The H Word

The H Word

Many years I go I lived and worked in England and being a keen Celtic fan it was hard not getting my weekly chance to see my team in action. Of course in every town and city in the UK you’ll find pockets of Celts meeting up in pubs and clubs to watch games or just talk Celtic with likeminded folk. I did travel north when work and family life allowed and took in as many Celtic games as I could and those trips took on a special significance. As a young man I recall the euphoria of games in the centenary year culminating it that magical, sunlit 1988 cup final. Absence clearly does makes the heart grow fonder when it comes to Celtic.Of course my English pals would try to entice me into coming along to back their teams and I did watch a fair bit of football there but once a Celt always a Celt. I saw matches in Birmingham, London, Oxford and even as far as Merseyside and the fan culture there was different from Scotland. I recall being at the old Upton Park to see West Ham play Spurs and it was a pretty poisonous atmosphere. Spurs fans were subjected to chants containing lines such as…

‘Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz- Hitler’s gonna gas em again…’

Spurs of course are said to have a large Jewish following so the import is clear. Working class football culture has always sought to goad the opposition but there are limits. Of course Manchester United fans were subjected to the despicable, ‘Who’s that lying on the runway?’ song which celebrates the Munich air disaster which killed over 20 people including 8 of their players. Such chants do go beyond what is acceptable even when the fiercest or rivals meet. There will always be room for the more witty chants even if they are politically incorrect in these sanitised days.  Opposition fans used to chant at Manchester United’s Ji Sung Park… (To the tune of “Lord of the Dance”)

‘Park, Park, wherever you may be,

You eat dogs in your home country,

But it could be worse,

You could be f*****g scouse,

Eating rats in your council house.’

Such a song plays on the usual stereotypes but is understood by opposition fans as part of football banter unlike songs about Munich or Hillsborough which most decent people abhor.

One of the great changes to occur in English football has been the gentrification of what was once a solidly working class sport. The more uncouth behaviours of supporters are now frowned upon by the new breed of middle class supporters who like their football experience to be more sedate. In Scotland the government’s ill planned attempt to control what was chanted at football matches ended in farce as the law was repealed. The Offensive Behaviour at Football Act was fatally flawed in that it failed to set out precisely what made a song ‘sectarian.’ The more inane chants heard among sections of Rangers supporters were fairly obvious in their crude intent. Thus songs about being ‘up to our knees in Fenian blood’ or the racist ‘famine song’ were fairly easy to label as the filth they are but other unionist/loyalist or Republican songs had the judges confused and more than a few hauled up to court walked free.

Celtic supporters have always sung songs which reflected the Irish heritage of the club and most (though by no means all) of their supporters. Thus in early times the ‘Dear little Shamrock’ or ‘Erin’s green valley’ were sung. In later years more overtly political songs such as ‘The boys of the old brigade’ or ‘Roll of Honour’ were given an airing and there remains an ongoing debate about the nature political expression should take at football grounds. The labelling of rebel songs as ‘sectarian’ is not something Celtic supporters, not indeed most Irish people, would accept although there is no doubt that behind the faux-outrage we hear from some about them in our society, there are others who are genuinely uncomfortable about them.

Similarly the term ‘Hun’ has come to prominence again with the corrupted version of  Shakin Stevens' 'Merry Christmas Everyone' doing the rounds and containing the line, ‘Merry Christmas, f*ck the Huns.’ Some Celtic fans, myself included, have never considered the term sectarian. It always meant a Rangers fan or players and those of a certain vintage will remember the term being used about Celtic fans. Well-meaning anti-sectarian groups tend to use the word as an accepted sectarian term but this is disputed by many who see it as nothing more than a prop used to support the narrative that both sides are as bad as each other. I have a protestant friend who is Celtic mad and often uses the ‘H’ word so his intent it is clearly not sectarian? That being said, to some perception is as important as intent and if some of those on the receiving end of the word are genuinely offended by it then perhaps it is better in the dustbin of history?

Jock Stein once invaded the terraces at Stirling Albion’s little stadium to remonstrate with Celtic supporters who he considered to be singing songs that were distasteful and commented afterwards…

’There are enough good Celtic songs to sing without bringing religion or politics into it.’

He had a point but the culture of singing Irish songs at Celtic matches is deeply ingrained and has been from the club’s inception. There have been few songs sung by Celtic fans over the decades which were truly sectarian in nature; the moronic ‘Roamin in the gloamin’ comes to mind but that was never popular with the majority of fans who saw it for the trash it was. Celtic have sent letters and distributed leaflets asking fans to think about what they sing at matches. There have been many ditties and chants over the years which were uncouth, offensive or simply in bad taste but that has moderated in recent times. Supporters will always goad the opposition but the clever and subtle is always better than the blunt force of foul mouthed vitriol.

As the powers that be seek to make football more of a family experience then the pressure will continue to be on fans to conform to the standards they set. UEFA will continue to fine clubs whose fans they deem to have been overstepping the mark. It is important that they hammer the racism we have seen in European stadiums over the years and send out a clear message that this isn’t acceptable. There is much to be done to seriously eliminate it from football but stadium closures and increasing fines will get the message across. They have fired a shot across the bows of Rangers by closing a section of Ibrox for a recent European game and if attitudes haven’t changed among some at least they now think twice before spouting their bile.

The Scottish football authorities must bear some responsibility for the lingering poison which pollutes some games here. For decades Rangers sectarian signing policy went unchallenged. Similarly with the songbook at Ibrox, if the SFA talked about closing stands then perhaps real change would occur. The media too are too keen to play the ‘both sides the same’ card and fail to condemn fairly obvious racism and sectarianism at times. Graham Spiers wrote after one match between Celtic and Rangers…

‘On Sunday afternoon at Celtic Park, sports reporters myself included sat through the usual litany of bile spouted by visiting Rangers fans, with hardly a mention of it in next day reports.’

Therein lies the problem; call it out whenever it rears its ugly head even if it’s among your own support. That way bigotry will no longer be acceptable and the more lumpen types will get the message. There will probably be no real revolutionary change in the attitudes of some fans too thick to see their petty prejudices for what they really are but we do owe it to future generations to educate them in a better way to behave.

Football thrives on rivalries and the atmospheres they create but there are limits to what should be acceptable and each of us who loves this old game should ponder on what they are.