Anti-Protestant Garbage Does Not Belong, And Is Not Welcome, In The Celtic Support.

Another live game at the weekend and another week where the viewers were subjected to audible bile directed at the Roman Catholic and the Irish immigrant community in Scotland.

Is it any wonder that the majority of those not from Glasgow view Glaswegians as Neanderthals when they’re subjected to that on their television set on a Sunday?

Last night, I paid the subscription fee to watch Celtic’s trip to Tannadice, knowing that it would be a truly classic cup clash and I wasn’t disappointed.

But shortly after the elation of the second goal I was disgusted to hear the known anti-Protestant dirge ‘Roamin In The Gloamin’.

This is a song that triggers me just as much as The Famine Song or the Billy Boys, not because I am a Protestant (I’m not by the way) but because I am proud of the fact that Celtic FC were ALWAYS a club open to all.

We never operated a nakedly sectarian signing policy. We didn’t have fans who baulked at the signing of a member of the Church of Scotland. We don’t have fans who have openly abused an Irish Catholic who had the temerity to play for and manage Celtic and be openly proud of his identity.

There’s a lyric in this ‘song’ that states “f**k King Billy and John Knox”

This is outwardly, obviously, sectarian.

I am sick to my teeth of supposed Celtic fans indulging in tit for twat idiocy when it comes to dealing with Sevco. They have gutter dwelling sewer rats who glorify in the most disgusting acts. No Celtic fan belongs anywhere near those cretins. You would not laugh at a domestic abuse victim, or a cancer fighter or someone with a disability. Why indulge in this shit?

There is a section of our support which is every bit as bad as them.

Let me state this point crystal clear.

There are more Church of Scotland members who are not fans of Sevco then there are who are who would self-define that way.

I socialise and work with many of them.

They have the same revulsion for the sectarian and racist bile which has occasionally been directed at me from the Ibrox supporters than I do. They are decent, hardworking, left-leaning patriotic Scots. But when you insult the founder of their church you insult them.

Your fellow Scots. Your brothers and sisters in the fight for independence. The future of a better and brighter Scotland. And you insult me. You insult the 100,000s of Irish Protestants who fled the famine seeking a better life in Scotland. You insult the decent Scots.

Take this shit out of the game … and get it a million miles away from our club.

Wipe the shit of guilt by association off our shoes.

I have to accept that Civic Scotland does not have the energy or temerity to tackle bigots attaching themselves to organisations that deny my right to live in Scotland, and merely exist, but I simply will not – I refuse to – accept that from my brothers and sisters in the hoops.

Wise up and boot it out, fellow Celtic fans, before it does our club real harm.

Ross Taylor is a Celtic fan and occasionally contributor to the site.