No Pope of Rome

 

No Pope of Rome

Watching Rangers deservedly win the latest derby was an odd experience in some ways. Not because Celtic didn’t turn up and were duly turned over, rather it was the complete lack of away fans in the ground. The traditional gladiatorial challenge off the field was lacking as in days past when both sets of fans tried to win the battle of the songs. Instead, we were treated to an entire stadium filled with home fans who had a chance to show people watching in over 100 countries that they could create an atmosphere to rival that of the past.

In truth, I’d estimate that barely a quarter of the songs sung had anything to do with football. Most worryingly the worst of the bigoted dirges aired seem to be sung by thousands of voices. It’s 2023 and still they persist with songs containing lyrics such as…

‘The only thing that I could say, was f*ck the Pope and the IRA’

‘Oh, no pope of Rome, no chapels to sadden my eyes. No nuns and no priests, no rosary beads, every day is the 12^th of July.’

‘We’re up to our knees in Fenian blood…’

I could go on, but you get the picture. It sounded more like a Klan gathering than a top flight football match. These nakedly sectarian songs were joined in turn by the depressingly familiar chants of ‘paedos’ and ‘big Jock knew’ from large sections of a support with seemingly no self-awareness. One has to wonder why the police present at the stadium do nothing as this goes on and why the voices in the media, so shrill about Celtic fans’ chanting about the coronation, remain silent?

Of course, raising such issues often leads to being accused of sour grapes, being a bad loser or being submerged in a tsunami of ‘whataboutery,’ but this goes deeper than footballing rivalry.  This is poisonous stuff our society seems to tolerate. My old man used to say, ‘do you think for a moment if those chants were about Jews or Muslims they’d be tolerated?’ He had a point.

The decent fans  need to put heads above the parapet when required and make the hotter heads consider the damage they inflict on the club the claim to love. It was encouraging to read a thread on a Rangers chat room asking why the FTP, Paedo, Bobby Sands stuff needs to go on in this day and age. One contributor said…

‘You can’t tell me though that the most recognisable Rangers’ anthem (Follow Follow) being sung with ‘f*ck the pope and the Vatican’ in it is in any way a normal situation? The Famine Song- what an utterly needless and spectacular own goal. As if we didn’t f*cking know it would cause bother! The paedo stuff is cringeworthy and embarrassing. People’s lives were wrecked, it’s not a point scoring football chant.’

It’s encouraging to see fans  raising these issues as it is not a pleasant experience when the less enlightened get on your case as some did to the person above. It can be hard to stand up for what you believe but at the end of the day, the only way change will happen is if enough people call out the poison in our midst.

In the grand scheme of things, it is fair to say that Rangers have a bigger problem with this sort of prejudiced chanting than any other club in Scotland. For some, the singing of Irish nationalist songs by Celtic fans is viewed as ‘sectarian.’ Whether you think they are appropriate at a football match or not, they are not sectarian in the any definition of the word. In Scotland though, there has always been a tendency for the media to spin the ‘both as bad as each other’ narrative. We have also recently seen ridiculous headlines about poor behaviour by Rangers fans reported as ‘football fans’ or ‘old firm fans.’

If anything is to be done about the sort of bile we heard at Ibrox on Saturday then it needs a concerted effort by all the interested parties to get together and thrash out what is acceptable and what is not and what sanctions should be used.  The politicians, clubs, police and supporters  need clarity on this as the biggest flaw in the iniquitous ‘Offensive behaviour at Football Act’ was the complete lack of a clear definition of what constitutes a sectarian song. The now repealed Act collapsed under the weight of its own confusing definitions. UEFA closed part of a stand at Ibrox for such nonsense in a European tie but you'd have to wonder if the Scottish football authorities would have the spine or will to do that.

Increasingly ultras groups are leading the singing at games and have added immensely to the atmosphere in the era of all seater stadiums. Groups like the Union Bears may claim they have the right to sing what they want, but freedom of speech has never been unlimited. Hate speech is against the law although it seems it is routinely ignored in the context of Scottish football. Imagine, if you will, thousands of people gathering in any other social context and chanting ‘f*ck the Pope?’ It would be unacceptable and lead to calls for the police to enforce the law. So why is it ignored in a football stadium?

Well done to those Rangers fans who are at last starting the debate on this nonsense among a large section of their support. They will be challenging a deeply ingrained culture amongst many of their fellow supporters and there is such vitriolic feelings among some that they will never voluntarily stop this stuff. The younger fans though need to know that they can support their team, dislike their rivals and create a good atmosphere without resorting to the gutter for their songs. I fear some of their elders may be beyond redemption but the status quo surely isn’t an option. This can’t be ignored forever.

I’ve been watching football in Scotland all of my life and still enjoy its raw passion, petty rivalries and clannish nature, but it’s 2023 and time to put the hate songs where they belong; into the dustbin of history.