Banning Order/Orange Order/Out Of Order/Saps to Order?

Nine Gers fans, we’re told by The Rangers themselves, have been banned from Rangers games because those fans indulged in “sectarian Behaviour”. I’m very interested to know how other Bears feel about this.

So this is just a quick one, troops (after Saturday’s match retort, below, and the great reaction to it, youse cyber Bears all deserve a break! Cheers for the feedback on my Inverness Caley comments, troops and thanks for all the reassuring hysterical reaction from the Celtic fans who posted smug abuse now, when the results really count - in october! :-) I think 2003 and 2005 have really screwed them up: They have absolutley NO FAITH they’ll win any title now, no matter their lead. I’m gonnae do a wee reply on that thread later) and what I’m doing here is more of an opinion poll than my usual shambolic attempts at anything approaching an “article”

One thing to say straight off: I know this causes a lot of confusion when people want to get into it with me on the threads so I want to make it clear now: I don’t think there is any black and white when it comes to the Sectarian issue or, more to the point, what any individial understands as the sectarian issue. For example -

(1)Some folk won’t even admit sectarianism has anything to do with Rangers and Celtic, (2)Some folk think that’s all Rangers and Celtic are about and (3) some folk think it isn’t sectarianism at all to have one particular religion bedded in with your club..

Now I guarantee that little paragraph there has got you all thinking and,more than likely a tad emotional. There’s one wee statement in that pack of three which has ye upset and maybe another one which ye see as a simple statement of fact. Bingo! See what I’m meaning ,now?! There are no easy answers and no clear-cut truths on this topic. No-one thinks the same way on sectarianism and I am very, very happy to admit there’s confusion and fog - in fact I think it’s IMPERATIVE to admit that I have no clear-cut opinion on something which is so hard to judge wholly.

The important thing is to debate and to discuss and to work towards a peace which suits everyone OR, like Paisley and McGuinness at the helm in Northern Ireland, annoys all parties equally.

I think, basically, Rangers are a Protestant club - that’s the identity we’ve got which lies between what those who hate us and those who use hate to follow us would acept as a reasonable definition of what we’re about at our basest level. And I don’t think that being a club with a primarily Protestant support is necessarily sectarian - but I freely admit that identity has been established in sectarian ways in the past by the club itself and even now by some of our fans. But I’m a big believer in context and what was horrific yesterday was not necessarily viewed as horrific thirty years ago - know what I’m sayin.

In that light - the light of me not looking for any definite answers, just opinions - can I ask what everyone thinks of the e-mail we got from Rangers the other day. I’ve posted it below for your re-examination.

And I don’t just mean, do you think it’s right or wrong to ban Rangers fans for singing sectarian songs.

I mean do you think The club are being bullied by UEFA? Are the club happy to make out it’s UEFA forcing us into such action? Do you think the emphasis on how such behaviour effects our UEFA status indicates Rangers have sold-out? Should Rangers officials not be telling UEFA to stick their association - “we will sing what we want!”? If they can approve an Orange strip then how can the Rangers board, just a few years later, be so against the singing of Orange songs? Or is it even sectarian to sing an Orange song? What were the songs those nine fans sung or what was the behaviour they indulged in specifically? Does anyone know? Who can judge what is or isn’t sectarian? When Aberdeen fans sing about the Ibrox disaster, is that not more sickening than “The Cry was No Surrender”? Is there any more than one sectarian lyric in the core Ibrox hymn book?

How do you feel about The Rangers fans who reported those acts of sectarianism among their fellow Bluenoses? Or are people indulging in sectarian songs even entitled to be called REAL Rangers fans? If we’re banning Bluenoses for inappropriate behaviour then why are those who booed our goalkeeper and our manager on Saturday not banned from Ibrox?

If, after decades of not signing Catholics, Rangers are taking such anti-sectarian action, does this indicate the Rangers support has changed in its basic nature - because, ye see, those in charge always want to do that which will keep most fans clicking through the turnstyles .. wont they???

See - I don’t read Follow Follow (don’t have time and I’d just get dragged into debates and discussions - I know I would be on there all night) but I haven’t felt any seismic reaction from Beardom to these banning orders. It seems to me that, as per the Mojo signing, the Rangers support’s mass actions speaks louder than a few season ticket-burners. I was dead against us signing Johnston because he was Catholic and because I believed it went against our club’s reason for existing so brightly and because, MAINLY, it brought a whole lot of middle class arseholes into my face telling me it was “the right thing to do” - If I pay for Rangers then I get to say what Rangers should and shouldn’t do - ME, US, GERS FANS, no-one else. but Mojo Came and Mojo scored and Mojo was brilliant for Rangers - ESPECIALLY against Celtic - and that was that for me and 99.9% of other doubters. The crowds went up when Mojo signed.

I have a strong feeling the crowds will go up as a result of these banning orders. It depresses me that we’ve been told what to do by UEFA and by the Daily Fucking Record. It impresses me that we’ve decided, enmasse, to do the clever thing from a UEFA pov but was it the RIGHT thing to do for the soul of our support, for our self-respect? Shoudl we not have sorted this out ourselves? All we have to do with Hullo Hullo is change one wee lyric and we can sing it to our hearts’ content - why haven’t we agreed on that lyric? Make it “we’re up to our knees in Toast and Cheese” - it’s so ridiculous and harmless it’s genious and it lets us keep the tune and the war cry which made Ibrox bounce like no other. It’d be a sign of a self-policing which does what WE want to do rather than what the fekin papers tell us to do.

I think it’ll be just like Mojo - all the bluster from loudmouth zealots will lose out to the majority just wanting an easy life. Is that what Follow Following The Teds is all about - keeping the peace and doing what we’re told? Keeping Rangers is more important than keeping sectarianism - ABSOLUTELY! - but sometimes ye need one type of zealot to keep another kind in check. How long before the very act of supporting Rangers is seen as sectarian in itself?

Slippery slopes.

If ye tolerate this then your children will be next.

etc

What dae ye think troops?

Honest opinions wanted.

Honest!

===================
Rangers Football Club announced today (Friday, 13 October 2006) it has banned nine supporters from games involving the Club following “sectarian behaviour” at matches this season.

Six fans have been banned from all home and away games following Rangers SPL fixture at Dunfermline earlier this season. The supporters were ejected from East End Park for sectarian chanting.

Laurence Macintyre, Head of Safety, said: “I want to acknowledge the co-operation of the supporters’ club that helped us identify those acting inappropriately at the Dunfermline game and commend them for embarking on their own initiatives to eradicate sectarian supporters from within their club.”

Two fans have also been banned from all Rangers games following sectarian behaviour at the match against Aberdeen at Ibrox. This followed information provided to the Club via the dedicated Hotline at Ibrox and verified by the Club using plain clothes stewards.

In addition, one supporter was banned from all European away games and the Rangers Travel Club following “inappropriate behaviour” at the Molde v Rangers game in September. This fan was reported and identified by fellow supporters and investigated by the Club.

Laurence Macintyre, commented: “The vast majority of our supporters realise the importance of rooting out sectarian behaviour from all football matches and there is a growing confidence amongst our decent fans to pin-point those that continue to let the Club down.

“The two young men banned after the home game against Aberdeen, aged 22 and 23, have now lost their season tickets and have paid the price for behaving unacceptably. Rangers no longer issue warnings for sectarian behaviour.

“Rangers has a very important phase coming up in Europe and it is vital that supporters are fully aware of the consequences of bad behaviour.”

Since the 1st of September 2006, fans arrested in Scotland run the risk of receiving Football Banning Orders from the Courts. These can prevent fans from attending matches for up to 10 years, as well as restricting access in town centres, railway stations and specific public houses on match days.

Macintyre added: “Fans arrested for sectarian behaviour will likely be subject to Banning Orders from the Courts and their lives will be turned upside down.

“I recently met someone who was the subject of a Banning Order in England. He told me of the anxiety he faced in telling his family he couldn’t accompany them to restaurants on match days or travel on holiday at certain times because he had to surrender his passport when England were playing abroad.”

In the last eight years, Rangers has banned more than 400 people for all forms of inappropriate behaviour.

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Published:
10.17.06 / 7pm
Category:
News