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.

Acceptable Violence

Over the last few days I have found my attention drawn to the Scottish print media, in particular the "Red tops" this in itself is somewhat of a surprise given that  I don't buy the papers and rarely find any of what they write in their "unbiased" "journalism" worthy of reading.

However in these latest instances I have found myself (not for the first time) not only miffed by the poor standard of people who hold the most prominent roles in the MSM in Scotland but by the trivialisation of what in any other circumstance would be treated as a very serious incident.

A man being knocked unconscious in the street, regardless of who he is should be unacceptable in any modern city. Glasgow is no different in this respect.

However, Scotlands most popular newspapers feel that the fact that Lukasz Zaluska wears a Celtic top to his day job means that it is acceptable to make his ordeal a laughing matter with headlines such as "bashed in lane" "goal keeker" "peek a bruise" and the like. I'm sure if a print journalist was beaten in the street you'd be hard pushed to find the headline "hack cracked" on the front page of any of these papers,though that is neither here nor there.

Whether or not this is an attempt to play to a target audience of these papers as I have seen suggested might find it funny that a Celtic player has been given a black eye,I don't know but the fact remains that this type of reporting is  completely devoid of respect or empathy and this is representative of our society as a whole not just a "target audience".

As I mentioned earlier this is clearly not a new thing yet people continue to buy these papers religiously. I understand that there may not many alternatives to paper readily available but the only way things will change is if people stop buying them.

Take a stand, Dont Buy The Record or The Sun.

Let The People Sing?

"Let the people sing their stories and their songs
And the music of their native land "

These lyrics ring around Celtic Park just before kick off at every home game ....and so they should although, now the sentiments seem to have been lost. Every time I hear the song start up at paradise, I sing along of course but it sets me thinking.

"For those who are oppressed, in song you can protest...". Well apparently not if the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 is anything to go by.

Don't get me wrong, I do understand that some songs are unacceptable and that they cannot be tolerated, having said that the wide scope and in some parts hypocritical nature of this bill is beyond belief. The fact Roll Of Honour is one of the song banned under this Act yet Flower Of Scotland which includes the lyrics "But we can still rise now, And be the nation again, That stood against him" is nothing short of laughable.

Again I run the risk of being misunderstood, I have nothing against the National anthem I am Scottish, and proudly so yet I am also proud of my Irish heritage and if the lyrics of each song are examined impartially think it is plain to see which come across as more inflammatory or provocative of violence. This is my point about the hypocritical nature of the Scottish Governments act.

Celtic Football Club should be looking at helping out the fans in this situation, have CLEAR lists put forward about which songs are acceptable and unacceptable and challenge the ruling when we don't agree, work with the fans to come to an agreement rather than allowing people to be banned from football of imprisoned for singing certain songs, otherwise Celtic show the same hypocrisy as the Government by playing Let The People Sing at matches.

This is not a blog in unadulterated support of The Green Brigade, I am talking above about Celtic fans as a whole. I do not think the Green Brigade have been treated completely fairly but that is for another time.

We need our fans to be able to sing and express themselves at football and for some people to know be fearing going to the football in case a song they sing lands them with a criminal record is unacceptable.

Let The People Sing.