Behaviour of Celtic fans, should it be tolerated?

Childish really.

Allira

^When police have to form a line down a street to ensure football fans cannot come into contact with one another and ensure fans of one team don't go into a pub where there are fans of the other I feel there is something seriously wrong.^

I agree. Quite honestly, is this the best use of a large amount of police resources?

Apparently the club only foots the bill for Policing in the stadium!

I once had the misfortune to catch a train full of Notting Forrest supporters.

They drank and smoked on the train and as we were stationary before departure they exposed themselves to some teenage girls on the platform and shouted out of the windows “do you take it up the **”

I spoke to the female guard who said they wouldn’t kick them off because there were too many and they would cause a huge problem, myself and a young Mum with children were offered a seat in first class.

Sarnia

I love football. Chants and songs have been around for ages and are meant to wind the opposition fans right up.
For years Spurs fans called themselves the 'Yid Army'. Some might find that offensive but the supporters were happy to shout it out at matches.
A football fan will give as good as they get and accept it as part of the game. People who are offended should find something else to do.
Horses for courses really.

The Celtic fans went far beyond banter. Their behaviour was disgraceful and they and the club should be punished accordingly.

It is precisely the “winding the opposition fans up” that l dislike about football as it is unsporting and totally unnecessary. It can also lead to physical fights, as we have seen all too often in the past. I am a Norwich City fan. Their football rivals are Ipswich Town. They are clubs that are very similar, in that they are both small, family-centric, slightly unfashionable clubs with a loyal, mainly local, fan-base. Until recently, they had a friendly, jostling, good-humoured rivalry, but were respectful of each other. In recent years, a different kind of rivalry has been artificially whipped up and fans are encouraged to cheer when the other team is losing and boo when they are winning. The way the other team is talked about by some fans is nastier, too. It is so sad and so very unnecessary.

Sago I went to a Notts Forest match when I was young (the only professional football match I've been to) and it seemed good-tempered with none of the crude, nasty behaviour found now, despite the fact laws to deal with hooliganism have been passed since then.

Not a royalist by any means but the comments about anybody at all being 'in a box' are despicable. No idea what could be done to stop these hooligans other than playing matches behind closed doors which would penalise both the club and the supporters.

Im rather more concerned about Celtic fans use of pyrotechnics

Listening to a crowd singing your father/mother/husband/child is in a box is acceptable?

Tbf Lizzie's in a box is pretty tame considering many of the sectarian songs/chants that now cannot be voiced publicly in Scotland.
To those that think "it's just football" is not, it's sectarian violence, and it's been rife in Scotland for time immemorial. In 2012 the SNP government introduced The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 was repealed in March 2018 as too many underprivileged young men were being criminalised by their drunken behaviour at football matches. The SNP government then committed hundreds of thousands of pounds to educate against sectarianism in schools.
The Hate Crime & Public Order (Scotland) Act 2022 can now be used to deal with sectarian offences.
In both cases it's left to the police to decide what is sectarian behaviour but there is a list of songs/chants that cannot be publicly voiced, although they can be clearly heard in many family gardens in the summertime. The chants and songs have absolutely no place in Scotland, yet they persist.

Perhaps if you lived their lives you’d understand. Living as a secondhand being in a country that’s not given equal status is difficult to understand when you live South of the border. Some who live in Scotland also dont understand. Try being a RC who has been refused many many jobs due only to their religious affiliation. Not through lack of qualifications, only due to religion. Many are not equal in Scotland today.

I live in Wales , our flag is not on the Union Jack, my grandfather was hit when he spoke Welsh in school, I was not allowed to study Welsh history. Our head held classes after school we learned of the English iron works and coal mine owners !

LovelyLady

Perhaps if you lived their lives you’d understand. Living as a secondhand being in a country that’s not given equal status is difficult to understand when you live South of the border. Some who live in Scotland also dont understand. Try being a RC who has been refused many many jobs due only to their religious affiliation. Not through lack of qualifications, only due to religion. Many are not equal in Scotland today.

What complete and utter nonsense!

ViceVersa I think it will never be eradicated from Scottish football. I'm a West Coast Scot and I've seen this my entire life. It's really quite sad that we haven't improved attitudes from the 1960's/70's.

I'm quite surprised that some people here are not aware of anti-English feeling going back centuries (which can manifest itsekf as anti-Protestant or anti-Royalist) nor the anti-Westminster feeling from the last half-century.

That's true LovelyLady. I went for a part time job in a bonded warehouse when my children were young in the '80's. I was asked to complete the application form when we were sitting waiting. I added my secondary school, as requested, and a woman sitting next to me told me to go and ask for another form as I'd made a mistake. My mistake was writing my RC secondary school. She said I would never get an interview/job with that on the form.

The word hooligan seems to have been used in this thread. To me, a hooligan is 'a violent person who fights or causes damage in public places'. None of these supporters did that.

Chardy

The word hooligan seems to have been used in this thread. To me, a hooligan is 'a violent person who fights or causes damage in public places'. None of these supporters did that.

I beg to differ. I would say that throwing smoke bombs onto the pitch counts as hooligan behaviour - and, I might add, something which has earned Celtic a disciplinary notice from UEFA. And singing about the IRA in a city which suffered the pub bombing?

Hasn't there always been trouble because Celtic and Rangers are Catholic and Protestant? I remember being in Glasgow years ago when there was a game being played and I was told to be careful.

Chardy

The word hooligan seems to have been used in this thread. To me, a hooligan is 'a violent person who fights or causes damage in public places'. None of these supporters did that.

I used the word as it is an accepted legal term.

The CPS and Police are committed to taking a robust stance towards tackling football-related offending, including disorder, hooliganism and hate crime.

Chardy

The word hooligan seems to have been used in this thread. To me, a hooligan is 'a violent person who fights or causes damage in public places'. None of these supporters did that.

Here is the context.
QuoteAllira Fri 31-Jan-25 16:45:10
Sago I went to a Notts Forest match when I was young (the only professional football match I've been to) and it seemed good-tempered with none of the crude, nasty behaviour found now, despite the fact laws to deal with hooliganism have been passed since then.

Sorry if you disapprove of the term, Chardy but I stand by my post.

ViceVersa

LovelyLady

Perhaps if you lived their lives you’d understand. Living as a secondhand being in a country that’s not given equal status is difficult to understand when you live South of the border. Some who live in Scotland also dont understand. Try being a RC who has been refused many many jobs due only to their religious affiliation. Not through lack of qualifications, only due to religion. Many are not equal in Scotland today.

What complete and utter nonsense!

It is not nonsense. My husband experienced this more than fifty years ago.
What school you went to, RC or non denominational, did make a difference in the West of Scotland.

I am not a royalist but these sorts of chants are just spiteful, whoever is being referred to. I loathed Thatcher but I thought the chants made on her death were equally spiteful and unnecessary. Why do people feel the need to do this sort of thing? I don't, however, think they should be prosecuted.

Some football supporters just enjoy being rowdy and disruptive. I think they enjoy it because it makes them feel powerful - they wouldn't behave in such a way if they were on their own. It is certainly not pleasant to be amongst them after a match. I hate going on the tube when there has been a football match.

I do understand that there is a historic context for some of the chants relating to religion and nationhood - eg resentment of England, Westminster, etc. That, I think, is more understandable (though, Anniebach, your treatment at the hands of the English might make you reflect on the situation of other people who have also had their everyday lives controlled by more powerful nations).

Anti-Catholic bias is still around and not just in Scotland either.

I joined a group recently and when I said which school I had attended the room went quiet.

I went back a few times but it was clear they didn't know what to do with me so I stopped going.

"What school you went to, RC or non denominational, did make a difference in the West of Scotland."
I would qualify that by saying it was/is true of the South West of Scotland (including the Glasgow area). Growing up as I did in the North West of Scotland, I was totally unaware of any antipathy between Protestants and Catholics. I was therefore astonished when I arrived at Glasgow University to discover the degree of animosity between the two local tribes. The first time I saw Celtic supporters en masse, I assumed from their flags and banners that they were all Southern Irish and not Scots at all.

I am an Irish Catholic but have liven in England all my life.

The only time I have experienced this sectarian behaviour was when I had a dinner guest from Glasgow, he was the father of a friend.

He verbally attacked me, he started quizzing me on my faith and telling me I should be ashamed.
He was so vitriolic I was close to tears, unfortunately my husband was away otherwise I think he would have been physically thrown out.

I did ask him to leave, my friend was horrified she said she had no idea how strongly he felt about Catholics.

Sectarian nonsense seems focused on Glasgow area. The people perpetrating it must be just plain thick. Commercial football teams are making a profit from them so won't condone their behaviour.