Bill McMurdo - The Divided Land

[ian1964 10,416]

September 8, 2012 · by billmcmurdo · in Uncategorized

 

On the day of Scotlandâ??s first World Cup qualifier of the new campaign, the country is divided over the issue of whether to support the team.

 

This is the legacy of recent bitter battles between the Scottish Football Association and The Rangers FC; however, it is the culmination of years of alienation of Rangers fans carried out by certain sections of the Scotland support.

 

The recent booing of Rangers player Ian Black summed up the rancid hostility felt by the Tartan Army toward Rangers and its players.

 

Of course, Rangers Football Club has a bigger active support base than the Tartan Army will ever have.

 

This is why Scotland is divided on this sad day.

 

Even Rangers fans who remained loyal in their support of Scotland over the past couple of decades have had enough.

 

And Rangers manager Ally McCoistâ??s noble, if misguided, attempt to point out to Rangers supporters that the SFA and the Scotland team are not the same entity has fallen on deaf ears.

 

For my part, I grew up supporting Rangers and Scotland. My dad would take me to Scotland games and it would be like he and I were the only ones singing the national anthem amid a wall of boos. This was when Scotland sang the real national anthem â?? the days before a Kenny Rogers look-alike in a kilt took to the field after singing a rebel song and shouting â??Come On Scotland!â? in what can only be described as a camp Braveheart takeoff.

 

I stopped supporting Scotland a long time ago. When I did, there were only a few. it seemed, felt like I did among my fellow bluenoses.

 

Now itâ??s an army of us.

 

For me, as for many others, there is only one team in Scotland. I am content to think that the team I support represents both Scotland and Great Britain. That is the great thing about Rangers â?? it is more than a club, more than a football team. It is the very expression of national pride and identity.

 

I confess to having a wee laugh at the rabid bunch of English-haters and mockers of the British Throne who infest the ranks of Scotland supporters. They are cheering on a team with the most ancient and venerable of Royal emblems on their shirts â?? the Lion Rampant, which is the Royal Flag of Scotland.

 

Those who have politicised Scottish football by targeting Rangers as a bastion of Unionism, thus creating the awful rift that divides, not only the football-supporting public in Scotland but the nation at large, have a lot to answer for.

 

Their attempts to polarise Scottish society are now clearly distinguished in footballing terms, with people supporting the nationalist team of Scotland or the British team of Rangers.

 

A divided land â?? exactly their aim.

 

Only Rangers fans are not buying it. Most do not see being Scottish and British as mutually exclusive but as a both/and concept.

 

I myself am fiercely Scottish and proudly British. Scottish by birth and British by choice.

 

I wonâ??t be supporting Scotland today, nor will I feel any guilt about it.

 

My own preference now, very much bolstered by the recent Olympics, is for a Great Britain national side.

 

Great Britain is the nation I live in.

 

That is why I no longer refer to Scotland as the national side.

 

As the Tartan Army keep telling us when they belt out their anthem of hate â?? Scotland is not a nation.

 

For once, I agree with them.

 

http://billmcmurdo.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/the-divided-land/

[biggordy 0]

Bill keeps churning out the thought provoking issues.

I can see him becoming more prominent in the future.

[Super_Ally 0]

My own preference now, very much bolstered by the recent Olympics, is for a Great Britain national side.

 

Great Britain is the nation I live in.

 

That is why I no longer refer to Scotland as the national side.

 

As the Tartan Army keep telling us when they belt out their anthem of hate – Scotland is not a nation.

 

For once, I agree with them.

 

http://billmcmurdo.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/the-divided-land/

 

Just don't agree with this part.

 

And if the Olympics are anything to go by a UK team would be horrendous. I wouldn't support a team of 99% English called Great Britain. Look at the Lions squad, often over represented by England players based purely on ability.

[Jim1955 12]

I also consider myself Scots and British but don't think I could support a UK national football side, too much of the Scots maybe but there it is. I have been a regular attender at Scotland games in the past but no longer. As a Rangers fan I no longer feel welcomed by other Scottish supporters in particular the "Och Aye, Jimmy" over dressed caricatures of Scottish Bandsmen. It's a pity but that's how I feel about it.

[EDGE 0]

Are all these bloggers mentally ill?

 

Leggo and now this. Both middle age idiots spouting sensationalist crap trying to appeal to the lowest rungs of society. I've stayed in Glasgow all my days and just don't see this divide that McMurder is talking, then again I'm not in the OO and don't base my decisions on religious backgrounds.

 

The SFA, for as long as I can remember, is a shambles. Their decisions might be strange sometimes but there is no evil plan to destroy Rangers.

 

The Scotland support is made up of the whole spectrum of Scottish football fans, arguably, there will probably be more Rangers fans in the Scotland support than any other team.

 

Ian Black getting boo'd was because he was a Jambo and the game was at Easter road.

 

If these bloggers spent as much energy exposing Whyte instead of fabricating conspiracies and trying to fracture an already disjointed national game, then we might not be in SFL3.

 

C'mon Scotland.

 

Hopefully we can beat the Serbs and then for Murray to beat Djokovic in the US open final (if he beats Berdych first!)

[Crimson Dynamo 128]

I still want to see Scotland do well and make it to the big tournaments and bring back that excitement I felt as a boy. France 98 was brilliant as was Euro 96. Instead all we have now is a sense of apathy towards the national team mostly I feel because they're not that great a team but also because more often than not now they don't really have a go in games 4-6-0 anyone? They tend now just to try and grind results out which can be very boring to watch. But I won't stop supporting Scotland and I hope they get a result today!

 

I don't however support the SFA the only way to fix them is for their to be wholesale changes from top to bottom.

[GovanAllan 0]

Are all these bloggers mentally ill?

 

Leggo and now this. Both middle age idiots spouting sensationalist crap trying to appeal to the lowest rungs of society. I've stayed in Glasgow all my days and just don't see this divide that McMurder is talking, then again I'm not in the OO and don't base my decisions on religious backgrounds.

 

The SFA, for as long as I can remember, is a shambles. Their decisions might be strange sometimes but there is no evil plan to destroy Rangers.

 

The Scotland support is made up of the whole spectrum of Scottish football fans, arguably, there will probably be more Rangers fans in the Scotland support than any other team.

 

Ian Black getting boo'd was because he was a Jambo and the game was at Easter road.

 

If these bloggers spent as much energy exposing Whyte instead of fabricating conspiracies and trying to fracture an already disjointed national game, then we might not be in SFL3.

 

C'mon Scotland.

 

Hopefully we can beat the Serbs and then for Murray to beat Djokovic in the US open final (if he beats Berdych first!)

 

Can you tell me why they didn't boo the rest of the Jambos in the team then?

 

I hope Scotland get utterly humped today and for the rest of time.

 

I take it you don't support Andy when he takes part in the Davis Cup or last month when he won his Gold medal for GB?

 

Also can you tell me where in that whole piece he mentions religion or the OO?

[GovanAllan 0]

As for the piece itself I thought it summed up today's Scotland well, it seems anything GB is getting frowned upon more and more.

 

It no surprise that fat Eck Salmond body swerved a referendum this year and next like the plague with all the Jubilee and Olympic stuff it would remind Scottish people just why it's great to be British and the fat muppet can't have that can he, funny how the independence crap has gone quiet for the time being I'm sure he will ramp it up just in time for the Diddy Games.

 

And don't even get me started on the amount of money that's been spent for the Diddy Games on that shit hole in the east end, the biggest land scam since the highland clearances and which football club came out smelling of roses in that swindle of that's right the one that thinks its Irish.

[EDGE 0]

Can you tell me why they didn't boo the rest of the Jambos in the team then?

 

Who were the other Jambo's that night, and that is besides the point. Ian Black is one of those players that everyone hates. It wasn't that long ago that he blootered Dioff and crocked Jelavic. We boo'd him at Ibrox not that long ago, was it because we hate Hearts? Black go boo'd because he used to get it right up the Hibbees when he was at Hearts.

 

I hope Scotland get utterly humped today and for the rest of time.

 

How very noble of you.

 

I take it you don't support Andy when he takes part in the Davis Cup or last month when he won his Gold medal for GB?

 

Seriously Al, WTF are you talking about? Of course I supported Andy and every other Team GB competitor at the Olympics.

 

Also can you tell me where in that whole piece he mentions religion or the OO?

 

Albert, you need to chill the fuck out, I was making a reference to Bill's title "A divided nation" and merely pointed out that there is no divided nation, as a Glasgow boy all my days, many of my friends are Tims and we all get along fine. Maybe he see's things differently due to the fact that he's a member of the sectarian OO and doens't "mix" with non-Prods.

 

Bloggers are attention whores, pure and simple.

 

At the risk of sending Mr Govan into a mega-beel:

 

Cmon the Jocks!!!

Edited September 8, 2012 by EDGE

[GovanAllan 0]

Webster and Berra played that night.

 

And if your going to comment on a thread then get the subject right, it's about being a proud Scot and very much British and why all things Britsh seem to be frowned upon these days. It's nothing to do with Protestant & Catholic so I have no idea where you get that idea.

 

As for the last bit whatever floats your boat mate you won't see me getting into a mega-beel over a narrow minded comment from you.