Sectarian Singing At Ibrox. When Europe Saved Scotland From Itself.
For decades, Civic Scotland did the sum total of nothing about sectarian singing at Ibrox.
Oh a few journalists wrote about it, but there was never a serious attempt at solving the problem. When Celtic set up their campaign Bhoys Against Bigotry we were criticised for “the provocative H” and accused of trying to solve a problem that didn’t exist.
The problem existed alright; it’s just that nobody in Scotland wanted to touch it with a 20-foot pole.
Things quite literally came to a head when Celtic went to Ibrox and Neil Lennon was subjected to such depraved treatment that Martin O’Neill wrapped a protective arm around him at full time. What he did next was inspired; he marched Neil Lennon back onto the pitch and took him all the way over to where the Celtic fans were still camped in spite of a defeat, to let the player know he was not alone. It was a rousing moment, never to be forgotten.
But O’Neill wasn’t finished. Civic Scotland might have ignored the disgraceful treatment our captain received that day, but his manager was not about to let it go unanswered. He chose his moment with the precision of a sniper taking a kill-shot. He held his tongue until he was sitting days later in front of Europe’s media, in the run-up to a Champions League tie, and within a few minutes he levelled the unspoken consensus that these things were not to be discussed by dropping a bombshell on the journalists in the room that day. Lennon had been subject to “racism” he said … and that it was by no means an unusual reception at Ibrox.
And there was an interested UEFA delegate in the room, as Martin knew full well.
The rest is history.
European football’s governing body sent its people to the next tie at Ibrox with ears wide open … and the investigations and the UEFA sanction which followed did what all the silence in the world had not been able to achieve; it drove some of the songs of hate out of the stands.
Tackling the club had worked. UEFA proved it.
For a while at least.