{"id":13935,"date":"2019-02-22T13:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=13935"},"modified":"2019-02-22T08:10:37","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T08:10:37","slug":"13935","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=13935","title":{"rendered":"As Others See Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

OnThe ShouldersofGiants<\/strong> responded to one or two tweets I had made regarding my interpretation of events at Kilmarnock.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As ever, we value the right of reply to anyone who wants it, and this piece is much more enlightening than probably anything you’ll hear, read or see in the SMSM over the next few days as the old Two Cheeks of the Same Arse argument gets an airing,\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It is important that we see ourselves as others see us, for only then can we truly see our faults. More importantly, as far as the bigger picture is concerned, it perhaps shows just why there is a two cheeks of the same arse argument in the first place.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It may be that in order to fight the good fight against corruption and to move our game forward we need to treat the towns in Scotland the same way as we treat the cities of Europe. And behave accordingly.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By the way, he went to the same school as me.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Try to read this with an open mind, and it will give you something to think about.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Ghandi, in the quote above, has a point.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As a Kilmarnock fan, I left Sunday\u2019s match with Celtic at Rugby Park not only disappointed at the result but also angry at some of the scenes I witnessed around, and inside, the ground on the day. Perhaps, I was a little more sensitive than normal because I\u2019d taken the plunge and decided to take my young nephew along to his first Old Firm encounter and I\u2019d specifically chosen this game rather than one against the other \u2018Ugly Sister\u2019 to ease him into the unique protocols and rituals of these particular fixtures.
\nI did this for a number of reasons.
\nFirstly, as a Killie fan, I\u2019ve never enjoyed the distorting effect of the Glasgow giants on the Scottish game but I\u2019ve always had a particular distaste for Rangers and everything the club stood for. Culturally, politically and sociologically, I\u2019ve always had more in common with the \u2018green\u2019 than the \u2018blue\u2019. And, although, I have acquaintances from both sides of the chasm, I only have actual close friends on the Celtic side. Indeed, one of my closest friends (not a celebrity, an ordinary fan) is so well-known amongst the Celtic support that it\u2019s almost impossible to walk into an Irish pub with him, anywhere in the world, without the first round appearing magically on the bar.
\nSecondly, I\u2019ve attended too many Hun hate-fests to want my nephew exposed to the vile behaviour of what always seems to be such a sizeable proportion of the Rangers support, rather than a few moronic individuals.
\nIn short, I just believed that he would have a better experience going to watch Killie vs Celtic rather than Killie vs Rangers.
\nDespite this, I know that some people reading this will still reject it as some kind of bitter rant from an institutionalised, west of Scotland bigot who has bought into the pro-Masonic, anti-Catholic narrative of the corrupt Scottish media\/football authorities\/political elite\u2026 and all the other usual bollocks.<\/p>\n

However, I\u2019m not talking to them. I\u2019m talking to those that care about their club and who are able to think for themselves.
\nWhich brings us to Sunday.
\nThose of you who have been to Rugby Park will know that it is situated in a relatively nice residential area. Unlike most other football grounds in Scotland, it is not in an industrial or commercial area, with limited housing close by.<\/p>\n

It is, then, not a suitable place for grown men to be urinating in the street like cattle.<\/p>\n

Christ, it would be bad enough at any ground with children and women milling about but, after parking my car on Dundonald Road, we witnessed one old man (clearly a pensioner) emerging from his house to remonstrate with a clearly drunken Celtic supporter relieving himself on to the fella\u2019s driveway. He was told to \u201cGet tae fuck back intae yer hoose or Ah\u2019ll be pishing on you, ya auld cunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, perhaps, none of the \u2018greatest supporters in the world\u2019 who witnessed this scene said anything to their fellow supporter or apologised on his behalf to the old guy.
\nAs I walked past, perhaps stupidly, and definitely (I admit) sarcastically, I told him that although we \u201cmight not be as cultured as Baillieston or Shettleston, but we do have toilets inside the ground at Kilmarnock.\u201d
\nWhen he threatened to boot my seven year old nephew\u2019s arse, I stopped and turned only to be eased away by another Celtic fan (presumably his mate) who assured me they\u2019d sort him out and get him into the ground. Fair play to the boy for intervening but, personally, if my mate was so blootered he was behaving like that, I\u2019d have put him back on the bus.
\nInside the ground, I spoke to the other season ticket holders around me about the incident. Two had come to the ground from the opposite direction via Rugby Road and they claimed that there were half a dozen Celtic fans pissing in the street at that end of the ground. I have no way to verify these claims because I didn\u2019t witness them but I have no reason to disbelieve the people who told me either.
\nMy nephew then got his first look at the Green Brigade gathered at the north-east corner of the Chadwick Stand. Now clearly, there\u2019s some diversity class that I\u2019ve missed during my police and teaching career (and believe me, I\u2019ve been on a few) but I fail to see the psychological imperatives that provoke seemingly grown adults to ponce about in paramilitary fancy dress (including some in face-masks) as if they are the Second Coming of the Visigoths (or, indeed, the Huns).<\/p>\n

In my police experience, it really was the quiet ones you had to watch. Those that feel the need to portray themselves as some kind of rampaging, revolutionary people\u2019s army are clearly inadequate in some way, needing the protection and anonymity of the herd to be a \u2018face\u2019 (especially if they\u2019re too scared to actually show it).
\nI truly hope, that to most decent Celtic supporters, these people are considered an embarrassment to the Club.
\nI can just about understand the Green Brigade\u2019s need to chant pro-IRA slogans as a response to the jingoistic British nationalism and vile sectarianism of Rangers and, perhaps, Hearts fans. To feel the need to do it at Rugby Park \u2013 whose supporters don\u2019t give a toss about such matters and where it is a redundant gesture \u2013 is verging on the deranged. If you want to support a football club, just do it. If you want to be a hero in a glorious struggle against overwhelming odds, put your money where your muffled, hidden mouth is and toddle off to Palestine and take on the Israeli army. At least there, you\u2019ll be doing us all a good turn.
\nOf course, they then compounded their ludicrous behaviour by setting off flares inside the ground. To indulge themselves in this way is just a further expression of the entitled attitude that fans of both Old Firm clubs have that they\u2019re big enough to do whatever they want and there will be limited, if any, reaction from the authorities. A bit like pissing in the street, perhaps.
\nThen we had the coin-throwing incident\u2026
\nSocial media, including this site was awash with conspiracy theories from Celtic fans.
\nIt happened in front of the Kilmarnock dugout; which means it was in front of a home stand; which means it was a home fan; and the authorities probably know who did it so are deflecting attention away from that.<\/p>\n

Look! Look! You can see the Butcher\u2019s Aprons hanging behind Boyd near the dugout.
\nNow, I know that Killie fans have a reputation for being critical of our team but this, I believe, would be the first instance in our history of us throwing coins at our own players.
\nAnd \u2018Butcher\u2019s Aprons\u2019 at Rugby Park? Give me a break!
\nOf course, it soon became clear. That \u2018dugout\u2019 is disabled seating at Rugby Park. In front of the Moffat Stand. The Moffat Stand filled with Celtic fans. And the Union Jacks were nothing more offensive than security tape.
\nAah, but; aah, but\u2026 Boyd brought it on himself by warming up in front of the Celtic fans. Yeah, there\u2019s nothing more infuriating to a died-in-the-wool Bhoy than an ageing, slightly-overweight footballer in a tracksuit doing some stretching exercises. Not antagonising anyone. Not making any gestures. Stretching.
\nReally, Celtic apologists; get a fucking grip! Perhaps what actually incited the Neanderthal coin-thrower were the chants of \u2018Dirty Orange bastard\u2019 and \u2018fat Orange bastard\u2019. But that clearly couldn\u2019t have happened because – as we all know in Scottish football \u2013 only the Rangers fans are bigots\u2026
\nThese conspiracy theories also ignore the fact that all subs at Kilmarnock warm-up at the goal ends of the stadium \u2013 home and away players. And this is the first instance, I can remember of any of our players or away players having coins thrown at them as they warmed up.
\nIt is a similar incident, I suppose, to the fan who threw a Bovril at Eamonn Brophy after he\u2019d scored about two weeks ago. Who was that against? Oh, yes. Rangers. That\u2019s fine company you\u2019re keeping.
\nI have very few complaints about the game itself. Celtic were, marginally, the better side but were running out of ideas and didn\u2019t look like scoring until Broadfoot\u2019s fully-deserved red card reduced us to ten men. One small point, though. If Broadfoot\u2019s red was because he endangered an opponent, then how much more dangerous was Brown\u2019s tackle on Taylor in the first half – a two-footed lunge, both feet off the ground, and studs into the calf of Taylor\u2019s planted, standing leg.<\/p>\n

Never mind, though, those are the decisions you have to accept as a supporter of a non-Old Firm club.
\nI don\u2019t even have any massive complaints about the Celtic supporters who jumped the barriers at the Chadwick Stand when Brown scored. I can understand the euphoria of a last minute goal.
\nExcept that the last time you graced Rugby Park with your presence, Stuart Finlay scored a last minute winner. We were exuberant. We were euphoric. We didn\u2019t feel the need, however, to jump onto the pitch to show it. But then, of course, we are not the \u2018greatest fans in the world\u2019.
\nWhat I did have a problem with was the dozen (or thereabouts) morons who decided they needed to get involved from the Moffat Stand at the opposite end of the ground. Here, however, I agree with this site that the stewards and, particularly, the police did not react quickly, or effectively, enough. That aside, the rotund gentleman who waddled up the pitch, with the crack of his arse showing as his trackies nearly tripped him, is very lucky it was a laid-back Stevie O\u2019Donnell he wandered up to and gave a wanker sign to. The \u2018photography fan\u2019 who wandered about the pitch for 90 seconds getting selfies with Celtic players was also in danger of creating a response from home fans that could have erupted into a much more serious incident. If your fans want to excuse this behaviour then fine, go ahead but please, in future, spare us the sanctimonious claptrap about how you are very different from the Sevconians.<\/p>\n

The Celtic players, too, should have a look at themselves in the cold light of day to consider whether they reacted to these provocations in an appropriate manner.
\nAnd the broken seats? Again, it\u2019s merely exuberance. Presumably the same exuberance after the \u2018Stuart Finlay game\u2019 that led to broken seats.
\nThen it was a design fault. A sign of the poor standards at Rugby Park. Well, I sit in the East Stand. Seats of the same design. Same gaps between them. And, believe it or not, we do score goals at Rugby Park \u2013 including last minute winners (have I mentioned Stuart Finlay?) \u2013 and I have yet to see the \u2018exuberance\u2019 of the Killie fans damage any seats. The fact that it is becoming a regular occurrence for the Celtic board to get the chequebook out after visits to others\u2019 grounds should tell you everything you need to know. Again, a startling resemblance to our friends from Ibrox\u2026<\/p>\n

You know, whether you believe me or not, I\u2019m speaking as a friend.<\/p>\n

And a friend should tell you when you\u2019re going wrong. So that you can be better. If you want to be better. And that means, I\u2019m afraid, calling out your own supporters when they get it wrong. It might also mean, and I realise how difficult this might be for some, grasping the nettle that is the Green Brigade.
\nCeltic fans \u2013 real Celtic fans \u2013 it\u2019s over to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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