Today an “Ibrox fan group” spoke out against the singing, at the weekend, of the hateful and racist song The Billy Boys.
Their statement was sharp and to the point, and under normal circumstances this would be a subject for applause.
For the record, I agreed with nearly every word of it.
There’s just one problem; nobody is 100% sure who any of these people are, or if they even exist.
Phil Mac Giolla Bhain has long suspected that they are nothing but a stunt by the Ibrox PR department itself … and in a way that makes perfect sense.
Phil has another piece about that song – and this fan organisation – up today; he hits on a very important point in that article, and it’s something I’ve talked about myself.
The evolution of the Ibrox support from one awful, virulent form to another.
As he points out, no sooner was The Billy Boys banned by UEFA than The Famine Song sprung into life.
It was replaced by repulsive songs celebrating the deaths of Lisbon Lions and others making libellous allegations against various figures from our history.
Just when you think you’ve eliminated one disgraceful manifestation of their hatred, another comes along.
Their support is now sinking deep into right-wing conspiracy theory and dark politics, and their club follows suit with the appointment of an Ulster loyalist as a media spokesman, and his elevation, last year, to the board of directors.
Phil is convinced that this is a PR put-up job by an Ibrox board which cannot, or will not, tackle this problem head-on.
Its purpose is not to fix the issue but, as he eloquently puts it in the context of Murray’s own efforts in the past, it is “to control the reportage.” This is out there in case any of our enterprising – haha no laughing at the back – hacks actually takes this issue on; they will be steered to the “fan organisation” which is taking a stand.
I wish I believed that there was a dedicated organisation amongst the Ibrox supporters, committed to rooting this issue out once and for all.
I wish that such an organisation was given proper support by the club, instead of their pandering to the lunatic fringe, and in particular the consideration given to some of them as “official media partners.”
I wish I thought that there was a serious chance that an organisation like this would grow out of their support and shame those who remain silent to speak out, but I have my doubts, as Phil does.
What their club – and this country – needs is for the “official” fan groups to speak up … but I don’t believe they have the stomach for it, even if they had the will … which I see no sign of.
No You’ll never , A song from the jUNGLE in the 60 s and 70s ,80 s and on on , and now the New clubs fanbase , CRAZY , but you can always make it up by a complient media , the arseholes ,.
What a klub, leave them to what they do best…every1 hates sevco, so Fk sevco but they don’t care apparently, so who cares about the new skum klub..
They’ll never learn or educate themselves as to what the normal, forward thinking people on this planet might think of their backward, billyhilly kulture whilst draped in that so popular union joke klobber—like I said initially, leave them to it..!!
when no one in authority and by that i mean police. scottish government. and sfa were brought to task after the george square riots {the second one beggared belief} then that just summed up the whole sorry state of affairs in this best wee country?.
I agree with Phil, the continuous anonymity of this group and the convenient timing of these after any incident of their bigotry reeks of desperate PR “See not all oor fans ur roastur biggutz” firefighting.
However, It’s possible they are real fans but they know if they make their identities known they’ll end up chibbed at best, dead at worst. Well, sorry lads but if that’s the case and you really want to see the bile stop pouring from the Cowp’s stands then you’ll need to strap on a pair and go fully public. Hire some security, I’m sure the “decent majority” (pfft aye right) of bears will help pay for it if it’s doing the right thing for their club.
Though somehow I don’t think the actual majority of bears would contribute…
The only answer was to bulldoze that cespit in 2012 as they stood back and let the poison die hence they be down their lodges bowling clubs and golf clubs now or filtered through the Motherwells and hearts of this wee bigoted land. See they never ever loved that club they only used it to vent their racist, right wing poisonous hate. Sadly they have so many ” enablers” here in the media, police and government that’s the real issue as they having been dragged up and the hate cant let it go and use our great club to project it! As if they needed it as it who they are ! Remember this old club only became strong way back to ” oppose the migrant club”! All the defections and bs ” bad as each other” garbage has allowed the real filth to keep doing as they do and they are dangerous to many innocent men, woman and children who happen to even wear green! And this is known in the police force trust me! I am sure you all know loads and loads of stories I worked overseas with irish lads and ghirls that told me the hassle they had also student teachers working in glasgow from New Zealand about seeing people attacked in west end to! For wearing green! Utter poison! We should bought that hell hole stadium and bulldozed it! We had the money!
In my naivety pre-2012, when I first became aware the filth were going under, I thought that’s what would happen. I believed that all of their bigot scumbags would end up following their local teams and if they tried the hate crap they’d be shouted down (except at Tynecastle, obviously) and we’d gradually end up with a better society. Welp, opportunity lost and I know that when they go under again (and it will happen soon enough if they can’t access that CL money next season or shift their cruddy players for Dembele dollars) we’ll end up with Scum 3.0 and on and on the hatefest goes…