Following an Executive Committee
Meeting of the Celtic Supporters Association we would like to express our full
backing for Martin O’Neill with regards to his factually correct comments
concerning racial and sectarian abuse received by both himself and Neil Lennon
at the recent Old Firm game at Ibrox.
Whilst others have buried their
head in the sand and chose to deny the obvious massive sectarian and racist
cancer within Ibrox Park, we at the Celtic Supporters Association are happy to
recognise our responsibilities and we are willing to engage in debate with
representatives of the Scottish Executive, Celtic, Rangers, the SFA, UEFA and
the European Union if need be in an effort to admit to our failings in Scottish
Football and get together to make a serious effort in ridding our game of
sectarianism and racism.
In a week where Spanish fans
were correctly vilified for the disgraceful racist abuse of England players once
again the Scottish media, who have a massive role to play, have shown double
standards and hypocrisy in their reporting of the Old Firm game. Imagine if Sven
Goran Eriksson had led his black players to the away fans at the end of the
game in Madrid? He would have been portrayed as a national hero. Martin
O’Neill leads Neil Lennon out of harms way to salute the Celtic fans in defeat
and he is vilified. Only in this country could the victim be seen as the
villain.
The time has come for all
involved to get round the table and discuss our differences whilst at the same
time respecting each other’s traditions. Never before has this happened and
that is part of the problem. Whilst accepting that we are not perfect and
recognising that we have issues which we have to deal with on a lesser scale, is
there really a need in the year 2004 for Rangers fans to scream vile sectarian
abuse at Irish and/or Catholic players and fans? If Martin O’Neill and Neil
Lennon were black the condemnation of racism would be overwhelming. Why then
is it more acceptable in Scottish society to abuse Irish Catholics than it is to
abuse black players? We appeal to the many decent Rangers fans, of which we
know there are plenty, to break their silence before the problem escalates any
further, something which we would never condone.
Sectarianism is Scotland’s
cancer and after the recent events at Ibrox we have reached a watershed in our
national sport. Do we continue to ignore the problem and hope it goes away or do
we tackle it head on?
We urge Celtic Football Club to
respond to the SFA’s statement and make official our complaint of the
sectarian and racial abuse received by Martin O’Neill and Neil Lennon at Ibrox
as the first step.
We also urge all concerned to
join us around the table and thrash out a solution to the evils in our game,
once and for all.