There was a moment during the League Cup semi-final when I actually turned to my mate in utter disbelief at the atrocious song emanating from a section of our fan-base. It was the “soon there’ll be no Protestants at all” add-on to The One Road. From there, these morons launched into a hearty rendition of The Soldiers Song.
“Not bad,” I said to him. “A sectarian add-on to a Free Stater tune, followed by the anthem of the Republic. The intellectual incoherence is hard to credit.”
Which brought me back around to something I’ve known for a long time, and which Andrew Smith highlighted again today in his Scotsman column; that there are people amongst our support who are genuine wastes of space.
It’s not even that they are bigots, they are worse than that.
Because being a bigot is a coherent, individualist choice and as deeply horrific as it is, choosing to be a bigot requires basic decision making functionality. Being a sheep, parroting idiotic ideas and opinions and singing songs which get the stink of this stuff on our club doesn’t require any.
I marvel sometimes at the lives these guys must lead that this is what they think counts them as rebels and revolutionaries. It makes them neither. It makes them sad bastards who haven’t quite twigged yet that they are throwbacks to a bygone age.
Any Celtic fan singing about the ethnic cleansing of Protestants – which, let’s cut the bullshit that add-on does – doesn’t just not understand our history but they are woefully short on their knowledge of Irish struggle, which was filled to the rafters with them.
One of my favour Republican songs is The Wolfetones Protestant Men, a sterling anthem to some of those guys, which I would dearly love to hear being lustily sung at Celtic Park one day. “Be England’s fool; divide, they’ll rule …” is a crucial segment.
And of course, Wolfe Tone himself, mentioned in the song, was a Protestant. I bet if you told some of these cretins that their jaws would hit the floor.
To me and a lot of our fans, there are some great songs which some of our fans are dementedly hearts-set on ruining forever with puerile, needless, IRA add-ons as well.
Let’s get something out of the way before I go on, although regular readers won’t be in the least bit surprised; I have no problem with Celtic fans singing Republican songs. I don’t do it at games, because I personally don’t think that’s the forum for it.
Anyone who has met me in the pub, however, will know I have an encyclopaedic knowledge of them and consider some of them absolutely wonderful. I have long dared anyone who wants the debate to tell me the Republican song, sung regularly at Celtic games, which preaches the killing of fellow human beings and no-one has ever come back with an answer and no-one ever will because there’s nary a song in the Republican canon which does that.
About four years before The Fields Of Athenry got sung first at the football I sang it on stage at a trade union event in Germany for delegates from all over the continent, who all wanted to know what the song was. I’d been singing it, and hearing it, for years; it was a family party-piece at New Year. When I first heard it at a game my jaw dropped open.
It was the same with Grace, another old favourite whose first performance at the football left me beaming with joy and surprise because it, too, had been an old family favourite and it was good to hear it getting a stirring rendition from our fans.
But I wince every time I hear Willie Maley’s chorus polluted by that “… and the IRA” dirge, because of course neither Maley nor James McGrory nor Paul McStay nor the founders of our club had the least connection to the IRA which wouldn’t even surface as an organisation in its own right until years after we were founded.
Where does it come from, this sheep-like braying of utter nonsense like that?
There are a handful of songs which pop up randomly at Parkhead and just as quickly disappear and it’s an embarrassment and a disgrace when they do.
Roamin’ In The Gloamin is another notorious piece of anti-Protestant swill which doesn’t belong at Celtic games. I am less convinced by the argument about “Dirty Orange bastards” which some people say is a coded reference to Protestants; it must be very coded indeed as I’ve heard it sung at Catholic officials and even Catholic Ibrox players.
I’ve always viewed it as a catch-all kind of phrase, in the same way the word “hun” is, a word I only use in a very specific context. Hey, at the end of the day if there are those on the periphery of Ibrox who don’t like “orange” being tossed at them, maybe they should stop playing into the stereotype with the orange strips and other paraphernalia.
Those who equate the terms “hun” and “orange” with Protestant are at it, and this is a relatively new phenomenon and I am surprised that any intelligent person accepts the claim.
Those who equate those words with their use of the word “fenian” are overlooking a clear difference; they have a song over there which is a very clear reference to being “up to their knees in fenian blood” which makes the intent and the sentiment and the use in context quite explicit; it’s an ethnic cleansing anthem, and it is once again heard everywhere they go.
But Andrew Smith has a particular issue with one of the songs of yesterday and you know what?
So do I. The songs mocking dead ex-Ibrox staff and players are the stuff of the gutter and that’s where those who sing them belong. It’s sewer-dredging Ibrox style, and the irony is that I know the very people who sing them would be amongst the first to lose their shit over songs about dead Lisbon Lions and Tommy Burns.
Andrew Smith criticised fan groups and the club for not speaking out; maybe he’s missed all the times I’ve written about this subject. Maybe he’s missed the numerous entreaties the club itself has made for fans to consider the reputation of Celtic.
And maybe he missed the fact that when that song was sung yesterday that many thousands of our own fans booed it. But that doesn’t make for sexy headlines.
Still he deserves credit. He is consistent on this issue, and on writing the same about the fans across the city. This guy, like Graham Spiers, has been, if you’ll pardon the pun, singing this song a long time.
This has to be cut out of our support at some stage, and really, the sooner the better.
The song debate deserves more nuance than it gets but I think there are things on which we can all agree, and that these chants are disgusting and have no place in our support is one of them.
i have been saying it for years the clowns dont represent me or my club been over in ireland many times i only seen money and drugs whores and extortion from both sides the cause was years ago over there and now any fuckwits can get guns and claim to be something that they never will be .
Agree with everything you said. No different from the crowd at Ibrox. But Celtic have allowed this. And it’s the guy who orchestrates this at the front of the Green Brigade Celtic could stop this if they wanted to. Sheep as you say led by a handful with their own agenda.
That’s what I like to hear more thoughts like yours I love Berty auld smile and enjoy Celtic
I for one am sick of these goons. Take your IRA shite and fuck off.
The so called ‘support’ who sang these songs, especially the one about Davie Cooper, are a fuckin disgrace. And it wisnae just yesterday. A complete shameful, embarrassment. We know which clubs support are by far the worse for this type of singin and all this does is make us look every bit as bad as them. As for ira, or any other paramilitary organization songs, nae place at a football match. Its up tae the individual, if thats yer thing, but keep it in the pubs and clubs that cater for that type of stuff.
100% agree James. Can l just add another song? Why do people sing about the well known Franco sympathiser Sean South?
Well said James
Utter embarrassment to hear Celtic ‘supporters’ singing these disgusting ‘songs’….these clowns need ran out of our support. Anything that references the IRA, or former *Rangers employees now passed away, has no place at any of our games.
Agree 100%
You sent me many good Celtic tunes back in the day (via CQN) and despite being a Scottish Celtic fan with a Scottish, protestant dad (a lodge member too!) I can appreciate them but I don’t sing them at matches. I may have played some of them when working on the bar in my dad’s local lodge when the Rangers fans were in town right enough though.
As for the add ons/sectarian pish as you say the lack of understanding of their own stupidity is evident but they couldn’t care less even when you point it out as they purely do it to offend and don’t care how they (or Celtic) look.
Wearing a Celtic top seems to offend the bigots in Scotland so that’s good enough for me 🙂
QB
I song these songs in my youth at Celtic park , but as you correctly say in this day and age I cringe every time I hear the green brigade and others sing the add-ons your one hundred percent correct there are to many brilliant Celtic and Irish that should and could be sung well done for highlighting this ,every I hear this I hang my head in shame for singing them being a youth is no excuse I was brought up better. ?
Spot on Get them banned.
Put the telly to mute yesterday
I agree with the views you are promoting. Football and Celtic Park ( or anywhere) are not places for the hatred you identified. I also agree with you about songs about players that have died. But I think you will struggle to engage those singing the songs if you consistently refer to them as morons. I think you are right about limited understanding of the history, politics. The answer lies in raising awareness. So I agree with you, but in my opinion change will be achieved through dialogue and awareness. Cheers
It’s a rare occasion that I can get to CP for a game these days but I don’t remember hearing any of this guff there since the place was redone under Fergus. I wince like buggery when I hear it consistently coming out the radio’s speakers during away games, like the first ten minutes at Tannadice where ir was “Ooh ah up the ra…” over and over again. The club needs to wise up and get shot of these cretins, and if that means refusing away ticket allocations until these imbeciles are willing to behave then so be it. Ditto closing parts of CP until the morons stop letting off flares. These little hooligan twars need to be shown that they are nothing and the club is everything. If they don’t like it they can get tae f….
Agreed Seppington. The home fans rarely, if ever, belt these out. The glares do need to go, though.
My issue with Celtic on this matter is that we know it’s the same (highly entitled) people that get every away ticket. If Celtic actually took this seriously it would be easy to stop selling tickets to these guys, even for a few weeks. Unfortunately I think so many of them are beyond reasoning this behaviour out of. I wouldn’t miss them if they were banned.
Great point Marin.
Martin – apologies. Typo.
I totally agree with you on this one. What some of these people forget is that there are a large number of non-Catholics who support Celtic and what also may shock them is the large number of former and current members of the British forces who are lifelong fans of our great club.
agree wholeheartedly….
there is a significant element in our support that is every bit as bad as the ibrox support…every bit….
having said that…after seeing the brit soldier’s showing off their rope tricks at ibrox on saturday….how come ye can never find a provo sniper when ye need one ?????
@ king murdy. Saw that on sportscene. Wtf was that all about man. Cringeworthy stuff.
no idea kevan…my sniper comment is tongue in cheek…but they never miss a chance to roll out the armed forces…ffs
As a one time active political Irish Republican, I say ‘hear hear’. It sickens me to hear some of the chants coming from some so called supporters. I have no objection to the Rebs being sung as long as the add ons are dropped and of course, my national anthem is not to be used as a football chant.
Been a celtic fan since a young boy,my dad and uncle took me,these songs have nothing to do with celtic or sport and boos rang out in Jungle when some were sung and that was the 70s.Its so embarrassing and brings the club down that i love.????????
These fans disgrace the club at every away game with their sectarian nonsense. The club need to act by way of ticket allocation and should use this as a deterrent. Until they do that the names of Stein , Auld, Gemmell, Wallace, Dalglish , McGrain and countless others will continue to be besmirched. I’m
This is a brilliant article James. My heart actually took a happy wee leap as I read it.
You have coherently provided the argument and reasoning for my own feelings (and those who sit beside me, Catholics, Presbyterians, Buddhists and Atheists together) who abhor these sectarian chants from these distasteful so-called fans in our support. I absolutely hate it when they start their ignorant chants and songs.
I am a great admirer of Wolfe Tone and it was not only him, but also most of his other compatriots who were all leaders of the patriots and fought for freedom, despite the fact they were not Catholic. This fight for the Republic was about Irish people, not any partular religion. I am so glad you wrote it and I am proud that you did.
These people (peepul?) have no place in our support and it is time the club disenfranchised them, unless they listen to reason and stop these hateful chants.
Agree with most of your points James. I’ve long thought that there needs to be a lot more consideration about our singbook.
I dont use the word ‘sectarian’ as I think it’s used deliberately to make one side out to be as bad at the other. However I agree that ‘soon there’ll be no protestants at all’ is wrong. It also seems to me that these songs are making a comeback and I don’t understand why.
Is it because nobody from Celtic ever stands up when the hardest at ibrox sing “no Pope of Rome”? Or indeed no Scottish politicians or media. As Andrew Smith said recently if that was any other religion, all of thr above would be clamouring over each other to call it out.
I’m not sure how it changes though. The Sam song is particularly odd to me as it seems totally in the wrong place. As a republican I am happy to go to pubs where the songs are sung, and discuss the politics, but I do feel it’s sounds daft at CP playing Morton on a Saturday lunch time.
Spot on