Safety in Numbers
I read a thoughtful piece in The Times yesterday - by Graham Spiers - the newspaper's well known football and sports writer.
Here are a few extracts of Graham's thoughts on last weekend's Old Firm game - at Hampden Park - Scotland's national football stadium.
"Another week, another example of the problem Rangers have with a large section of their support.Walter Smith's team, going into Sunday's Co-operative Insurance Cup final as underdogs, won quite a few admirers for their gritty 2-1 win over Celtic.
Alas, no one who was at Hampden Park as a neutral, and who had any understanding of the type of songs that were being sung, could have found anything remotely appealing in the antics of the Rangers support.
For fully 120 minutes the Ibrox legions belted out stuff about the Pope, Fenians, and some of their other favoured subjects.
Quite a few if us have become used to 'the Rangers problem' over the years but Sunday at Hamden was quite an eye opener. It was the consistent, incessant nature of the bigoted chanting that was truly shocking."
Graham Spiers goes on to comment about the lack of any statement from Rangers - after the match - condemning this bigoted, sectarian behaviour.
He suggests that the club, football authorities, police and government - are all guilty of turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the problem - instead of tackling it head on.
And I think he has a good point.
I was not at the match - but I know very well the kind of foul, offensive behaviour that Spiers is complaining about.
The TV coverage tends filter things out - so the majority of people watching from a distance - get a sanitised version of the atmosphere inside the ground.
But make no mistake if this was happening in the street - the offenders would be arrested and heading for the cells.
The people who behave in this way feel there's safety in numbers - and the difficulty of pulling them out of such a large crowd.
To my mind the solution lies with the club, police and football authorities working together - with the backing of the government.
The club should make it plain that these bigoted 'supporters' are not welcome - and that steps will be taken over time - to identify and prevent them from acquiring tickets.
The football authorities can help, of course - they could threaten to impose heavy fines on clubs whose fans are out of control - if things don't change.
Since money talks more than anything else in football - the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds would begin to have a salutary effect - without the need to even think about deducting points.
But the fact that there is a public debate underway is a good thing - and it all stems from people (including the police) refusing to turn a blind eye - or deaf ear - to the problem.
Here are a few extracts of Graham's thoughts on last weekend's Old Firm game - at Hampden Park - Scotland's national football stadium.
"Another week, another example of the problem Rangers have with a large section of their support.Walter Smith's team, going into Sunday's Co-operative Insurance Cup final as underdogs, won quite a few admirers for their gritty 2-1 win over Celtic.
Alas, no one who was at Hampden Park as a neutral, and who had any understanding of the type of songs that were being sung, could have found anything remotely appealing in the antics of the Rangers support.
For fully 120 minutes the Ibrox legions belted out stuff about the Pope, Fenians, and some of their other favoured subjects.
Quite a few if us have become used to 'the Rangers problem' over the years but Sunday at Hamden was quite an eye opener. It was the consistent, incessant nature of the bigoted chanting that was truly shocking."
Graham Spiers goes on to comment about the lack of any statement from Rangers - after the match - condemning this bigoted, sectarian behaviour.
He suggests that the club, football authorities, police and government - are all guilty of turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the problem - instead of tackling it head on.
And I think he has a good point.
I was not at the match - but I know very well the kind of foul, offensive behaviour that Spiers is complaining about.
The TV coverage tends filter things out - so the majority of people watching from a distance - get a sanitised version of the atmosphere inside the ground.
But make no mistake if this was happening in the street - the offenders would be arrested and heading for the cells.
The people who behave in this way feel there's safety in numbers - and the difficulty of pulling them out of such a large crowd.
To my mind the solution lies with the club, police and football authorities working together - with the backing of the government.
The club should make it plain that these bigoted 'supporters' are not welcome - and that steps will be taken over time - to identify and prevent them from acquiring tickets.
The football authorities can help, of course - they could threaten to impose heavy fines on clubs whose fans are out of control - if things don't change.
Since money talks more than anything else in football - the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds would begin to have a salutary effect - without the need to even think about deducting points.
But the fact that there is a public debate underway is a good thing - and it all stems from people (including the police) refusing to turn a blind eye - or deaf ear - to the problem.
