The Offensive Behaviour at Football & Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill

Just a small point btw. The 5 years is if the person is convicted on indictment. If it is summary then the maximum is 12 months.

I would suggest that only serious cases would be on indictment. Bearing in mind that even if they are, and go before a Sheriff and Jury (which they would have to unless it's the High Court) the maximum would still be 3 years, unless the Sheriff refers it to the High Court.

 

This would be a good bill if we could trust the police to enforce it properly, we all know that they will try and do someone for this when they were singing something that isn't sectarian at all.

The whole 'if you use anything political through football you are not welcome' annoys me too. Politics has always been in football and is still everywhere in most countries. And political issues will always be present at football games as long as money is charged for tickets and masses of people turn up.

The actual bill seems to be grasping at straws. They are claiming 'LETS STAMP THIS OUT' etc and introduce bills but they still allow sectarian marches? thats a bit stupid is it not?

 

Nil by mouth is a load of *, an organisation who really does not have a clue.

One of the most bitter wee hun * of recent times was Nacho Novo and he wasn't Protestant.

The fact that they state that "Tim" is an offensive term says it all.

 

Totally agreed.

You cannot be sectarian in a football stadium, but you can do it parading down the streets. Offending as many people as you want.

Makes you proud to be a Scot.

 

Have IRA songs been banned now?

Seen a video on the BBC website(I think) and it showed two clips of alleged sectarian singing. One was the Celtic fans singing "Up the Ra" and the other was some hun song.

So are these songs now classed as sectarian songs?

I'm a bit confused here, was this not cleared up in court a few weeks back...

 

It is written in such a way as the short answer is "yes", as are any songs that the Police want to be.

Of course, like I said earlier, that has to be tested. If for example someone is lifted for singing a certain song, because it is offensive, that doesn't just mean that it is. That can be defended in a Court and precedent set.

 

Lets see this in action. The courts can't cope just now with the volume of cases - add a couple of hundred more a week and watch it collapse. Also i assume that legal aid will be available - where the * is that going to come from.

 

good point!

 

I honestly couldn't care about this stupid law. It obviously isn't gong to work.

 

* BLESS NEIL LENNON

 

joke if u ask me

 

The Sassenachs on RM are going mental over this!

I for one applaud it. Anyone being overtly racist or sectarian at football matches, but more so, online where they think they're anonymous, deserve all they get. Look at all these wee twats that wrote on facebook or twitter about Neil Lennons death threats. A perfect example of narrow minded idiots that deserve a jail stint for their hatred.

 

I think the bit about political sectarianism is the one tims need to take note off. Sectarianism includes bitter/violent political factionalism within a population. It doesnt just mean religious bigotry or racism. In reality there tends to be a split along religious, political and historical identity lines combined into mutually antagonistic subculture blocks in places like west-central Scotland and northern Ireland. The issue real is down to how atnagonistic and heated the hatred is. its not like normal politics in the UK.

 

Point is this is a bill about football. It doesnt claim a wider remit.

 

the thing that annoys me about this whole charade is that the police have had the power to arrest those singing bigoted/ racist songs at the football for years yet they have always been too cowardly to use them properly; as impractical as it sounds, the only way to get folk to stop singing such songs is to simply get 100 coppers to wade into the crowd if they hear for example the billy boys or the famine song and arrest the culprits; much like they did with the GB at the scottish cup semi over a harmless smoke bomb

if anything this bill seems to have widened the remit to anything that a "reasonable man" deems merely "offensive"; which might include songs such as soilders song or The Fields, etc which rangers fans would find offensive anyway. the lawyers will have a field day

while i welcome anything that tackles sectarianism in scotland i'm very sceptical of this new bill; for a bill about sectarianism to not even mention the word sectarianism seems odd. and it will be interesting to see who the first person who is arrested under the new law supports

rushed law is usually bad law and i have grave misgivings about this bill

 

Indeed, which means "You cannot be sectarian in a football stadium, but you can do it parading down the streets. Offending as many people as you want."

So the Scottish Executive is legislating against football supporters rather than organisations that do nothing other than encourage bigotry and hatred.

 

i think the snp need to go further and ban the orange order from our streets too but i wont hold my breath on that one .

 

I agree, on both counts.

They are an affront to decency and a blight on society.

 

i would certainly ban them from polluting our streets and town and city centers; if scotland is serious about tackling bigotry then this hate group can't be allowed to effectively shut down towns and cities for the day, at considerable police and thus public expense, to spread their hate

however you cant ban them outright, as disgusting an organization as they undoubtedly are, they would just throw "freedom of speech" back at you ( i know, they wouldn't recognize the irony of that statement); let them go march in a field somewhere away from civilized people for all i care just not in our towns and cities

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13857436

"However, she said each case would depend on individual circumstances and cited an example of having seen Celtic fans making signs of the cross to Rangers fans in an "aggressive" manner, which may potentially be construed as offensive."

Disgraceful thing to say how the * is the sign of the cross "offensive"; better tell all those players who do it that they cant do it.....then again one club already does