Rangers could face punishment over sectarian chanting

[BrahimHemdani 1]

So if plod doesn't raise the issue then there is no issue?.der berliner asked me what plod has to do with it?,it is very confusing!. The club needs to come out and specifically state that singing TBB is not allowed!

 

I think a member of the public at a match could approach an officer and make a complaint then it would be up to the officer whether he felt an offence had been committed.

 

The Club have indeed said TBB is not allowed as dB has detailed; though perhaps it would bear repeating.

 

Good night, happy New Year when it comes.

[Bluedell 5,350]

I've now checked my records and see that the copy of the exerpt of the letter hasn't been made public. There are people who have a copy and were asked to keep it confidential. The whole letter has never been seen by anyone outside of the club to the best of my knowledge.

 

I have seen a copy of the exerpt and it states "any form of the 'Billy Boys' song is strictly prohibited".

 

There are other well-respected members of this forum who have also seen it. I will leave to others to decide on the veracity of this post.

 

Happy hogmanay, everyone, and stay safe.

[SteveC 150]

You didn't have to go hunting, it is quoted directly on this thread see #14 (posted 29th December 08:36 PM) - which makes some later pages read most oddly.

Edited December 31, 2015 by SteveC

[der Berliner 3,272]

Methinks it was explicately said back then on the club's homepage, but we switched servers after Whyte and much of what was on there was lost.

 

By the looks of it, club and supporters look to work closer together in the very near future than ever before. Thus, an official status quo information might be due, with a note that both club and supporters organisation looking to address the matter with UEFA et al. Perhaps we may "get the tune back" for starters.

 

IMHO ... at the end of the day it is as much a rousing song as the Marseillaise is, or other anthemns. And quite a few are not politically correct but accepted ... as no-one in his right mind will do what is being sung or take it literally.

[BEARGER 1,829]

Why point out who 'Billy' was when you know it has no relevance whatsoever as to why Rangers fans have adopted the song over the last 60 years or more? Nothing at all to do with Fullarton - it was akin to the likes of the 'guff' that Spiers and the likes try to spin. The 'Billy' reference was adopted for the same reason that 'I'd rather be a Billy than a Tim' was sung in the 60s. But you knew that which is all the more confusing what your comment was trying to achieve.

 

Don't know if you are being deliberately obtuse or it could be my poor English grammar.

 

Bearger may be shit-stirring but the song IS about Billy Fullerton.

 

Not shit-stirring at all, just stating a fact that you have confirmed. Will leave it at that.

[ian1964 10,431]

[video=youtube;0xRL-_4Q-BM]

[ian1964 10,431]

I've now checked my records and see that the copy of the exerpt of the letter hasn't been made public. There are people who have a copy and were asked to keep it confidential. The whole letter has never been seen by anyone outside of the club to the best of my knowledge.

 

I have seen a copy of the exerpt and it states "any form of the 'Billy Boys' song is strictly prohibited".

 

There are other well-respected members of this forum who have also seen it. I will leave to others to decide on the veracity of this post.

 

Happy hogmanay, everyone, and stay safe.

 

Is there a possibility that TBB banning can be challenged and brought back?, a new version without the add ons!,is this something the fans group could get together with the club as it seems the majority of fans would like to see it brought back but change the words!,worth a shout?.

Edited December 31, 2015 by ian1964

[ian1964 10,431]

Spiers(The Liar) on Sport: Rangers must uphold progress by resisting return of 'the old songs'

Stewart Robertson, Rangers' managing director, has so far not been convincing on the issue of ridding Ibrox of sectarian singing

Stewart Robertson, Rangers' managing director, has so far not been convincing on the issue of ridding Ibrox of sectarian singing

 

Rangers FC, in whatever guise you recognise it in the post-2012 period, has made considerable strides to eradicate bigotry around the club.

 

Whereas as recently as 10 years ago – and it really was excruciating – Ibrox Stadium resounded to sectarian chants, in more recent times the atmosphere has been cleaned up, with erstwhile dodgy songs adored by many Rangers fans being put on the back burner.

 

It would be totally wrong to ignore this progress at Rangers. I remember the summer of 2006 when Paul Le Guen arrived at the club. Ibrox was mired in “fans issues” and bigotry, and Le Guen was utterly perplexed by it all.

 

 

One of the first things the Frenchman had to do was take part in initiatives set up by the club, begging Rangers fans to stop singing these songs.

 

To a large degree, many of these measures worked. Rangers made significant progress in quelling its bigoted sentiment, and the club made great strides in the years ahead. Ibrox, I believe, in time became a much healthier place in which to watch your football.

 

The Billy Boys, an anti-Catholic anthem beloved of Ibrox, was put on mute. Indeed, for a number of seasons it seemed to disappear completely, at least at Rangers home games. This, surely, was progress.

 

But few of us had any illusions about it. More than once I’ve been told that, if you venture onto a Glasgow subway train with travelling Rangers fans, their old anthems can be given quite an airing. The old songs appeared to have survived and thrived, being sung with gusto whenever a more guarded context will allow.

 

And then there were these occasional public eruptions of it, such as at the infamous 2011 League Cup final at Hampden, when some of the choral stuff exhumed by the Rangers support that day took us back to a pre-Enlightenment period.

 

It is staggering, in this day and age, to hear stuff about Catholics, ******s, ****s, the Pope and the rest emanating from thousands of people. It is as baffling as it is sad.

 

Now this Rangers FC board – and I am not convinced by their mettle on this issue – faces a fresh test.

 

 

At Ibrox this week we heard a further eruption of what might euphemistically be called the “old songs”. It was another example, amid all the progress that Rangers have made, of the cap being blown off, and of some Rangers fans getting back into the party mood in the way they like best.

 

Social media was very interesting following that Rangers-Hibs game on Monday afternoon. Setting aside some preposterous stuff from the Rangers Supporters Trust, who were in full denial mode, there were a number of Rangers fans openly lamenting the re-emergence of these songs, and condemning them.

 

I have said this often enough: there is a new generation of Rangers supporter that the club should nurture and cultivate. They want nothing to do with this old obsession with “******s”. They are modern, decent, football-loving fans who love the game and love their club.

 

Rangers need to embrace these supporters, and leave to one side those others – including some official fan groups – who said after the Hibs match (I paraphrase): “Well done, lads, terrific stuff, great atmosphere, great to hear the old songs…”

 

Will this Rangers FC board, as has been required in previous years, step up to the plate? I hope so, though I doubt it.

 

I write as a journalist who has been banned by Rangers. None of that aspect bothers me. Football clubs sometimes do these daft things. I want nothing but the best for Rangers as they ascend towards the Ladbrokes Premiership. Indeed, I want Rangers challenging for the Premiership title as quickly as their football will allow.

 

But when Stewart Robertson, the new Rangers managing-director, informed me of my press ban, I would say his demeanour was that of someone somewhat embarrassed by the action being taken.

 

I do not believe Mr Robertson is anything other than a decent man – but his pitiful reasons for my ban, which included my past criticisms of Rangers over bigotry issues, sounded distinctly unconvincing.

 

It also doesn’t help right now that at least one member of the current Rangers board thinks that The Billy Boys is a tremendous song. This being the case, the club may well go backwards, not forwards.

 

On their dreaded songs issue, I hope this Rangers board go forward, not backward. I hope they are pro-active, not passive. I hope they acknowledge a potential threat, and don’t lapse into denial.

 

But, frankly, I’ll believe it when I see it. Banning writers who write about the issue is an ominous start.

 

It is now 39 years since Willie Waddell, then the Rangers general-manager, made an on-field public declaration which signalled an end to Rangers FC’s old anti-Catholic policy. I was there that day at Ibrox as a 12-year-old kid, though the fuss then was beyond me.

 

 

It remains my belief that, taking that day as a starting point, it will take 50 years for Rangers to fully flush out its bigoted baggage. There are pitfalls along that long road, as we witnessed again this week, but at least the journey is being taken.

 

There has been real progress made at Rangers in recent years. Mr Robertson and your ilk, please don’t slow it down.

Edited December 31, 2015 by ian1964

[trublusince1982 243]

The club should not try and dictate what the fans should accept without full and open communication between us. That's the same foolishness the spfl and sfa show in their thinking towards league reconstruction. If the authorities want to fight us on this then so be it,in my opinion we will win when we take this further, the club needs to decide whether to fight its own fans or back them. The fans have shown compromise by altering the offending words nothing more than that should be demanded.

 

The board would be very foolish to go against the support in this matter, its not a minority its a vast majority that want to sing the new billy boys parody'

[der Berliner 3,272]

Ah, Spiers, inquisitor-in-chief in all things sectarian. Has he ever - coming from Govan - crossed the Clyde with his sectarian notebook at the ready and ventured down Scumhut way in recent years, if not months? Or indeed Firhill? Jamboland? He and his ilk are one of the major problems in this matter, placing all the society's problems at our (and only our) doorstep and paint a pictureof us that would put the US foreign office and their "Iraq has weapons of mass-destruction drive" to shame.

Edited December 31, 2015 by der Berliner