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Iancelt67 commented earlier in the week that he wouldn’t be too keen to see Neil Lennon return to Celtic, and one or two replies indicated that he perhaps could have put his reasoning a little better.
Here he outlines what happens when clubs are forced to ditch their heritage and tradition, something which many see as a solution to the problems associated with the Celtic- “rangers ” fixture, which is about to become a little more regular next season, and why we should be careful what we wish for. Do we really want sanitised football in Scotland ?
I recently made some comments about Neil Lennon’s possible return to Parkhead . I ended up complaining it may be a mistake due to his fiesty nature being provocative , and the level of attention he received from detractors via threats in his mailbox and physical attacks on his person There has always been an incendiary feeling and a mutual revulsion between bothe sets of fans of Celtic and ‘Rangers’ Maybe Neil was in his element at the helm or maybe he acted angrily at times , affronted by the invasion of his privacy and the threat s made to his life . Whatever it was., it was a period of time that left a bad taste in a lot of mouths.The flashpoint with ally the gardener made world news and for one reason or other it conjured up memories for me of another derby in my adopted homeland Australia which has been subjected to unfavourable attention by Australian mediaThey are Bonnyrigg Eagles (Serbian) vs Sydney United (formerly Croatia)
For your information these clubs play in the second tier of Australian Football. The A league, the top league is made up of new franchises with the constraints of having a salary cap and a banishment of ethnic representation and is laughably identical to the MLS We have the Newcastle Jets. The central coast Mariners (rogic) and the Melbourne heart The negative media attention is largely due to the many altercations between both sets of fans spanning five decades, and the propensity of the fans to use the game as a platform for their respective political agendas I won’t bore you with the government interventions that lead these two clubs to change their names or how they were ordered to shred any paraphernalia and merchandise that represented political statement of a provocative nature . But it happened much to the chagrin of the clubs who were under the impression that they lived in a country where freedom of speech and expression was a constant and something the original migrants never took for granted under totalitarian rule back in the old country The clubs involved many violent skirmishes not unlike the old hibs csc and the Aberdeen or Motherwell casuals. But this wasn’t for fun it was real. Most of us are privy to the atrocities in the Balkans pre and post world war 2 and believe me the hatred is as real as the Hun / good guys dynamic I spent two years as a footballer playing for the Croats and I’m not joking there were times during the games when some of our players were aiming at the opposing fans with rocket shots There isn’t a rule in the rule book that states you can’t kick the ball out of play. I left the club for saner pastures after that. Pity, I was getting nearly as much money from my paid job at the time and the club looked after me. Only ethnic clubs paid players at the time and they carried the game over here without them it would have been looked upon as an oddity for white skinned poms and scots and a few dark skinned ” wogs “. ( to use the local term ) Australians were a xenophobic lot obsessed with Dennis Lille and jeff Thompson and aerial ping pong or Aussie rules. History is important to a club and too have it relinquished is a human crime Imagine bins outside paradise with militia confiscating anything with a shamrock on it. So in reality the aim was to homogenise the game. In fairness though the A league, albeit filled with players of non anglicised names, is growing in stature and clubs are perennially reaching and winning the Asian champions league so something has been done right Anyway back to the derby In 2005 a massive battle ensued between these two rivals that would emulate anything in Europe  In Australia sporting events are policed by user pay policemen meaning that the clubs have to fork out for police presence so it’s fairly minimal. The crowds at these games are nowhere the volume as those of old firm games but they aren’t a kick of the arse off say, hibs v hearts games so there is scope for disaster and security is well equivalent to the stewardship at Parkhead.Fairly lightweight.
Where am I going with this ? Some of the derbies between these sides have been crackers and I believe the passion of the game is partly due to the history. Do we really want to see a politically correct version of Celtic take to the field one day, stripped of our heritage, forced upon us by an over enthusiastic government?
Are ‘Rangers , really dead or more importantly will these future games between these two produce some of the massive battles of yesteryear ?
Only time will tell. Bring it on…
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Rangers a definitely, 100% dead.. ” Rangers ” on the other hand are terminally ill and hopefully some kind hearted tax man will administer a lethal injection and put them out of their misery….COYBIG
Keighly from my perspective and actually re engaging with the politics of their situation I agree their history is just that But as long as their back in their collective minds they are still who they were unfortunately cheats do flourish at times and they have it on their consciences what their administration has actually done. But doesn’t it make for interesting times? The simple ‘Rangers ‘ guy on the streets doesn’t give hee haw about what happened and in a way their blunders should hopefully be never forgotten and clubs should not indulge in mafia like operations to gain glory.
The whole thing makes us look better as an entity and we shouldn’t let them forget it Let’s take the new club to the cleaners and let them sing about their dead history. The joke is on them
Also used the offensive term wogs as a reference to how it was I know the term Australian soccer is probably seen as an oxymoron by many so sorry if I offended. One of the local now dead heroes of football over here wrote a book about the difficulties the code face through the years. If anyone is interested I’ve sent a link
http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/johnny-warren/sheilas-wogs-and-poofters-9781740512220.aspx
Getting rid of the ethnic based clubs was the best thing ever for football in Australia to grow
Yeah maybe but it’s a contravention of human rights Maybe a brutal necessity but highly illegal and victory are now out
So in the same parlance. Celtic are an ethnic club in comparison just because we share the same language as Ireland because of English colonialism Comparisons can be drawn and sadly conquerors or conquistadors rape historical relevance I agree the game had to have intervention to progress but racial vilification took place here and a better compromise should have been reached. All we have now is an underbelly of disaffected people from non English migrants who have every right to express their dual nationality. Without them our game wouldn’t exist
Go the RoarHH(Brisbane not Ronnie)
It’s laughable new migrants are now given a questionairre about Australian history and one of the questions required to be answered is who the fuck don Bradman was for every information he was Australia’s greatest cricketer. We live in noddy land ffs
Every ones information sorry
lancelt1967
I think I get your drift. I believe you are right when you imply that, no matter how dead that club may be, the support is still very much alive and its mentality kicking and screaming even more than ever. Therein lies the rub. It is the bitter animosity – and I do not think we Celtic supporters should gloat in the misconception it was or even is all one sided – that has created the hype surrounding this fixture. It is brewed to boiling point by media master-chefs whose agenda is as far from football as vomit is from “Britain’s Best dish”. They hunger for the conflict, not the one on the field, but the one played out in the fan’s behaviour on the terraces and on the streets. In their twisted minds and in the warped hope of wider recognition, stirring up hysterical bigotry must always be at the very heart of their “Old Firm” journalism rather than simple football rivalry. Introduce some honesty on this score and Sunday’s fixture becomes a damp squib with two every day protagonists vying for a place in a final in a totally unequal contest. It becomes ordinary and that suits neither the Scottish football governing authorities nor the media, probably all in the UK in this instance. Very sadly, I have my suspicions it may no longer suit those who run our club these days either.
So, pushed by a vampiric media and conciliatory authorities, it is not unrealistic to imagine legislation being put in place that could destroy the distinct identities of clubs. There are several sinister precedents for knee jerk legislation targeting football supporters in Scotland and I could well see this fixture providing the long sought after excuse to add more. I love Celtic and were it only for the football, I would be a fool for I have seen more poor teams that great. The history along with the purpose for which the club was founded, revived and continued by The Celtic Foundation, its numerous partnerships with a whole range of charities but, above all, by its dedicated support that recognises its duty of care for its fellow human beings throughout the world, is my principal reason for following Celtic. I am certain I am far from being in the minority. Perhaps we should, therefore, take on board your warning. Sunday’s fixture is one I had hoped and prayed would never return to Scottish football. Now that it has, perhaps those who see it as a return to good old days could take a leaf out of your Australian sporting experiences and, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, just be prepared for the possible consequences of a continuance the past.
A very thought provoking read indeed.
H H
Ralph
The moderator really has it in for me these days. Almost every comment is not being posted. Tell him I’ll boot him up the ….if he doesn’t get the finger out 🙂
H H
Pensioner bhoy as always excellent and erudite opinion yeah look watching the game against rangers last year after the hype in the build up turned out to be the damp squib you mentioned. It was embarrassing for them and looked like a training game between the first team and a bad reserve team
Can it get back where both clubs are equal? It’ll take years. I’m just interested too see where they will fit in next year. Somewhere between Kilmarnock and st Johnstone They still have penance to pay for their old clubs misgivings.
We are on a hiding to nothing and vulnerable ourselves so 2-1 for me and headlines like “brave gers fall at the last hurdle” in the daily record