Hun - The Sectarian Myth.

A new campaign has been brought to my attention via twitter to make the use of the word "Hun" illegal. This campaign is based wholly on the myth that the use of this term is "sectarian" in their words "term of religious hatred, a derogatory and sectarian term for a protestant or those perceived to be protestant by supporters of other football teams".

This is in its basic form a lie and they know it. The campaign is a desperate grasp at a few remaining straws by an organisation trying desperately and failing to distance itself from a so called "small minority" of the Ibrox fan base who engage genuine sectarian behaviour, by throwing mud in the direction of other fans and hoping enough sticks that they can use to deflect from their in house problems by pointing in any direction and exclaiming 'look, they dae it tae' in the most petty and childish way.

The term Hun being used as a term for Rangers(1872 & 2012) fans and players has nothing to do with religion.

This is not however the first time this tactic has been deployed. In 2008 after Celtic played Aalborg a letter of complaint was sent to UEFA from a concerned person at the use of the chant 'NO HUNS IN EUROPE!' by Celtic fans. However UEFA responded: "With all respect to your personal feelings and impression, the terms you object to do not appear to be connected with racial abuse or discrimination." 

There are differing versions of the origin of the term Hun being used to describe this groups of people. The one which holds the most weight is that they were described by an English journalist in the early 1960's as "coming across the border like marauding huns." due to the destruction they had caused in the local area. This nor any other version I have seen of the term could be construed as religious in my opinion.

The best way to illustrate that religion is not a factor in who is and is not a Hun is to look at some of the most high profile players, players anyone who uses the term would tell youis one, for example Maurice Johnston: the first Roman Catholic to sign for Rangers is most definitely a hun. Novo, Mccann, Amoruso, Albertz, Andrews and more recently Mohsni and Jon Daly are all "Non Protestants" for want of a better term who are all without a shadow of a doubt Huns.

This campaign is a nonsense at base level and should be viewed as such but this being Scotland it will be used by lazy sports journalists to fill column inches and to create punchy attention grabbing headlines.

We expect nothing less, all we can do is stand our ground with the truth on our side.

Sack the board ? Part 2.

A couple of months back I wrote a blog titled "Sack The Board?" which I later expanded for an article for CQN Magazine which can be found through the links. At the time it was met with quite a lot of criticism due to the board and then new manager being under a significant amount of pressure.

Today with the results of the S&P Capital IQ list of the most stable clubs in Europe in which Celtic were named the third most stable club Europe behind only Ajax and Arsenal and the club "least likely to default" in the Credit Football League of 44 public and private European clubs. I was compelled to write this follow up to that blog.

My obvious question would be are there still those among our support who would want to "sack the board" ? Are the detractors who were so vocal all those months ago about how Mr Lawwell and co. were "taking the heart of our club" or the various other accusations leveled at the board of directors, are they still as adamant that these men are so wrong for our club?

We are now experiencing a good period on and off the pitch being in 4 competitions, the squad in playing well and with a couple of impressive late signings in the January transfer window.

My point, I guess is that if people are so quick to criticise during the bad times we should all take a moment to say well done during the good times.

To the men who make our club a financial success, I salute you.