The man in the mirror

 

The man in the mirror

I made the mistake of getting into an online ‘football’ discussion with a supporter of Rangers this week. It began as one of those ‘my dad is bigger than yours’ bragging sessions about how the mighty Rangers were the most successful club in the world but quickly deteriorated as I pointed out why they are not. ‘55 league titles and a handful more during the war,’ I was told. I pointed out that Linfield have more titles and that the league was cancelled during World War two and ad hoc regional leagues set up. Celtic have considerably more Scottish cups and the cup winners cup of 1972 hardly trumps Real Madrid’s 15 Champions League titles, let alone Celtic’s European cup win of 1967.

In fairness the guy kept things reasonable until I raised the spectre of liquidation in 2012. It was then the depressingly predictable mud slinging began. It seems to be the default position of some in the blue corner; if you can’t win the football debate revert to insults about paedophilia and terrorist songs. You know it’s time to end the conversation when that trash starts, especially as it’s tinted with myopic hypocrisy. He also raised the abuse Mark Walters received at Celtic Park on a bleak winter’s day 36 years ago.

There have only been a few occasions in my long Celtic supporting career when I returned home from a game seriously disillusioned. One came in January 1988, when a marvellous victory over Rangers was marred by the despicable behaviour of a minority of our own fans. There is little point in hiding from what went on that day at a rain sodden Celtic Park, nor should the event be obfuscated by a welter of whataboutery. The treatment of Rangers player Mark Walters that day was as disgraceful as it was unacceptable. Racism has no place in any decent society and perhaps it was all the more depressing that it occurred at the home of Celtic, a club which has faced many barriers and much discrimination in its history.

The one saving grace was the response of the vast majority of Celtic supporters who flooded the club newspaper with letters condemning the moronic minority who so badly let themselves and the club they purported to love down. The fledgling Fanzines of the era were not slow to round on those one called ‘racist arseholes.’ The leading Celtic fanzine of the time, ‘Not the View,’ stated with characteristic clarity…

‘While Old Firm games are never the sort of occasion where you would happily take your granny for a relaxing day out, the sort of fascist, racism directed at Mark Walters was completely unwanted and unacceptable. We hope that Celtic FC, with the help of the police and majority of decent supporters will do everything they can to ensure this kind of moronic behaviour, which spoiled what would have been a great day for many fans, will not be seen again at Celtic Park. Bigotry and racism have no place in football.’

Such comments were common and keenly felt by the vast majority of Celtic fans who were appalled by the behaviour of some in their midst. As the predictable welter of recriminations came from followers of Rangers, ‘Not the View’ reminded them too of a hard truth…

‘We trust that the irony of Rangers complaining about prejudice and ignorance is not lost on our readers.’

The rivalry between Celtic and Rangers is deeper and more nuanced than any other in football. The fact that it is played out in a country where they have dominated for over a hundred years intensifies it. Next season marks 40 years since any other Scottish club won the championship and it is no exaggeration to say that it could be forty more before one does. The big two stand like heavyweight boxers allowed to fight in the lightweight division. It all makes for a situation where second is nowhere and all that matters is winning.

It can be an unhealthy and at times poisonous relationship. For the less cerebral among the Rangers support, it manifests itself seeking opposition to everything they perceive Celtic supporters stand for. Thus, if they like St Pauli, we’ll like Hamburg, if they support Palestine, we’ll support Israel, etc. It seems a childlike attitude to life and sometimes the club panders to it with nonsense about eggs Benedict, green salami and orange away kits. At times, they seem to simultaneously want to distance themselves from, yet still milk the cash-cow of intolerance for as much as they can get from it.

That is not to say Celtic fans are angels. What occurred with Mark Walters all those years ago can’t be dismissed; it has to be owned. That behaviour has to be challenged on every level to ensure it never happens again. We all want to be worthy of Celtic’s best ideals of inclusion, fairness and anti-discrimination. It’s up to all of us to be worthy of that and accept that even in the heat of the action against our biggest rivals, there are some things which are not acceptable.

Nothing like that day in 1988 has occurred at Celtic Park before or since. It was perhaps partly the intensity of the rivalry which spurred some to behave in such a despicable manner, but there really is no excuse. It was a wake up call to all who follow Celtic and indeed to the wider Scottish society that we weren't immune to the sort of racism that was so prevalent in England at the time.

A week after that Celtic and Rangers match of January 1988, Michael Jackson released the single, ‘the man in the mirror.’ It contained the following lyric…

‘I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
No message could've been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change.’

I hope that minority who let themselves and the club down all those years ago have reflected on their behaviour and have matured into better people. Society has moved on, attitudes have mellowed and changed. That is for the best but we do need to be vigilant. Celtic is too important to too many people to let it be tarnished by the misguided and foolish.