Celtic fans sing the praises of sectarian anthems

SECTARIANISM has been widely condemned as a cancer in Scottish society that has divided communities and cost lives for generations. The nation’s leading football clubs, Rangers and Celtic, often stand accused of being magnets for bigotry.

But a new book written by leading Celtic supporters controversially hits back this week, claiming that sectarian tensions have been fuelled, rather than defused, by attempts to strip the club and its fans of their Irish roots.

A series of hard-hitting essays argues that Celtic and its traditions, including flying the Irish tricolour at matches, are a legitimate focus for the large Irish immigrant community that settled in the Glasgow area in the 19th century.

A central theme of Celtic Minded is that attempts to crack down on the club’s alleged sectarian symbols have served only to polarise communities and stoke religiously motivated violence.

One of the contributors is Tommy Gemmell, a highly regarded former Celtic full-back who, despite his Protestant background, says the singing of traditional Irish songs by fans should be accepted as part of the club’s history.

Composer James MacMillan, who caused a storm five years ago when he claimed Scotland was rife with anti-Catholicism, now asks if there was a "sexual element" to the anti-Catholic bullying he endured during his 1960s childhood in the Ayrshire town of Cumnock.

"We were the ‘feminine’ and ‘weaker’ religion after all," MacMillan writes. "All that Virgin Mary worship and imagine allowing yourself to be belted by ‘Penguins’ (the Cumnock word for nuns). And we were the perennial losers from the Battle of the Boyne to the various battles of Ibrox (up to circa 1966)."

The prevailing mentality was that "these ‘rogerings’ were deserved, and the administration of them thoroughly deserved," MacMillan adds.

Celtic Minded has been compiled by Dr Joseph Bradley, a lecturer in sports studies at the University of Stirling and the author of several books on sport and religion in Scotland.

Bradley said what came across strongly was that anti-Irishness and a related anti-Catholicism, although declining, had been part of the Scottish scene for more than a century.

"There are people living in Scotland who consider their Irishness to be primary," he said. "They feel that their community has not been recognised and that is why Celtic has become so important.

"That community founded Celtic. They will always express themselves through that and will continue to do so. Celtic is an Irish club in Scotland but it and its fans have attracted a lot of opprobrium because of that."

The book charts the animosity towards the flying of the tricolour that persists to this day. In 1952, after spectator trouble involving Catholic and Rangers fans, the Scottish Football Association tried to ban flags that were construed to have nothing to do with Scotland.

But the SFA lacked the means to enforce its demand and the attempt petered out. The Irish flag remains flying at Celtic Park and among the club’s supporters, most prominently at last year’s UEFA cup final in Spain. Bradley believes trying to ban traditional symbols of Irishness only serves to fuel sectarian tensions.

"They see themselves as a community partly under siege and in continual conflict because of the dilution of their identity," he said. "The idea of trying to get these people to conform to a view of Scottishness that suits the majority is not the way forward. A degree of loyalty has to be given to the state that people live in but there are other cultural things that matter on a daily basis.

"You should be able to express your primary identity. When we see people flying the tricolour or the Union Jack we shouldn’t get it out of proportion. Rangers and its supporters also have every right to assert their British identity."

Bradley said he "loathed" sectarianism.

"This book is a statement against sectarianism and I hope it will make some headway against this phenomenon in Scotland."

Willy Maley, professor of English literature at Glasgow University and another contributor to the book, agreed that past anti-Catholic and anti-Irish attitudes in Scotland had fuelled sectarianism.

"If you back people into a corner and take away their symbols of identity it polarises opinion and makes sectarian violence more probable," he said. "If you try to ban something then everyone wants it. It breeds monsters. Recognising those symbols as legitimate should reduce tensions."

One man who has been at the sharp end of the sectarian debate in Scotland is Donald Findlay, the Glasgow QC who stepped down as Rangers’ vice-chairman in 2000 after being caught on film singing ‘The Sash’, a song that commemorates a famous Protestant victory over Catholic forces in Ireland.

Findlay said in the past he had defended the right of Celtic fans to fly the tricolour as much as Rangers’ fans right to display the Union flag.

"If this book is advocating respect for everyone’s traditions then I would be in total agreement. There are both Catholic and Protestant songs that cause offence to the other side.

"So there is much to be said for saying to people have your traditions but update them and take out the most offensive aspects. The fact you stand up for something doesn’t mean you are hostile to another man’s traditions and viewpoint."

Stamping out sectarianism became a Scottish Executive goal after a series of murders and assaults involving Celtic and Rangers fans. Although the figures are disputed, one Glasgow University study recorded 11 deaths linked to sectarianism between 1984 and 2001.

Last year, a new law came into effect that for first time linked crimes with religious hatred. Between June and February this year, 260 people have been charged by police.