WARNING - EXTREMELY LONG POST ALERT! 😆
Xcdude24 wrote:
Great post, Tam, and thanks for clearing that up.
A couple questions for you:
-Do you agree with Strathclyde Police's recommendation to stop Old Firm mtaches?
I wouldn’t agree with that. Again, without meaning to pick out mistakes, this is slightly wrong though. The chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, the representative body for cops, said in an idea world that old firm games would be banned due to the ‘murder and mayhem’ caused by it, to put it in his own words. But he realises it would be unlikely if not impossible and hasn't actually called for it.
I understand the reasoning though, it is a disgraceful amount of trouble that accompanies these games. At the end of the day there are guys lying in hospital beds with slash marks on their faces and stab marks in their torso that will have a bearing on the rest of their lives, and it is all due to a game of football. It’s a terrible price to pay for some.
In my opinion there are two main aspects to this, firstly reducing the problems like above that are caused by the games, and secondly the strain put on resources due to policing the game itself and the force area afterwards. As long as Rangers play Celtic scenarios like the above will occur in great numbers after the games throughout Glasgow and beyond. One thing I’d like to highlight though is that whiles sectarianism is an issue, trouble is often due to people being Rangers or Celtic fans, it’s not necessarily because they are catholic or protestant, which is something I think can get misunderstood. The cut in police budgets makes responding to incidents like that and proactively reducing trouble more difficult.
The demand placed on police resources due to violence and disorder is huge for these games. I work for Strathclyde Police, in the same office as the Football Intelligence Officer for Rangers as it happens, and its an eye opener seeing how much work goes into planning in the run up to these games to ensure they are as trouble free as possible. This is completely up to Strathclyde Police, clubs only pay for policing within the stadium, which was due to change but I’m not sure if it has yet or not. Anyway, that is only a minor part of the policing operation on the day and budget cuts are only going to make policing these games and the fallout from them more difficult. That’s why I think it’s vitally important that actions on the pitch don’t incite trouble amongst the fans. I don’t want the passion taken out the game, and it doesn’t need to be, but the scenes of last month make an already difficult task near impossible to keep under control.
-Are there anything the clubs themselves can do to combat the issue? Sectarianism is obviously deep-seated(EG, brought about by schooling patterns, residential segregation, etc), but again, I'm not too enlightened on the specific issue.
Leading on from above, I think the main think the clubs can do is take more responsibility for how their actions influence the wider public. Neither club wants to back down, and incidents like Diouf going to the crowd, or Celtic/Lennon’s perpetuation of nonsensical conspiracy theories against them from the SFA get fans backs up and create more of an uneasy atmosphere than is necessary. I want games to be intimidating and full of passion, but that doesn’t need to be fuelled by any outside factors, there is enough ingrained in the psyche of the fans already.
There are generations lost to sectarianism and bigotry. Efforts are being made to educate youngsters these days, with success I’m sure, but there will always be a number who go home to families who see the other side as ‘Orange Bastards’ or ‘Fenian Bastards’. And for that reason this will always be an issue. Once that is someone's mindset, there is no changing it.
In my own opinion and from my experiences, and I’m choosing my words carefully here so as to not attract any allegations of bias, catholic schools may present a problem with regard to this as does it effectively foster an us and them attitude. My own school was non-denominational and I found people mixed better. I’m not criticising catholic schooling in itself; however they appear unwilling to recognise this may present an issue, which effectively shuts down another road to curing this disease before it can be explored properly.
Do you know what I find so ludicrous about it all? I’d say most of the people involved aren’t religious at all until it comes to old firm day, and couldn’t tell you the first thing about the proper history of where all this trouble stems from. It really is a disease borne out of ignorance and stupidity.
