Rangers have sent a clear message to any supporters using the club as a vessel for far-right messaging.
Rangers have been subjected to another UEFA racism charge – the club’s third in just under six years – for a banner which UEFA have deemed ‘racist’ which was unveiled at the Europa League clash with Fenerbahce.
We’re not 100% sure what the cryptic message was trying to get at, with the banner reading: “Keep woke ideologies out. Defend Europe.”
But it’s that Defend Europe line which has most irked UEFA, this a slogan associated with far-right, anti-immigration and straight up racist movements across the continent.
It’s also a dangerous message which is spreading amongst young men across Europe, with Ultras groups becoming fertile breeding grounds for extremist views.
Whilst on the surface the message might seem innocent to some, on a deeper level it represents a dangerous rhetoric which UEFA does not want to transmit to the rest of the world.
Neither, it is clear, do Rangers.
Rangers send firm message over unacceptable behaviour
Those supporters who’ve adopted this line of thinking have been urged to stay away with Rangers sending a firm message over such behaviour.
In a statement to fans, the club said: “For the avoidance of doubt, if you do not believe in 2025 that absolutely everyone is welcome to follow Rangers whether at Ibrox or away, then Rangers is not the club for you, and you should disassociate yourself with the club immediately.”
Rangers fans roundly hailed the club’s statement in response to the banner and the UEFA charge.
UEFA too reserve the right to punish clubs for allowing their competition to be used for such messaging, something which doesn’t seem to have gotten through to those naive fans who unfurled the banner.
It’s UEFA’s ball and UEFA decide who gets to play. There is no outcome where the need to unfurl these cryptic messages trumps the chance to play in UEFA competition. It is a level of entitlement that is off the charts and any supporter involved should be taken to task.
This kind of thing is a permanent embarrassment to Rangers fans everywhere and the club deserve huge credit for trying to tackle the problem.
Rangers is a club which is open to all members of the community and the Ibrox side are determined to dissociate from anyone who aims to sour the atmosphere at the club.
With Rangers on the verge of a US takeover and as a result a sense of stability supporters have long-craved, as well as having qualified for a Europa League quarter final, all this does is take the shine off the club’s recent achievements.
Nothing good can ever come of it and Rangers must root these this behaviour out, with actions always louder than words.
Rangers host first-of-its kind Muslim Iftar at Ibrox
This week Rangers became the first Scottish football club to host an Iftar, the event hosted at Ibrox in association with the Scottish Asian Business Chamber and Black Rooster.
We are currently in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, where Muslims fast from sunlight to sunset, with the Iftar the name given to the fast-breaking meal after the sun goes down.
Rangers welcomed around 250 guests to Ibrox to engage with the open Iftar alongside Muslim bluenoses and other members of the Scottish Islamic community.
Rangers Charity Foundation CEO Connal Cochrane has explained that diversity and inclusion is ‘really important’ at Ibrox.
”Diversity and inclusion is really important for both the club and the foundation,” said Cochrane. “I know at the foundation we’re a foundation for all.
”Championing diversity and inclusion through our work is something that we’ve been doing for many years.
”So an event like this is such an important way to show that. For so many of the people here, young and old, this is there club.
”I think for both the club and foundation diversity is very important and events like this Scottish Iftar are just one way of showing that.
“It’s one thing to say that people are welcome but it’s important to show it as well and that’s what’s happening (with the Iftar) and hopefully building relationships long into the future.”
The Iftar has also acted as an immense source of pride to Muslim bears, not least Rangers assistant Issame Charai.
Then there are the two young Muslim men in Mohamed Diomande and Hamza Igamane who scored decisive goals for Rangers in the Old Firm derby.
Both also went into Celtic Park, and came out with three points, despite fasting for the entire day and not touching a drop of water.
Such discipline is sorely lacking from the young men who have convinced themselves Rangers can only exist within the confines of their limited world view.
The reality is that Rangers is bigger than them and is a family which incorporates people from all walks of life, religions, races and cultures. It’s a football club open to Everyone, Anyone, which continues to inspire people across the globe.
Recent behaviour might have the club back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, but any true Rangers supporter knows that the only colour that matters is blue.
