its Catholic and Irish DNA but has moved way beyond
the community which founded it to be a truly global football club.
Celtic attracts supporters from all walks of
life and we are proud to see supporters from many parts of the world call
Celtic their side. That very diversity is a great strength and makes the Celtic
family stronger. As in any family there will be fallings out now and then and
occasionally tough truths need to be told. Today is a day for tough truths- Jim
Spence is right; this creeping barrage of bullshit needs to stop. Celtic has
supporters from all faith and none and it is simply not on that any Celtic fan
is made to feel uncomfortable by the actions of a misguided few. If we shake our
heads at the ‘famine song’ mentality of rival fans, how can we look the other
way when some of our own indulge in the sort of crass nonsense, without being utter
hypocrites?
It's
not banter, it’s not lads having a laugh- it’s offensive and it drags Celtic’s
name into the gutter. I know a lot of Celtic fans who hate these songs and the
add-ons wedged into decent Celtic songs, but usually hold their peace as the
flack they get on social media for mentioning it isn’t worth it. I know by
writing these words that I’ll be asked by a few predictable folk ‘how was the
soup?’ or told it’s ‘Birthday-card pish’ to think we can rise above this
drivel. But as Jock Stein said when asked how some of his more ‘staunch’
friends took the news of him joining Celtic… ‘I lost a lot of friends when I
made the move to Celtic but if that’s what was important to them then they
weren’t really friends at all.’
Celtic
Football Club is too important to too many people to accept going down this
road. There are scores of great Celtic songs we can be singing. I don’t include
Republican songs in the pantheon of pish I wish to see consigned to the dustbin
of history as no matter how inappropriate it may be to be singing them at football, I don't accept then as 'sectarian'. I do draw the line at nakedly sectarian lyrics such as those Jim Spence alluded to. This nonsense does
indeed need to be knocked on the head and soon, otherwise we run the risk of
becoming that which we claim to despise.
