Jump to content

 

 

The Herald-Football biggest contributor to Scotland's sectarianism


Recommended Posts

Plus if only 1\3 were football related then how can football be the biggest contributer. Are 2\3 being swept under the carpet.

 

They are probably insinuating the biggest single contributor. So if football is responsible for 33%, the schools responsible for 20%, religion responsible for 20% etc etc - then it COULD be construed as the biggest contributor.

Link to post
Share on other sites

This story is about public perceptions, not statistical analysis. Football has a far higher profile in Scotland than almost any other subject, that certain clubs are top-of-mind is no real surprise.

 

Not a popular opinion I accept but I take issue with the blaming 'schools' narrative, it's certainly not my experience. I'm not in favour of state-funded religious schooling but not because I think it creates sectarianism. I've yet to meet a teacher who promotes or creates sectarian tensions. These things come from the home, intolerance and ignorance are usually domestic issues. The Rangers supporting journalist Ronnie Esplin wrote an interesting chapter on this for one of the 'Rangers For Me' books about his personal experiences with Catholic schools, it's worth digging out.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've yet to meet a teacher who promotes or creates sectarian tensions.

 

That's the argument that the RC church uses and it's deeply flawed IMO. I don't think there's many who believe teachers go about promoting sectarianism. It's not the day-to-day teaching but it's the fact that RC children are forcibly separated for their education from children of other faiths that emphasises the differences.

 

I had Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and RC kids in my street and most of us could walk to and from school together without any problems. On the way home, we would make plans to play football together. The RC kids would have a bus pick them up and they would disappear off to some other school. They were never part of the plans for the football as I didn't really know them and hardly ever saw them. I didn't know what the difference was but I knew that they were different as they wouldn't go to my school.

 

Edit -when you have this divide enforced on kids then it will lead to divisions. I grew up with no RC friends, but had plenty of Jewish ones and one Muslim one but it was nothing to do with bigotry, but setting up that sort of environment will lead to differences and can lead to bigotry on both sides.

 

These things come from the home, intolerance and ignorance are usually domestic issues.

 

A sweeping statement that will be true to an extent but is not the main factor in my experience. It's an easy answer that is used to try and excuse the continued financial support of an education system that gives choices to only one section of the community.

 

The Rangers supporting journalist Ronnie Esplin wrote an interesting chapter on this for one of the 'Rangers For Me' books about his personal experiences with Catholic schools, it's worth digging out.

It's difficult to respect anyone's opinion who thinks Graham Spiers deserves a chapter of a book, so I'll give it a miss.

Edited by Bluedell
Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Loyalist marches were cited as the second biggest factor after football, with 79 per cent mentioning it and 13 per cent believing it the biggest contributor, while 70 per cent mentioned Irish Republican marches and three per cent said they were the biggest contributor.

 

If these 'members of the public' were 'neutral' the above figures would have been identical. Giving that there are more Loyalists than Republicans in this country then it suggests to me the figures are a lie.

Link to post
Share on other sites

This story is about public perceptions, not statistical analysis. Football has a far higher profile in Scotland than almost any other subject, that certain clubs are top-of-mind is no real surprise.

 

Not a popular opinion I accept but I take issue with the blaming 'schools' narrative, it's certainly not my experience. I'm not in favour of state-funded religious schooling but not because I think it creates sectarianism. I've yet to meet a teacher who promotes or creates sectarian tensions. These things come from the home, intolerance and ignorance are usually domestic issues. The Rangers supporting journalist Ronnie Esplin wrote an interesting chapter on this for one of the 'Rangers For Me' books about his personal experiences with Catholic schools, it's worth digging out.

 

As BD says, it isn't the teachers who are creating any sectarianism. That is a red herring IMHO. What DOES create mistrust and division is the SYSTEM. Any system which singles out a particular type of person based on "whatever" will inherently lead to suspicion, skepticism and more than likely a dislike, mistrust and a lack of integration.

 

It isn't the teachers, it is the system itself which gives rise to the higher probability of sectarianism.

Link to post
Share on other sites

If you imagine two secular secondary schools within half a mile of each other, you are going to have a rivalry and a divide - it's just natural. They even portrayed this on Grange Hill. However, if they are secular, then when you grow up and leave, you only have negative feelings for the rival school which become irrelevant as you won't encounter many people from that school or even know if they are - and there's a good chance you'll move away in any case.

 

When you put religion in the mix, you have the rivalry which is also labelled by the religion and so you grow up with negative feelings towards that religion. The thing is, religion is always on our radar, no matter where we move to. This is highly exacerbated in Scotland with having only two large clubs, each with a religious connotation which mirrors the schools.

 

I suspect most of it is banter, but they way things are set up, it's never off the radar, and you always get the idiots who take it too far.

Link to post
Share on other sites

They are probably insinuating the biggest single contributor. So if football is responsible for 33%, the schools responsible for 20%, religion responsible for 20% etc etc - then it COULD be construed as the biggest contributor.

 

Yes you mean as 1\3 of all driving accidents are caused through drink driving, which means that the drivers were sober in 2\3 of the accidents. So lets all drive pissed and it will save 1\3 of the accidents.:D

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.