While ploughing through hundreds of pages of hysterical drivel about Alex Salmond in the Scottish press this week, extra-alert readers may have also been aware of quite a stushie going on between the SNP-controlled Glasgow City Council (GCC) and a group of representatives and fans of Scotland’s newest professional football club The Rangers FC, such as Tory list MSP Adam “WATP” Tomkins (pictured below).
Most of Scottish Twitter has been enjoying itself greatly for the last few hours after England’s exit from the World Cup, but scattered in amongst the amusing memes has been a fair amount of angst about victors Croatia – a nation of 4 million people – being in the final when Scotland once again failed to qualify.
And while we’ll more than happily listen to any amount of criticism of the unbelievably incompetent, hapless clowns who’ve been in charge of the SFA/SPL/SPFL for the last several decades, that judgement is a bit harsh on the players and coaches and the nation as a whole. Because there really hasn’t been much in it.
Scotland’s qualification for World Cup 2018 hinged and ultimately faltered on a split second and a single badly-chosen pass in stoppage time.
One of the uglier facets of opposition to the hugely-popular but now-repealed Offensive Behaviour (Football) Act was the 100% uniform stance against it in the Scottish press. Despite the Act being backed by a large majority of voters across every demographic and political divide, not one print or broadcast journalist ever stood up for the public.
The reason, of course, is that bigots (and lurid stories about them) are a large part of what keeps the Scottish media’s life support machine functioning, and so the media panders cynically to the extremist sections of the Celtic and “Rangers” support who still buy papers for the latest transfer gossip and soft-soap interviews with ex-players.
And so it is with a remarkably mad front-page lead in today’s Sunday Herald.
The paper reports that “over half” – 44 out of 86 – outstanding OBFA charges have been “converted” into other types of offences and are still being prosecuted by the independent Crown Office, claiming without explanation that this is “an embarrassing move for the SNP Government”.
Much of central Cowdenbeath was closed down for several hours by the police yesterday to facilitate an Orange Order parade attended by DUP leader Arlene Foster. (Curiously, Ruth Davidson, who’d been vocal in her complaints about traffic disruption in Glasgow due to the recent Yes march, had no objections this time.)
Foster made an audaciously ironic plea for a nation “free from intolerance and hatred“, right before the next speaker stepped up to denounce large sections of the local population as “enemies of Christ”.
And no, we don’t even mean the FOUR spelling mistakes in this 42-word tweet.
We mean the bit that we’ve highlighted above in blue. Because what Scottish Labour’s lowest-watt bulb was gloating about earlier today was that Lord Bracadale concluded there’d been no gap created in the law by the Kelly-driven abolition of the OBFA.
And that’s… well, that’s not quite what Lord Bracadale said.
We could all do with some cheering up at the moment, so it’s with great pleasure that we can announce fantastic news for Scotland – the ancient plague of sectarianism has finally been defeated once and for all!
At least, we assume it MUST have been, because this week the Scottish Parliament is set to give its final assent – thanks to Labour, the Tories, the Liberal Democrats and the all-important Scottish Greens – to abolishing the Offensive Behaviour (Football) Act, against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the Scottish population.
And as we can plainly observe from events yesterday, they would only be doing that if sectarianism was no longer a problem and it was safe to send out an encouraging message to the bigots that their worldview is now acceptable in Scotland again.
Not too many surprises here. (Except, perhaps, the 18% of respondents who claimed to be football fans yet also said they had no interest in the World Cup.)
Excluding the disinterested the numbers were:
England 24% England’s opponents 38% Others 40%
And for people actually born in Scotland the figures came out at
England 20% England’s opponents 41% Others 39%
And that’s pretty much the natural order of things. If you’re a “Rangers” fan and you cheer for Celtic when they play (let’s not say “compete”) in the Champions League, or a Celtic fan who backed “Rangers” in the Petrofac Training Cup, you’re the weirdo.
Deep in the summer news desert, the papers today are struggling for material again. The Sunday Herald has a shock-horror front-page exposé about some photos from an Orange Lodge party that turn out to be from 2010 and 2013, while the Scottish Mail On Sunday reaches all the way back to 1940 to fill a couple of pages.
Last week the walking monotone drone that is James Kelly MSP lodged a motion (an inescapably appropriate term for his output, it must be said) at the Scottish Parliament instigating his private members’ bill to repeal the Offensive Behaviour (Football) Act, having announced his intention to do so in February after putting together a ludicrously bogus “consultation” on the subject last year.
As ever, Kelly trotted out a mixture of baseless assertions and flat-out lies about the Act in support of his move, because apparently the most pressing issue currently facing Scotland, in the view of Scottish Labour, is that bigoted thugs must once again be free to sing about being up to their knees in Fenian blood, or lionise murderous terrorists, at sporting events without fear of prosecution.
Tremendous news for the rest of Scotland’s football clubs as Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers promises never to win the treble unbeaten again, even if his side score more goals than the other team in all their matches.
…is roughly how often Aberdeen get to the final of the Scottish Cup these days. The last time was 17 years ago – a tournament which started in the last century and ended the year Rangers started paying their players with EBTs – when SFA rules meant that they had to play almost the entire game without a recognised goalkeeper.
(A tackle in the third minute broke veteran custodian Jim Leighton’s jaw, and because you were only allowed three players on the subs bench the Dons had no backup No.1 and had to put striker Robbie Winters between the sticks, with a predictable outcome. Leighton never played professional football again.)
In politics, Labour were only one year into the first ever administration of the modern Scottish Parliament, and still in the first term of Tony Blair’s rule at Westminster. The idea of the SNP winning an election, let alone holding an independence referendum, was the preserve of mad fantasists.
And the last time the Pittodrie side actually won the trophy was 27 years back, which is so long ago that most of Hampden was still open to the elements.
Still, it would be weird if we got to the final again next year and some of the Aberdeen support refused to go on the grounds that the matter of who was the best cup football team in Scotland had been settled forever today.
Or if Celtic won but had fielded an ineligible player and the SFA ordered a replay, but the Dons declined to take part because they’d played too many finals recently.
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Stu. Is everyone having problems posting today, or just a few, do you know,” May 13, 14:18
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Amthem some of my posts are being delayed or not appearing at all, but I did respond to your last…” May 13, 14:13
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Anthem, It is the ability of Westminster having two two governing bodies over Scotland bringing in two tiers of laws…” May 13, 14:05
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Xaracen. How do you square the voting system for Scots to have representatives in the parliament of Great Britain, Westminster…” May 13, 13:42
Anthem on The Blindness Of Hatred: “But surely Westminster/English based parties can’t vote on Scottish only matters. As in the similar unwritten rule in Westminster? If…” May 13, 13:34
Mark Beggan on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Blinded by power and control. The only cure for the far left is the far right.In the land of the…” May 13, 13:25
Xaracen on The Blindness Of Hatred: ““The concept of the ‘sovereign Scots’ is interesting.” It is, you should look into it. A Real and Ancient Constitution” May 13, 12:20
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Haven’t you decided we’re all doomed? It’s obvious enough that your real gripe is that you disagree with what a…” May 13, 12:11
factchecker on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Actually, Marie, I’m not sure they have ever decided anything. You can’t really make a decision on something you haven’t…” May 13, 11:39
Skip_NC on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Ah, but it depends a lot on how you define “get who you voted for.” Local? National? Mixture? If local,…” May 13, 10:57
Marie on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Scots don’t decide anything – they haven’t decided anything for hundreds of years.” May 13, 10:47
Rob on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Are folk here making the claim that the existing SP voting system works and is somehow better than WM? Really?” May 13, 09:49
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Which hat will the parliament in Scotland be wearing when it votes for the assisted dying bill in or out…” May 13, 09:48
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Governments are there to govern the people within reason, not to make a personal profits from the proceeds of selling…” May 13, 09:26
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Skip-NC, No Skip I do Not, Iam am just suggesting that we simplify the system in Scotland so you actually…” May 13, 09:01
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Today’s vote on the assisted dying bill will hold up a mirror to the true opinions of our legislative elite.…” May 13, 07:33
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Not just yoons. Anybody who even looks like they might not see eye-to-eye with you on everything. Why take chances?” May 13, 07:22
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: “You’re 74 TH, so surely ideal guinea pig material. Why don’t you step up to the plate and give the…” May 13, 07:15
GM on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Yes, a good writer. I don’t know here bu A genuine person I believe. I read her articles.” May 12, 22:45
Anthem on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Totally agree James. I’ve suggested many times that it will be English mps at Westminster that’ll cause the union to…” May 12, 21:17
Dan on The Blindness Of Hatred: “I’m appreciative of a lot of Leah Gunn Barrett’s output. https://dearscotland.substack.com/p/privatisation-foreign-ownership-and It sure beats a pair of dung beetles argybargying…” May 12, 20:14
Robert Matthews on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Great idea sarah, i think i will too.” May 12, 19:44
Skip_NC on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Sarah, ach, I wonder if Alba senior leadership is still struggling with Alex’s death. There is a lot of talk…” May 12, 19:32
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Dishonesty is the hallmark of how he handles all interactions with anyone.” May 12, 19:27
Skip_NC on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Do you really want a system where two main parties take turns at being an elective dictatorship? It’s all very…” May 12, 19:19
George Ferguson on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Good article Stu on the Electoral Stats. One thing I would have commented on was the win versus expenses ratio.…” May 12, 18:53
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “MaryB, When we get around to running our own parliament perhaps it would be wiser to just count a single…” May 12, 18:29
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Anthem. Only starmer knows what goes on in his head, not even the rest of the labour party know.it took…” May 12, 18:19
twathater on The Blindness Of Hatred: “TBQH I support the dignity in dying bill as long as proper rules and regulations are adhered to, I am…” May 12, 18:18
agent x on The Blindness Of Hatred: “For God’s sake – the head of the Royal Navy cannot bonk a willing WREN. What on Earth is the…” May 12, 18:03
