Orwell Would Be A Rangers Man

[Frankie 8,145]

Another excellent bit of thought-provoking prose from Andy...

 

http://www.gersnetonline.co.uk/2010/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=233:orwell-would-be-a-rangers-man&catid=1:articles&Itemid=67

 

Eric Blair = Teddy Bear! Simple when you think about it.

 

Should you need further proof, however, read on. Writing in the magazine Tribune, in an article called 'The Sporting Spirit', the great English essayist pondered the 1945 tour of the UK by Moscow Dynamo. That tour included, of course, a game against The Rangers at Ibrox. Orwell mentions that game, not positively: "The Glasgow match, someone else informs me, was simply a free-for-all from the start." Does anyone else have any knowledge of bad feeling during this game?

 

That, though, isn't the writer's main preoccupation. He is concerned with international politics and sport, which is where it connects with we Rangers fans and especially, our rivals from across the city. Given the way the Old Firm (and their fans) have attached themselves to Scotland/Britain and Ireland, they can in a sense be said to represent nationalism. Orwell would probably have laughed to scorn our public persona of British, Unionist and Protestant - but if he'd been presented with a 'take-it-or-leave-it' choice between us and them, I think he'd choose blue. At any rate, I think that the recent uprating of political activity at Celtic to 'official' status, with the general belief that either Mr Lawwell or Mr Reid were behind the pre-Old Firm game 'concerns' story, makes an examination of whether either club is wise to engage with such an area timely and valid.

 

A lifelong Socialist, some might think of Orwell as more likely to lean toward the other side of Glasgow. I doubt that, though: he was well aware of the difference between talking and doing. And especially perceptive when it comes to the chasm that lies between actually following a team, and dousing it in extra significance. Consider this passage from Orwell's piece:

 

as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced should you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused.

 

Does that not sound like an Old Firm game? It does to me. Orwell's analysis of why this should be and his opinion of it makes for sobering reading, should you be a tricolour draped Declan from Dennistoun, or a Union clad Billy from Bridgeton. It is not the players who are to blame, he says, but the fans, and the 'larger units' they stand for: countries (and in our case communities), those:

 

who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe...that running, jumping and kicking a ball are serious tests of national virtue.

 

In my utopia, we still have the rivalry with 'them', but everything that was connected to events outwith the football stadium would be left behind. Dominating Celtic would mean dominating Celtic, and have nothing to do with religion or politics. The dangers of getting involved with such areas are addressed by Orwell - what he calls 'the lunatic modern habit of identifying oneself with large power units and seeing everything in terms of competitive prestige.' We are well aware of what some Celtic fans are like, attempting to drive the news agenda onto areas of Rangers-negative interest and finding fault with media or officials to explain away failure. Therein lies the danger of Celtic's recent move to adopt fan paranoia as a club mission statement: having already firmly tied their mast to the Irish diaspora, the sense of persecution becomes more than just a tale of sporting inequality. It moves into another level, one of national identity and 'larger units.'

 

And when a fanbase moves into delusional levels of support, the whole point of sport is forgotten.

 

People want to see one side on top and the other side humiliated, and forget that victory gained through cheating or the intervention of the crowd is meaningless.

 

Something our neighbours would do well to consider the next time they decide to campiagn on whatever mad scheme they hit upon next. Granted, Orwell was writing over 60 years ago, but I would argue that his words still carry weight: if you have to resort to chicanery or fast moves, your victory is no victory at all. Overall, though, I think his words have the effect of highlighting their behaviour as the childish and frankly ludicrous antics of people with far too much time on their hands, and also act as a warning to us not to get too involved in the flag waving and posturing.

 

I know from experience that 'questioning the flag' or not enjoining wholeheartedly with Rangers tradition will lead to angry messages in response. I'm not trying to deny history, nor convince anyone to change their mind. My point is that attaching added value to sporting contests, where there is already plenty at stake, rarely leads to a positive outcome. There's plenty of scope to have a fierce rivarly with Celtic without getting wrapped up in matters of nationalism, and I think that we, in the main, occupy that ground. I would have written, until this last few weeks, that the majority of Celtic fans, and the club itself, were the same. I'm not so confident of that anymore.

 

Orwell's analysis offers a clear-eyed appraisal of the dangers inherent in sporting clashes. We can learn, too, from Celtic's behaviour of late. It's not a road I would expect or hope to see Rangers going down, and under David Murray we can say that, if nothing else, he conducted his and Rangers' affairs with dignity. The image of the future, wrote Orwell, would be a boot stamping down on a human face, over and over again. In our little corner of the world, the image of the future may well be a Celtic official or fan spluttering down a telephone, complaining about perceived injustice, over and over again. Let's leave them to it. Let's enjoy the football for what it is, without feeling the need to ladle extra significance onto it.

 

For those interested in reading further on Orwell, please click here: http://www.george-orwell.org/

[Frankie 8,145]

I guess the main Orwellian question I have given the nanny state we live in and the restrictions we all see at football matches is:

 

Why wasn't the Scottish Parliament built in the shape of a pyramid?

[wabashcannonball 0]

Society any society is built on winning if not succeeding, winning is the ultimate goal.. by any means. If there are no winners we are all losers, socialism, communism, capitalism any ism are all Utopian dreams. The only ism that matters is your own truism, as long as you are true to yourself you can look the world in the eye.

[26th of foot 5,827]

I guess the main Orwellian question I have given the nanny state we live in and the restrictions we all see at football matches is:

 

Why wasn't the Scottish Parliament built in the shape of a pyramid?

 

 

If the Scottish Parliament truly represented the Scottish consciousness, it would have been built in the shape of a deep fat fryer.

 

Reference Orwell, many years past I spent several weeks on the Isle of Jura being eaten alive by midges. A lonely cottage on a promotory was apparently the location of old Etonian's musings on Winston Smith. The tenacious tenacity of those Jura midges would lead you believe that 2 plus 2 does equal five.

[Frankie 8,145]

Orwell's own Room 101...?

 

The 2-6 game at Parkhead several years past was mine - have never been back since.

[Zappa 0]

If the Scottish Parliament truly represented the Scottish consciousness, it would have been built in the shape of a deep fat fryer.

.

More like Buckfast bottle!

[26th of foot 5,827]

.

More like Buckfast bottle!

 

 

An imaginitive Architect would have encorporated the Bucky Buzz into the design, green glass with distinctive yellow trim.

 

Instead, we got the romantic dreams of a Catalan obsessed with upturned boats on a shingle shore.

[andy steel 0]

I was doing a bit of digging around on the net and found a piece on Orwell and sport which mentions the 'free-for-all' in the Moscow Dynamo game - it disagrees, and it is written by one who was there.

 

http://www.finlay-publisher.com/archives/Mar-May%202009%20-%20Peter%20Davison%20-%20Orwell%20and%20Sport.pdf

[maineflyer 0]

............It's not a road I would expect or hope to see Rangers going down, and under David Murray we can say that, if nothing else, he conducted his and Rangers' affairs with dignity.

 

David Murray's tenure at Rangers has certainly been Orwellian ..... utopian promise marred and ultimately destroyed by deception and self-serving egotism.

[bmck 117]

Why does everyone hate the parliament building? It's an immense piece of architecture!

 

Great article, btw.