ARE THE CELTIC BOARD REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT FAN SAFETY? WE’LL SOON FIND OUT
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
One of the major criticisms I, and indeed much of the still banned Celtic Fan media, has levelled at the Celtic Board consistently this season is the often-disingenuous reasoning given for their highly questionable decision making.
The Green Brigade were barred from Celtic Park for the majority of this season for crimes still unknown committed by people still unidentified. All in the name of “safety for supporters, staff and police” according to the Celtic Board.
Well, Sunday will prove, beyond any reasonable doubt if indeed this is the case. Because, whatever happens, I expect there to be trouble, I expect those Spider-Smurfs the Union Bears will try to get into the stadium somehow, and when they do, trouble will ensue.
I hope that Celtic’s security staff and the Police have a coordinated plan to deal with this inevitability. I suspect however, based on past performance, that they probably don’t.
Celtic Board Can Prove Safety Stance on Sunday, By Keeping Union Bears Out
If there is one thing Police Scotland should have learned over the past several years, it is that whether Rangers win or lose on Derby Day, trouble soon follows. So far, their hands-off approach to policing this element, while seemingly enjoy a free pass to brutalize Celtic fans at every opportunity hasn’t worked for Police Scotland.
Effective law enforcement is built upon respect, communication and trust.
Most Celtic fans don’t trust the police now, after numerous kettling incidents, arbitrary raids on the homes of fans, and an, at best, highly dubious double standard in how Rangers fans seem to be treated in similar circumstances.
For the record, as last month’s riot after the Scottish Cup quarter final showed clearly, The Union Bears and their ilk clearly don’t respect Police Scotland either. They’ve consistently broken the law, often resulting in violence, and police have done basically nothing to stop them.
The Union Bears have quite the “rap sheet” as it were. From on pitch violence, threatening other fans, including some of their own supporters to widespread and flagrant drug abuse within the stadium concourses. And, of course, let’s not forget that all-important thing we must never, ever talk about: the widespread racist chanting, anti-Irish and anti-Catholic hatred. The Union Bears certainly aren’t the only ones who partake in this especially vile behavior at Ibrox, but they are one of the main agitators of it.
As I said before, and I will repeat it once more for the hard of thinking who continue to deny this universal truth: The Green Brigade are ultras; The Union Bears are hooligans. There is a massive difference between these two terms.
You may not agree with all of The Green Brigade’s political rhetoric, but their charity work and their activism is something we should all aspire to. The only fundraising efforts you’ll see from the Union Bears at the moment are sales of a mocked-up image of one of them stamping on a Celtic Fan to “raise money to cover legal costs related to the recent derby.”
In other words, while the Green Brigade’s food drive and other charitable efforts help some of the poorest people in Scotland and abroad, the Union Bears, in what is probably an apt mirroring of their love lives, remain entirely focused on themselves.
So far, pretty much everything to come out of the Celtic Board this season has been all words, but little action, at least in a positive sense. That changed last week when they finally grew the proverbial pair and told those Goebbels-loving gimps they were not welcome at Celtic Park.
Sunday is the test though. Can the Celtic Board truly see this through and keep any rogue elements in the away end under control, or remove them if needed?
Time will tell...