call it what it is - it's racism

One of these three is not like the other. I’ll give you a clue.

Say “No Dogs” and people will ask what have you got against Dogs?

Say “No Blacks” and people will rightly call you a Racist.

Say “No Irish”? well, it seems that in parts of Scotland there’s a place where you can meet thousands of like minded people and you can sing about it as loud as you want. A world wide TV audience will even be provided. Don’t worry, you won’t get in trouble as the overwhelming majority of the media will make excuses for you.

Does the above seem kinda strange to you in the 21st Century? Ireland and Scotland are both EU members, neighbours and only a few years ago considered a joint bid to hold the European Championships. As an Irishman and Celtic fan who also travels to Glasgow regularly for work commitments the article written by Bedford Falls on the E tims site titled “ifthescottishmediatoldthetruth“ moved me to write a reply. It’s something which has been building up for months.

The article itself and similar articles on other Celtic websites along with the writing of Graeme Spiers I feel are failing to report in full scope of the recent attacks on players and “singing” by Rangers fans.

Let me explain further. In the last year the banned Billy boys has been replaced by the Famine song. The Billy Boys song at least only contained one line about “Fenian blood” (which in truth never really offended me as the line passed so quickly) where as it appears every word of the famine song contains an anti Irish/Catholic message. Thankfully I don’t know all the words but does it even actually include a pro Rangers line?

Since the advent of the famine song all of Celtic’s first team players with Irish connections have been the subject of physical and verbal abuse on nights out in Glasgow:

McGeady plays for the Irish Republic and was attacked in Glasgow.

O’Dea plays for the Irish Republic and was attacked in Glasgow.

Neil Lennon has in the past stated that he considers himself “Irish” not “Northern Irish” and has been the subject of several attacks, the most recent the sickening one in the West End.

In addition Noel Hunt who played for Dundee United last year got serious verbal abuse in the Infamous McCurry game at Ibrox. Some fool in the media actually tried to state it was because of his “Provocative hairstyle” - no coincidence he’s Irish then and I do wonder what’s in store for Roy O’Donovan this year.

Even the well written articles criticising the attacks on Neil Lennon refer to the “cause” as him being a Northern Irish Catholic, this is diluting the issue, it’s got a wider scope, it’s because they’re Irish Catholic.

I never thought I’d say it but things were actually much better when they were singing the Billy boys. Now they devote a whole song to the belittling of my culture/country and in parallel attacks on high profile Irishmen who dare to live here are on the rise.

I wonder how much violence has increased against the Joe public Irishman which doesn’t get into the media. I can’t imagine people singing the famine song all day being too welcoming to someone with any Irish accent should they bump into them on the town after a few beers. Is it any coincidence that it always seems to be the “No Surrender” brigade who causes the trouble among the English fans – Ironically this is usually after they’ve been drinking all day in an Irish pub.

I know there are some Celtic songs, which are offensive to others. Thankfully the line “No Protestants at all” is no longer heard during the Soldiers Song. Personally I just don’t get the buzz singing songs about your rivals, there’s much better craic to be had in singing positive songs about your own team. Why waste energy on your rival which they will ultimately feed off.

So perhaps we should reply to the famine song with “shut up, why don’t you shut up, you bunch of racists, why don’t you all shut up” – an anti-inflammatory riposte. Thousands of voices airing a better reply than some eejits lowering themselves to their level by encouraging hate for Nacho Novo.

There’s a section of your society for whom Scotland’s “Many Cultures” seems not to include the Irish. Imagine if Arsenal fans sang a “Holocaust Song” or the outcry if eight thousand Chelsea fans could be heard singing Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz at white hart lane?

I don’t buy into the “small minority” crap either. 8000 Rangers ‘supporters’ at Celtic Park, the majority of whom are season ticket holders, say 50% sing the famine song, that’s 4000 – not a small number at all.

There are 40,000 season ticket holders so at least 10% of their support actively partakes in this behaviour. Just what percentage of Germans do you think were members of the Nazi party or the SS? The remainder stood quietly by and said nothing, partly out of fear – does this ring any bells?

The famine in Ireland reduced the population by over 2m people, it didn’t select those people specifically from the North of Ireland, just like the hate coming from those Rangers fans it was all encompassing in when selecting it’s victims.

So please report this Racism in its entirety, always use the word Racism as it’s a much dirtier word than sectarianism. Unfortunately the words sectarian and bigot have been so prevalent in the histories of our countries their shock factor has been diluted. Don’t distinguish between Northern Irish and Southern Irish.

I’ve found it hard to write this as it’s such an emotive subject (and I’m conscious that I’ve rambled a bit), the emotion is not one of anger, it is sadness allied with pity as I don’t see a solution – or even a concerted attempt to accept there is a problem.

It’s not all doom and gloom, I know many a decent Rangers fan, who is genuinely embarrassed by these fools, the only disappointing thing is they always refer to the “minority”, which brings me back to Germany…

SHAUN CUMMINS