It’s amazing how some subjects can just seize the attention, regardless of whatever else is going on. Football is no different from any other aspect of life in this regard.
We have FIFA hiring blatantly corrupt individuals in top positions again, yet the last couple of weeks have been dominated by Arsene Wenger’s decision to stay or not, as Sky Sports News always seems to do around this time of year. Liverpool have just been banned from signing Academy players for a year at least but, despite what should be an absolute panning for irregular behaviour, it’s the injury to Sadio Mane that dominates the headlines.
And for Rangers – after a poor draw away to Kilmarnock, where real debate could have been about the tactics employed, the starting team, the performances of players many were sure were being held back by previous management, the biggest talking point among the support seemed to be the songs we were singing on the night rather than the way Beerman impressed or Bates grew into the game. Even after the weekend, a cracking result against Aberdeen, the topic was raised again, highlighted further by Sky Sports’ quite noticeable muting of the sound coming from the fans during their presentation.
Now, some might say that’s just the “internet community” of fans but, there’s more than enough people involved there to suggest that the views held reflect the wider support in general. Simple statistics would suggest it’s by far a large enough sample when hundreds of people are discussing on messageboards, tweeting about it and generally letting that be the story.
If I’m honest, I find myself in a bit of a confused place when it comes to this subject. I tend to need debate and points of view to truly form my own opinion on something, and yet I’m not sure I’ve quite got there on this one, because I don’t believe I’ve heard a good argument on either side of the debate as of yet.
Let’s start by considering the situation at large. Sectarianism and bigotry in Scotland was a nigh-on dead concept not so long ago. No matter the city or society, you’ll get isolated cases of it, but when Catholic schools are state-funded to the extent where they can hold illegal hiring practices, and far more people who identify as Catholic in Glasgow hold top-paying jobs when compared to the societal make-up of the city, it’s pretty clear that the days of Catholics being held back are long gone. Out of pretty much nowhere, though, the Labour Government in Scotland started to target football fans as being “Scotland’s Shame”, and the SNP were happy to run with this once they got in power. These deflection tactics, aimed at winning votes from people who don’t really look at the truly important stuff, led to the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act in 2012.
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Take a second to think about that. Offensive Behaviour at “Football”. Not at work, or school, or a concert, or games of Rugby or Basketball or Hockey – just football. A whole law aimed at turning football fans into would-be criminals and lumping them together as some sort of mass delinquent body. If that alone doesn’t make it a farce, the way it’s been enacted since becoming law certainly does. When someone can get a longer jail sentence for singing a song than they do for attacking someone at their place of work, your system is clearly broken.
Despite the cries of many claiming we’re acting as some sort of victims, it’s clear Rangers fans were targeted more than most. The UEFA ban on a song driven by an organisation which has never got involved in such things before or since is the best example of that by far, and there are many.
So we have a law that’s a joke and media, organisations and governing bodies focusing loads on Rangers fans. And that’s what drives some to question why fans sing songs which are deemed to be on the wrong side of this legislation. Inevitably, that leads to a reaction from those who think the whole situation is a farce and they should be allowed to sing what they want, and said debates go exactly as you’d expect. I’m going to try and give my opinion whilst acknowledging that’s purely what it is. It’s nothing particularly new or astonishing, but I’d consider it a starting point in the debate, and one which would welcome an alternative viewpoint.
I absolutely agree with the need and desire to create an atmosphere at games, to enjoy the experience whilst trying to drive the team on, but why are so many songs about hating Celtic or Catholics? Sure, you’re allowed to hold that opinion if you want, and there’s plenty of reasons to do so, but it dominates our songbook and I can’t see why.
Why sing about Bobby Sands being dead rather than celebrate our founders? Why pretty much joke about child abuse – and that’s what it is, no matter how you paint it – rather than sing songs about the way McCoist, Goram and Laudrup ripped them to shreds on the park more than once? Why sing about conflicts which don’t hold any real significance in this city anymore, and certainly don’t have anything to do with Rangers as a club, instead of getting a song for Barrie McKay who is the only player to excite us in years?
I understand that it’s trying to generate an atmosphere a lot of the time, and certain songs we’re told are on the naughty list do that very well, but the arguments for singing them at games don’t come down to that. Simply, those who revel in that will tell us that it’s about our traditions (no it’s not), or believe that it’s somehow their right to sing whatever they want. Neither argument is anywhere near deductive. The atmosphere can be more than good enough without that type of song, so why are those the main choice? Do the positives of those outweigh the potential negatives?
I know how this comes across to many. I’ll be called a handwringer, surrender monkey or worse. I’ve had that thrown my way for years, like many who ask the questions or hold this view. None of that is going to make me change my mind on this. What I’m asking for, and I’m very keen to hear it, is a logical argument for the inclusion of those songs in every match we attend which benefits the club as a whole (and let’s not forget, the club has asked numerous times for the support to move away from this), and where the positives are well worth fighting for. Right now, I can’t see anything beyond “I’ll sing what I want and I don’t care”, and that’s the reasoning of a spoiled child. I’m open to a new opinion if the reasoning can be shown to be sound enough to make that the better choice, so let me hear them. Are they being drowned out, or do they simply not exist?
The Offensive Behaviour at Football Act is a joke, but you don’t beat that by simply falling foul of it on a constant basis. The only victims here are the club, who we all want the best for, and individual fans who’ll be harshly made examples of in the pursuit of favourable political rhetoric. None of what so many are defending so vociferously right now makes any sense to me, and I don’t know if I can get on board with the notion that it’s just totally indefensible when so many feel so passionately about it. There’s a huge amount of Rangers fans far more intelligent than I am, so I ask – what am I missing? What are we getting out of this that has to be there for Rangers to flourish?