News in 2006

24th April 2006

Same old songs as Old Firm fizzle

Celtic and Rangers chose the final Old Firm match of the season to perform in a more pedestrian manner than is typical for these fixtures, but perhaps hoped the subdued football would be reflected in the fans' behaviour.

Rangers' dispute with Uefa over the conduct of their supporters formed an interesting prelude to this game, but hopes that the interest of European football's governing body in sectarianism would diminish the resolve of the Ibrox club's support proved unsurprisingly optimistic. The song book was the same and any observer of this 90 minutes would surely conclude that efforts to eliminate sectarian chanting from matches involving the Old Firm continue to prove fruitless.

Rangers fans appear to have two strands of argument as they seek to convince others that their chants are not worthy of action. The first is that other clubs, most notably Celtic, have elements of their support who should also be investigated, and the other is that the songs in question are in fact folk songs, and therefore somehow non-discriminatory.

The former point is possibly valid, and the Celtic support's references to Alex McLeish as a "sad Orange bastard" yesterday add weight to such a case. However, no other Scottish club is yet attracting interest from football authorities, and when those clad in blue greet the kick-off to each half with chants about being up to their knees in Fenian blood, it is patently obvious that Rangers have a problem.

"I'm always oblivious to the singing that goes on," said McLeish, "but I didn't detect anything untoward today. We had a great support here, and the fans were very vociferous." Yet in being "vociferous" in the space of 90 minutes here, the travelling support had invoked the UVF, UDA, the Pope and King William of Orange among others in verse.

Source: The Guardian