Open To ALL - Neither the Green Brigade nor FAC have a right to divide Celtic Park on party-political grounds

I have always had mixed feelings about the Green Brigade.

I love many of their displays and acknowledge the atmosphere that they have generated at times when it has been badly needed.

I also give them huge credit for the food bank collections, which accentuate the solidarity of Celtic fans with the poor for whom our club was founded, especially as so few other clubs' fans ever come close to matching it.

I have similar values to many of those that the GB express – left, Irish Republican, and for a just solution for the Palestinian people.

On the latter issue, I have no problem saying that, overall, I was wrong about the Palestinian flag protest for the match with Hapoel Be'er Sheva and the subsequent "Match the Fine for Palestine" was a very proud moment for Celtic that I had not anticipated. Fair play.

But while the GB was proved right about the previous Palestinian action (and this weekend certainly warranted one), many of their political activities have given me cause for concern.

Not necessarily because I disagree with the message but because claiming Celtic for a narrow political viewpoint is divisive and inappropriate to a club with Celtic's "open to all" identity and values.

Okay, we're not really open to all – not to neo-Nazis, Fascists, racists, Antisemites, Islamophobes, anti-Catholic bigots or anyone who discriminates on the basis of any religious discrimination.

Generally, anyone who advocates discrimination against minorities is not welcome to express their views at Celtic Park (though some minorities would not have been welcomed at any club, including Celtic, in previous decades).

That's just my opinion, of course. This is my personal forum for expressing it and I have to acknowledge that I don't speak for Celtic or Celtic fans.

But this is one area in which I feel that the Green Brigade can often lack an appreciation of nuance and the true value of diversity.

Frankly, I think that they often act like a bunch of overgrown kids (though many are, in fact, just  kids).

I have sung many a song in honour of the Irish rebels, who people like me remember, particularly at Easter time.

The Foggy Dew, Come Out Ye Black-'N'-Tans, The Boys of the Ould Brigade, The Merry Ploughboy, Rock on Rockall and more. But I have never sung any of them at Celtic Park.

Because, they are not necessarily understood and, if they are, not necessarily accepted amongst the Celtic support.

Danny McGrain MBE

Excuse the nuance, folks, but Willie Maley – a far greater Celt than I or (I humbly submit) any Green Brigade member – urged young men to fight for the British Empire. And that's when it was a real piece of work!

That would be the same empire from which many great Celts accepted bestowed honours – Sir Bob Kelly; Jock Stein, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire; Bobby Lennox, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire; Paul McStay, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, and more.

All, immeasurably greater Celts than I could ever wish to be.

And that necessarily implies to me that Celtic supporters can't exclude even those who have fought for that empire from our midst, never mind those fans who currently support Scotland's place in the United Kingdom and vote for it.

And, logically, neither could we or should we seek to exclude people who support Scottish independence.

I've lived through the last throes of Labour in Scotland and I didn't like what I saw. I don't much like the Scottish National Party, either.

Personally, I'm a left-leaning supporter of Scottish independence, with no support for the British union, and would be politically closest to the Scottish Socialist Party had that entity not gone up in a puff of hubris, testosterone and farce.

So, what are we going to say? You can't be a Celtic supporter and vote for a British Unionist party like Labour, the Conservatives or the LibDems?

You can't be a Celtic supporter who, like me, vociferously opposed the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act and vote SNP?

"Radical" Celtic fans say Yes to Scottish independence

If you think, “Yes”, to either question, I would ask who exactly you think you are to make Celtic Park the battleground for your narrow view of politics.

And who the hell you think you are to use Celtic or Fans Against Criminalisation to make party-political points at Celtic Park, as the Green Brigade did on Saturday during the match against Ross County.

"FAC 1 – 0 SNP", the banner went, with the Green Brigade “Ultras” skull logo, despite FAC having gone to great lengths to say that they represented a broad range of opinions and football loyalties.

The banner also had the tag – ACAB (All Coppers Are Bastards).

The OBFA, admittedly, caused tremendous damage to relations between Scottish football supporters and Police Scotland (and Celtic fans have long had an at best guarded relationship with the police as an institution).

But, to be kind, this is just another example of the rebel wannabe kids spewing forth on banners without thinking of nuance at all. "All coppers are bastards"? Doesn't that sound discriminatory? Have you envisaged a state that can exist in the absence of a police force?

(As I have always said, if you want to say, “ACAB”, then never lower yourself to call the cops so that one of those bastards has to risk his or her safety to get you or a loved-one out of a hole.)

So, according to one banner, you can't be an SNP-supporter or a police officer and be a Celtic fan.

Only if you believe that the Green Brigade's big banner – thankfully not recently with their “pyro” bonfire-night displays – speaks for Celtic, rather than a bunch of kids, who can grow up in their own time, not on Celtic's.

As with most divisive issues, I see stridently diverse opinions on the issue of Scottish independence.

Some see those who sing against British imperialism in Ireland but support British-Unionist Labour to be the most risible of hypocrites.

Others see the SNP, the primary party of Scottish independence, as an untrustworthy shower with no regard for Scotland's Irish Catholic community or football supporters as a group.

William Wallace and Bobby Sands banners at Celtic Park

Both positions have their arguable merits.

But, like it or not, members of both camps have a place at Celtic.And many thousands of SNP supporters and voters also support Celtic.

Just as Green and LibDem supporters, capitalists and – yes – even Tories. (We've had plenty in the past, though I find the party particularly offensive - which is not illegal).

Our club has embraced them all – imperialists, republicans, Catholics, Protestants, “Mohammedans” (as Maley referred to our first Muslim player), Jews, Gay people and many (though fewer now) homophobes.

Let no one or any group try to dictate that the Celtic family or club, open to all, should be divided according to their own narrow views or use the platform of Celtic to seek to exclude people from our club.

Our unity and diversity has enabled us to stand strong against every outside force that sought to divide us - one club since 1888.

There is a place for us all – even the Green Brigade.

And, always, especially the kids.