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Times Column Tomorrow: The ‘green Brigade’, Celtic’s Cultural Identity


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Be prepared folks, Britney has been putting his stumpy fingers on the keyboard again to write a new article, I suspect that from tweets earlier today it might be slightly biased ....

What a racket this Green Brigade mob are creating inside Celtic Park. A terrific din.

web • 24/09/2011 16:44

The Celtic support speak out about their "criminalisation"... bit.ly/qCzX4e

web • 25/09/2011 11:35

I thought ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ were terrific at Parkhead Saturday – and that’s not always my view. Lot of substance in their statement, too.

web • 25/09/2011 11:46

What I find weird is RFC fans utterly obsessing with ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ, and praying for IRA chanting when, such as Saturday, there is none.

web • 25/09/2011 11:51

My Times column tomorrow: the ‘Green Brigade’, Celtic’s cultural identity, and why Celtic and Rangers fans’ IRA stuff is embarrassing.

web • 25/09/2011 20:00

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What I find weird is RFC fans utterly obsessing with ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ, and praying for IRA chanting when, such as Saturday, there is none.

web • 25/09/2011 11:51

That's funny he clearly doesn't watch the away games on the TV , Sky must be part of the anti catholic group.

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Wow pat on the back for one week of no fuckin reference to terrorism. Instead they choose to dance like fannies the week after they get pumped off there biggest rivals. I will never forget the bloostained poppies banner, I will never forget the subtle IRA references in the banners they make. Scum of the earth and pure evil.

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More spin from the odious creep.

Cock sucker!

See tbh mate im not one for agendas however there are some out there for whatever reason who's only ambition is to portray IRA fc as a jilly bunch of freedom fighters and Rangers fans as big bad bigots. Speirs is one of them

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Still think this should be in bears den, when the article is out tomorrow it will be all over it

It should be and tbh since it refers to Rangers i dont know why it isnt. However it seems queersy knows exactly what he is doing. Its been all quiet regarding him and he doesnt like being out the way. So he comes back with a bang

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Spears is a homosexual rumour is he has been seen at st vincent street toilets on more than one occasion

Even if he is, what fucking difference would that make?

He should be despised for being an odious Rangers hater, not on the basis that 'rumours' suggest he's gay.

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Graham Spiers

September 26 2011 12:01AM

It was quite an amazing scene at Celtic Park on Saturday. This loud, boisterous, sometimes militant group of the club’s support known as ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ were in full flow. Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, later referred to this chanting, drum-beating mob as “fantastic” and “brilliant”.

You almost forgot they were there because, for the opening 45 minutes, hardly a cheep came out of this singing section. Instead, a series of banners were unfurled, in a carefully-planned ploy that could hardly have been executed better. As each protesting banner was made visible the whole of Celtic Park rose and applauded, causing quite a commotion.

Suddenly, at the beginning of the second half, their singing started again, and what an atmosphere it created. Great, booming, tribal chants were flung from one end of the stadium to the other, as otherwise dormant supporters were roused by the occasion.

It gave the Celtic-Caley Thistle match a theatrical backdrop, prompting Lennon’s later comments.

ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ were protesting about the proposed new legislation being created for the Offensive Behaviour at Football Bill. Their perception, in many ways correct, is that it will curb their rightful freedom of speech. This is a complicated area, mired as it has become in a trashy Old Firm game of moral ping-pong, but it is still worth exploring.

For instance, it is true that ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ’s songs about Ireland and Irish identity, which are at the core of Celtic’s foundation as a football club, are to be outlawed. One of their banners said: “Police State — Don’t Criminalise Us”. Another said: “Our Songs Are Not Sectarian”. Further points were made about a collection of chants that ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ enjoy — one of them even being Ireland’s national anthem — but which the Scottish Parliament might be blundering its way towards outlawing.

The most contentious of the chants found among the Celtic support — as well as that of Rangers — is about the IRA. This is where it comes right down to the nub, and where, in truth, a zero tolerance policy probably needs to be deployed.

It doesn’t sound very convincing these days to argue that, when Celtic fans chant about the IRA, they are in fact referring to an Irish liberation movement of nearly 100 years ago, rather than the terror group of recent times. This is a semantic we can do without.

The very same line of argument was tried a few years ago by some Rangers hardliners over their use of the word “f****n”. Anyone steeped in west of Scotland society knows that the word is a pejorative term for a Catholic, but some Rangers fans tried to get round this, saying: “No, no … in fact we are merely referring to the 19th century political movement in Ireland.”

That argument disintegrated somewhat when thousands of fans at Ibrox would refer to Martin O’Neill, then the Celtic manager, as a “sad f****n b*****d”, when plainly O’Neill was alive in the here and now, and not in the 19th century.

In fact, on Saturday at Celtic Park, there wasn’t a single IRA chant to be heard from ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ, despite some of their critics fervently praying that there would be. It is the one refrain in their repertoire they need to junk, however fleeting it might be at Celtic Park. (Some Celtic fans on the road, just like those of Rangers, are a different breed to sort out.) ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ, like the Blue Order at Ibrox, is to be encouraged. They are loud and brash and they provide Celtic games with a vivid percussion. There is also an argument that, all across the world, many football clubs’ supporters express a cultural or political stance that should not be deemed to be illegal. If these were outlawed then, never mind Celtic, the supporters of Real Madrid and Barcelona would be in deep trouble.

Where most decent people want to draw a line, and be less libertarian, is where it comes to outright prejudice, principally involving race or religion. Where a football crowd starts to hurl bile in either of these spheres, I’m all for supporters being carted off and fined. But over a club’s cultural roots — which many Celtic fans feel strongly — I don’t see how it can be muzzled.

The Scottish Government needs to be very careful as it meanders towards drawing up this Bill. ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ may have a point: Celtic and Rangers fans could face court charges over offences that are laughable. If I were Roseanna Cunningham, the Government’s minister for community safety, I would tred very warily indeed.

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Their perception, in many ways correct, is that it will curb their rightful freedom of speech.

From the guy that said 'some thoughts should be criminalised'? Aye, very good, you knobend.

Best part of you Queersy was shot into the bedsheets.

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Ok, his praise of ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ is a little cringeworthy, but looking through his love fest for them, his sentiments on the legislation are correct. This new legislation is a joke, that threatens to criminalise things that don't really need to be criminalised (and already are anyway).

Do I like what ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ stand for? No

Do I like what ǝpɐbıɹq uǝǝɹb ǝɥʇ sing? No

Do I agree with any of their politics? No

Do I want to see what they do banned/made illegal? No

Much as I disagree with just about everything they stand for, I'd be a fool to think that it would make football a better experience without the likes of them. We've got ourselves into this tit for tat battle, and ultimately, it's the fans who are going to be the losers. Whilst football is mostly about my love for Rangers, the hatred of Celtic is a sizable part of what being a Rangers fan is all about (and vice versa).

I still find it difficult to understand what place their "politics" have in a football stadium. Removing the "politics" aspect of their conduct, I find it offensive in the extreme that they can sing their "political" songs and air their "political" banners in Great Britain. Effectively the very place that they hate everything about and the very place where those they sing in praise of bombed, maimed and killed innocent men women and children.

Football stadiums need football supporters not terrorist supporters.

With that in mind. Fuck Brendan Lillis.

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