Paul Quigley - FAC.

[Virtuoso 27,180]

Paul Quigley: Why we're well on the way to waving goodbye to the Offensive Behaviour Act

Paul Quigley from Fans Against Criminalisation says political momentum against the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act is building and the campaign could be on the verge of victory

THE dust of the election has settled as the Scottish Parliament now eases into the new session. The SNP has claimed a third straight victory in the Scottish elections, however its loss of an absolute majority is clearly a blow to the party regardless of how anyone may choose to dress this up. 

Nicola Sturgeon and her cohorts still hold the majority of the cards in the halls of power in Edinburgh, however the government may find things slightly more difficult this time around when it comes to pursuing its legislative agenda. It could well make for intriguing political drama over the next five years, and one of the earliest dramatic episodes may refer back to a plot line from last season - the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.

Labour's James Kelly MSP has now reiterated his promise to deliver a Members' Bill to parliament which will seek to have it repealed, and we at Fans Against Criminalisation have received commitments from each opposition party that they will support him in doing so. 
It has to be remembered, though, that this is not simply some petty attack being carried out for political gain. The response from the SNP in this regard has been tired and predictable, with it choosing to denigrate Labour for siding with the Tories rather than actually deal with the issue at hand. 

The SNP cannot reasonably expect to be able to frame every policy debate along the lines of the referendum in the hope that it will dissuade those in favour of independence from criticising the party.

These political games are of absolutely no interest to the young fan being dragged out of his bed at 7am on a Friday morning in front of his panic-stricken family for the alleged crime of offending a hypothetical person. 

Nicola Sturgeon herself has criticised those in opposition for prioritising this matter. The rights and well being of football supporters should not be a genuine concern, she seems to be suggesting.

Fortunately, however, the SNP appears to be alone in holding such a view as all opposition political parties in Scotland continue to oppose this law. This includes Patrick Harvie and the Green Party, as well as Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. The ideological differences of these respective parties could scarcely be more pronounced, but they are in agreement on this issue. 

A bad law is a bad law. The fact that this Act has united those across the political spectrum, as well as fans of Celtic, Rangers and a host of other rival clubs, seems to be as clear a sign as any that it is not fit for purpose.

When not dismissing outright the concerns and rights of fans, SNP ministers have had a tendency to refer to a YouGov poll which they claim demonstrates that the public supports the Act. However, this poll is almost as flawed as the legislation itself. Over half of the respondents within this poll admit to having no interest in football, which means that the remaining number of respondents who do have some knowledge and interest in football is too small a sample from which to infer the views of the population. 

Of even greater importance, however, is the manner in which the questions are worded. Respondents are asked if they support the legislation on the predication that it is action against sectarianism. This is entirely disingenuous as previous legislation already outlawed such behaviour and the new offence created by the law has nothing to do with sectarianism whatsoever. 

To make a comparison, if someone was to conduct a poll on public opinion about a complex piece of tax law and stated that the law was designed to prevent tax evasion, it would be expected that the majority of respondents would register their support for this measure in spite of the fact that they would probably be unlikely to understand the intricacies of the law and how it works. Thus, the results from such a poll would not actually be representative of anything.

The final defence of the Offensive Behaviour Act seems to be the constant repetition of the mantra that repealing it would 'send the wrong message', particularly in light of the scenes which marred the recent Scottish Cup final and with the looming prospect of more regular derby matches in Glasgow now that Rangers have been promoted to the top tier of Scottish football. 

Now we are not at this point suggesting, nor have we ever contended, that all fans are angels. The clamour from people like John Mason MSP, however, to link the scenes at Hampden to the possible repeal of the Offensive Behaviour Act has been utterly lamentable given that the two issues are entirely separate. These fans could be, and indeed have been, charged under a variety of laws. 

We are not for a second arguing that football fans should not be subject to criminal charges if their behaviour warrants it. The law should apply to football fans in the exact same way it would to anyone else. The problem is that this is not the case under this legislation and the fact that citizens are not treated equally in the eyes of the law sends a far more dangerous message than the repeal of an unworkable law. 

And perhaps if so much time, money and effort was not being spent filming and harassing fans who are merely singing songs, then the police could have been more effective when it came to securing the safety of those at Hampden on that day.

Fans Against Criminalisation has now entered into dialogue with the opposition parties and we are delighted at the progress which is being made and by their continued commitment to their manifesto pledges to repeal this unjust and unjustifiable attack on the rights of a select few. 
We have met with James Kelly and he has assured us that he intends to submit his Bill in the coming weeks, hopefully prior to the Parliament breaking up for the summer. Both the Green Party and the Tories have assured us that they will vote in favour of this Bill in order to repeal the legislation, and we are set to meet with representatives of the Liberal Democrats next week, however they too have already confirmed that they will support Kelly in his efforts. 

The numbers now favour those opposed to this illiberal Act, however our campaign will not count our chickens before they have hatched. It is our understanding that there will likely be a period of consultation to properly measure public opinion on the impact of the legislation and it is possible that the Justice Committee may exercise its right to gather its own evidence to allow for all of the facts to be properly considered before any Members' Bill goes to a vote. 

We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that we get the result we have been working towards since 2011, and we urge all of those who have supported our efforts to continue to do the same. 

If everything goes to plan, each and every one of you will have an opportunity to contribute to the consultation process and it is incumbent on all of us to do so. 

We are hopefully in the final stages of our campaign, but nothing has been won yet. 

https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/8541/paul-quigley-why-were-well-way-waving-goodbye-offensive-behaviour-act

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

Hopefully they get this scrapped. 

Im just a little wary that it will be replaced with a law aimed directly at us and no one else this time. 

[ianferguson 2,619]

12 minutes ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Hopefully they get this scrapped. 

Im just a little wary that it will be replaced with a law aimed directly at us and no one else this time. 

Guaranteed, every chance TBB will cost us points next season.

[Dutchy 1,200]

One of the best ways to reduce sectarianism in this country is to put an end to state sponsored religious schools.

The labour and snp parties know this, but they depend on the catholic vote to keep them in power, so in the old saying, turkey's don't vote for Christmas.

And it's important that no one is saying that religious education is being banned, if you want to fill your children's heads with deluded ideas, you can set up and organise private, paying schools. Just don't make the state pay for it and all the costs and consequences of bigotry in our society.

[TEFTONG 60,464]

26 minutes ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Hopefully they get this scrapped. 

Im just a little wary that it will be replaced with a law aimed directly at us and no one else this time. 

It has always been my concern that the fac seemed to be all about letting the green girls brigade to do whatever it wanted..!!..And as you say they would be very happy to let the polis continue the stasi and nazi demonisation and jailing of Rangers fans..as I have read on here previously the law was brought in to prevent the poor wee immigrants and the minority from being offended and then it was being used to jail foul mouthed terrorist loving c****c neds and hence the need to create fac...

[scottyscott1963 18,581]

This act is going nowhere. It will be tweaked to let the irish terrorist lovers and bottlers of wee 10 year old boys and wife beaters drop through the net and catch the real nasty villains who offend the poor wee kids singing TBB and they will end up doing porridge. We really need to get cute on this one,and I have said before that these scummy cunts see themselves as rebels say lets get up to our knees in "rhebel" blood. No if's,buts or maybes this word fenian has to disappear and pronto.

[scottyscott1963 18,581]

16 minutes ago, Dutchy said:

One of the best ways to reduce sectarianism in this country is to put an end to state sponsored religious schools.

The labour and snp parties know this, but they depend on the catholic vote to keep them in power, so in the old saying, turkey's don't vote for Christmas.

And it's important that no one is saying that religious education is being banned, if you want to fill your children's heads with deluded ideas, you can set up and organise private, paying schools. Just don't make the state pay for it and all the costs and consequences of bigotry in our society.

These cunts keep telling us we are one of the most progressive countries in Europe and welcome to the 21st century then ignore the fact we segregate kids at the age of 5 in the name of religion,an act designed for the 19th century. Two of Europe's largest Catholic Countries namely Spain and France took religion from there schools in the "20th century". This act needs brought up at every opportunity at your MSP's surgeries. Ask the question of your MP's.

[A.T.G 10,773]

29 minutes ago, Dutchy said:

One of the best ways to reduce sectarianism in this country is to put an end to state sponsored religious schools.

The labour and snp parties know this, but they depend on the catholic vote to keep them in power, so in the old saying, turkey's don't vote for Christmas.

And it's important that no one is saying that religious education is being banned, if you want to fill your children's heads with deluded ideas, you can set up and organise private, paying schools. Just don't make the state pay for it and all the costs and consequences of bigotry in our society.

Catholic schools are the tip of the problem. The base is the religion and all religions

Get them all to fuck, 2016 and some still believe there is a man in a make believe sky 

I despair

[HG5 11,410]

3 hours ago, ianferguson said:

Guaranteed, every chance TBB will cost us points next season.

Got to say, given how it's single chorus was used to deflect entirely from the other lot's wrong doing & police ineptitude at the final, we'd be well advised to keep it under wraps for a while.

I know that won't be a popular view (it's not even popular with me!), but given how the whole shooting match has now been turned round as our fault and the old 'they sang a bad song' line trotted out on the back of it.....just look how they've ('they've' covers a multitude of parties) distorted the time lines of events to suit their own agendas & deflect.

We won't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting any kind of fair coverage or representation if we keep throwing them their favourite bone - they're just gagging for us to do it, so why indulge them?

[bluedylan 11,555]

13 minutes ago, HG5 said:

Got to say, given how it's single chorus was used to deflect entirely from the other lot's wrong doing & police ineptitude at the final, we'd be well advised to keep it under wraps for a while.

I know that won't be a popular view (it's not even popular with me!), but given how the whole shooting match has now been turned round as our fault and the old 'they sang a bad song' line trotted out on the back of it.....just look how they've ('they've' covers a multitude of parties) distorted the time lines of events to suit their own agendas & deflect.

We won't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting any kind of fair coverage or representation if we keep throwing them their favourite bone - they're just gagging for us to do it, so why indulge them?

good post

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

3 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Hopefully they get this scrapped. 

Im just a little wary that it will be replaced with a law aimed directly at us and no one else this time. 

Sigh - just as we were 'interacting' well you give me this type of opening! Er just a little paranoia sneaking into your post there!  

( for the record it is a bad law and needs adjusted, if not repealed) 

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

I agree with all the points about not having religion in schools - ban religion completely I say! But the UK and Scottish  governments are a long way from doing that! 

Then I ask - BEARS DEN?? 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

55 minutes ago, Bluepeter9 said:

Sigh - just as we were 'interacting' well you give me this type of opening! Er just a little paranoia sneaking into your post there!  

( for the record it is a bad law and needs adjusted, if not repealed) 

Nothing paranoid about it, I can see any new law being implemented only to make anti catholic sectarianism an offence. Your party believe sectarianism is only about being anti Catholic, so it's not much of a stretch to see it happening  

Problem is nobody would do anything about it. 

[Bad Robot 21,512]

Fuck FAC .They are essentially scum fans who are now been targeted for their glorification of the Irish Republican Arseholes and now want the act abolished, an act they were instrumental in bringing in.

I will never stand with these cunts. 

[Pure_Quality 3,296]

25 minutes ago, Bad Robot said:

Fuck FAC .They are essentially scum fans who are now been targeted for their glorification of the Irish Republican Arseholes and now want the act abolished, an act they were instrumental in bringing in.

I will never stand with these cunts. 

Exactly this.

They thought it would be Big Bad RFC fans who were going to get thumped by this new Law, when in fact their IRAoke is now criminilised in a way which it never was under the old legislation.

Any Rangers fan who stands with these cretins will be criminilised under the old legislation under sectarianism when it's repealed, while they'll sing their old 'political' songs with absolute impunity.

Madness.

[BridgeIsBlue 66,654]

3 hours ago, Bluepeter9 said:

Then I ask - BEARS DEN?? 

This act affects us directly,so shut the fuck up.

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

3 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Nothing paranoid about it, I can see any new law being implemented only to make anti catholic sectarianism an offence. Your party believe sectarianism is only about being anti Catholic, so it's not much of a stretch to see it happening  

Problem is nobody would do anything about it. 

Ach wait and see before arguing about something we are just guessing at. Let's just agree it's a shit law that at least needs rewriting and probably repealed. 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

2 minutes ago, Bluepeter9 said:

Ach wait and see before arguing about something we are just guessing at. Let's just agree it's a shit law that at least needs rewriting and probably repealed. 

Agreed for once  

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

19 minutes ago, BridgeIsBlue said:

This act affects us directly,so shut the fuck up.

Listen to you mr high n mighty! 

And yet if I want to talk politics in the bears den your all over it like a bad rash! 

[BridgeIsBlue 66,654]

1 minute ago, Bluepeter9 said:

Listen to you mr high n mighty! 

And yet if I want to talk politics in the bears den your all over it like a bad rash! 

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

Just now, BridgeIsBlue said:

That kinda cute!

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

2 minutes ago, BridgeIsBlue said:

Fucking gives me the creeps. 

[7troop 187]

Why wait until they impose a new law or Bill that will entirely be constructed around targeting Rangers fans?

Ffs as Scottish citizens and fans ensure your voice is heard and demand parity and equality.

Being proactive is much more effective than reactive.

[eejay the dj 31,964]

7 hours ago, Dutchy said:

One of the best ways to reduce sectarianism in this country is to put an end to state sponsored religious schools.

The labour and snp parties know this, but they depend on the catholic vote to keep them in power, so in the old saying, turkey's don't vote for Christmas.

And it's important that no one is saying that religious education is being banned, if you want to fill your children's heads with deluded ideas, you can set up and organise private, paying schools. Just don't make the state pay for it and all the costs and consequences of bigotry in our society.

It's not just that .Every new build is a catholic school it seems from where I see and go .

Jesus ,Noticed another papish building getting the works in Paisley .

They certainly have the money and the people in the know to fast track everything

[scottyscott1963 18,581]

1 hour ago, eejay the dj said:

It's not just that .Every new build is a catholic school it seems from where I see and go .

Jesus ,Noticed another papish building getting the works in Paisley .

They certainly have the money and the people in the know to fast track everything

This lot will try every pissy trick in the book but address 21st apartheid or segregation. FFS. They have even came up with a piss poor idea in the rainbow project. Basically separately apart.