Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!
There was once a convention that people associated with Celtic or Rangers would be careful to avoid any action or comment that might further heighten tension prior to a match between the sides. The reason was obvious – innocent people are battered, stabbed and occasionally killed by thugs who can’t confine their anger to shouting at players or kicking their televisions.
What then should we make of Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell, vice-chair of the Westminster Rangers supporters club, who has today tabled a motion to honour former Rangers player Sam English?
For those who don’t know – English was the unfortunate player who collided with Celtic’s goalkeeper John Thomson (pictured), resulting in the young Celtic star’s tragic death. English was blameless in the incident, which it is said affected him for the rest of his career.
However, what purpose can a member of the House of Commons hope to serve by calling for him to be honoured just days before Celtic visit Ibrox? Is he pandering to that low and vociferous element amongst the Rangers support that vocally dishonours the dead to provoke and offend?
Whatever the motives – and questioning the thinking of a Unionist MP is akin to debating the culinary merits of a cheeseburger – it is at best, grossly insensitive, at worst a deliberate attempt to inject yet more hatred into an encounter that has already left parents without sons.
No doubt, there will be some visible demonstration from the Rangers support on Saturday as they take a break from besmirching the name of Scotland’s greatest ever manager.
It has to be said that this exemplifies a distinct difference between our club and our city rivals. While Celtic have a small number of fans who let the club down, Rangers, from top to bottom demonstrate an appalling lack of dignity and even decency. Of course, that does not apply to all Rangers fans or people associated with the club – there are some who are embarrassed by such behaviour (and even a few are found on the internet, usually when banned from the most popular fans’ forum).
But with a wide range of Rangers fans, from Bridgeton to Barcelona; in the boardroom, in our courts and now even in our parliament, one theme pervades – the desire to confront and offend.
No comments:
Post a Comment