I understand where you are coming from. Even as a young lad maybe 10 or 11 years old I have memories of Celtic fans singing the Irish national anthem and Irish rebel songs. Celtic a Scottish club but with very deep Irish roots. The anti brittish agenda perhaps only came to prominence imo during the thatcher years. As for the other lot. Their pro English leaning seemed to start when Souness introduced England Internationalists Butcher, Stevens, Woods etc in the late 70s. To me they are just a couple of very mixed up clubs with a thuggish support.
You are dealing with this kind of thing - and no action from the Scottish Government. If this happened outside a mosque they’d all be in jail. The fact is anti-Catholic prejudice and discrimination is a far bigger problem in wider society and amongst Rangers fans then a few Celtic fans singing fields of Athenry and refusing to wear poppies.
Dales Tyke. Can I tell you I have many friends who support rangers or celtic and I know of many more. All the ranger's supporters are protestants with a dislike of catholics. And all the celtic supporters I know are catholics with a dislike of protestants, except one who is a Muslim. But one thing is common to them all and that is none and I mean none go to football. How pathetic is that?
Pretty grim Ian. As I say, not usually my experience of travelling up with Celtic fans from England over 30 years. Not that i’m making a point of English superiority - particularly at this time!!
I don’t doubt anything of what you’ve said about the why’s, when and what fors of yours and others reasons and experiences of supporting Celtic. The Irish connection is obvious because of the Club’s roots. Surely an experience is genuine whether they’re similar to another’s. So are you suggesting that Ian’s experience/s are not genuine because they may differ to yours , which incidentally is great to hear. Also, I don’t believe that all people who haven’t had that ‘genuine experience’ are taking a lazy clumsy approach or being gullible. Bigots, knuckle daggers call them what you will, are both the same, opposite sides of the coins. That is the same in all cases where groups from opposing teams gleefully fight each other. I would like to attend an Old Firm Derby as neutral but I fear I will witness the aforementioned unpleasantness even it is in the minority
Of course not mate. I just wanted to point out my experience here. Like you say it is grim. My local is pretty evenly split regarding teams they support. It's a 4 way thing. Obviously United and Dundee fans with celtic and rangers TV fans turning up when they are on the TV.
I’m afraid your credibility has just gone down the pan Ian. Are you seriously suggesting Arabs go into pubs and make their allegiances known in this day and age!! I fear you may be living in a parallel universe where reality never impinges!
You might not believe this mate but a couple of weeks ago I had a pint with Sparky and watched Man U play Wolves in Chennels. Place had maybe 20+ man u fans in it. Most dressed up in man u tops but very few actually watching the game but all had an opinion to share. Strange.
Fair question Bud. To answer you, in all honesty I think English football fans are pretty lazy in their stereotyping of both Scottish football and seeing Celtic/Rangers as no different from each other, and I think many of my fellow BBS’ (for all the fact I love them to bits) fall into that category. It’s unthinking sneeriness, hence the ref to Daily Mail readers. But on reflection, maybe the Sun would be a better analogy.
