Phil Mac - The Celtic away support.

I see he insinuated that the crowd singing sings about the 'queen-sanctioned' Roll of Honour should not be doing so as they weren't actually there (unlike his grandfather)....

*, I better not sing about the Champions of 67, the Lisbon Lions, Jimmy Johnstone, Jim McGrory etc - because I wasn't actually present when they were playing

So far, I have been pleasantly intrigued by Phil's blogs, and it was nice to see him add in the fact the songs are not sectarian nor racist.

Yes, these songs are going to be offensive to some - especially being sung on 'British' soil......but who gives a * where they are sung?

If you wan't to be a part of the jungle, you better be ready to tackle a few monkeys.

 

Really bad writing, no wonder he remains a 'freelance' journalist.
A stupid subject that people try to do to death with continuous fail and the whole article is all over the place with poor structure.

I.e Witta-Dafty

P.s quite annoyed i gave him my time in reading it actually.

 

You don't need to read any further than "freelance journalist" at the top of Phil's page.
He is obviously looking for a pay cheque and as a freelance journalist he is writing what the rest of the 'meeja want to publish - articles having a dig at Celtic.

Also Phil says there was he heard there was a PA announcement at Ibrox on Saturday to encourage their fans not to sing sectarian songs. First of all this was hearsay and means nothing but even if there was such an announcement the game against Hibs was an away game - Celtic are not in control of the PA system at Easter Road and neither they should be. If it were a home game then this argument may have some sense to it but what does he want us to do!? Get Peter Lawell out in front of the Celtic end before kick off with a megaphone to shout things at the crowd?!

 

Wonder if Phil will convey his point better via a range of Beanie Hats and 3 quarter-length shorts.

 

Exactly.

I sometimes think people are jealous at just how loud our away support is.
He has watched the game on sky, seen the cracking footage of the huddle being aired around the world and thought to himself 'oh here, we can't be having this...'

 

Before I make any comment, what was actually sung at the game yesterday?

 

Don't have a problem with this article although not agreeing with all of it.

I do agree that singing songs about Bobby Sands and the hunger strikers for example could be con-strewed as disrespectful to their memory and a a football match is possibly the wrong place to remember them.

 

Its an emotive subject at the moment, given the tribulations of the club and our manager last season.

Our club will be under the microscope each and every game. There couldnt have been much wrong yesterday, the police werent involved and Alex Salmond didnt fly down in his helicopter. Perhaps we are looking to closely into these songs.They are perhaps offensive... to some. But they arent hateful I dont think, or inciteful which is more of a concern.

I think the majority of football fans know that we sing these songs because of our club and not for the political aspects that are dragged out of them and its only when politicians and the media get involved that it becomes an issue.

Where songs are inherently racist, sectarian and deliberately inciteful then I agree there should be something done.

 

We could argue forever, even amoungst ourselves, about what is acceptable to sing and what's not.

I was brought up with all the songs of warfare in Ireland's history because, back in the day, that was just the way it was. From the minute the
'football special' train left for wherever it was going, to the game and back it was all you heard and I learned and sung every word and loved it.

However, the world has moved on. There are plenty of pubs and clubs and supporters buses to sing our songs before and after the game but at the game, I would like us to leave the songs of warfare there. I don't mean songs like 'Let The People Sing' etc just the songs that OTHER CELTIC SUPPORTERS, could find offfensive.

eg. My nephew [34 years old] has lived in the South of England since he was a child. He supports Celtic and no-one else. He travelled to Utrecht last season and comes up for the occasional game. He just cannot identify with the IRA thing, past or present. It baffles him and even annoys him at times. Make no mistake he is not alone by any means.

If we are to capitalise on our worldwide support, there are small things we could do to REALLY make Celtic accessable to all creeds, nationalities, and political beliefs[within reason of course] just as the official club doctrine says.

 

i think Phil needs to take a chill pill, as like MC Bride. i know one thing i"ll will not be chapping on there door, should i take on the crown. support is, what we need, a few good men. no story tellers.

 

I normally dislike the guy because he is unbelievably obsessed with sectarianism in Scotland and clearly thinks about it too much for any healthy person. However, I though for once he wasnt just saying what he knew would make him popular etc. Its easy to just moan and act the victim and lap up the praise from all the other victim-complex folk. However, this time I am impressed by him. He showed some subtlety of thought and analysis. He is 100% right on this IMO.

 

hes aways spouting on this whimisical pish about his grandfather fighting for the IRA in Mayo ..how come in his world the Old IRA were freedom fighters yet the PIRA up to the present day is a dirty word..lost a lot of respect for him with this article

 

Nobody answered my question about what songs were being sung but I know I at least heard that Stokes' da hates the queen and IRA add-ons to songs.

I agree completely with what Dixie said. I understand that it's part of our heritage but I think the time for the IRA to be involved in our chants at games has long since past. It can definitely be kept for pubs and clubs for personal enjoyment. (I know I'll get slated for that because some people are far too defensive)

Gunt is also right in that everybody has been singing Phil's praises up until now as the one truly unbiased reporter. Now though that he has said this a few defensive people have come out and trashed him. I think this article shows that he is unbiased and only adds more weight to some of his past articles because it shows he is able to remove the green tinted specs.

 

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> I’ll say it again, as long as Loyalist songs are being praised, then we shall continue to sing songs about Irish freedom.

 

Damnati,

There were two or three songs like, 'Read The Roll Of Honour' for example.
It contains the words 'England you're a monster' which is always altered to 'England you're a *' at games.
In this day and age there are certainly going to be English people whom at least have some sympathy for Celtic, if not a connection with, or even support us who will wonder at this very line. We are in danger of alienating them, turning them away from the very club and support that prides it's self in respecting all cultures.

 

Green and White have nothing to do with this mate, fighting for you life, and what you believe in,is something to behold, in the times of, 19 16 easter rising, when all brave men fought for freedom, and that includes Protestant men, had a issue that
to this day every * wants swept under the carpet, for the simple reason is Britain was exposed, as Ireland at that time was the only country that, the Divide and conquer never worked, as the people were united all other wars in Scotland where in Wallace's time divided and conquered. so they invented a new policy of giving out title deed, to the ones that would take the kings shilling and fight, and them in the same Ireland made it only the father in a catholic family's in the north had 1 vote. when is Britain going to atone, to this sort of treatment they dished

 

I think he is being overly sensitive. Fair enough if he heard sectarian songs or something which is actually illegal then you could expect someone to do something about it. Going in the right direction but a lot of people cry wolf now. Would you even consider going up to a polis officer in the context of a football game and saying 'here mate gonna arrest him or something . . . . . . . he's being offensive'.

Writing about the hot topic is what * journalists do. Writing about the next hot topic is what good journalists do.


Guy's * by my reckoning

 

the biggest test is going to be with, challenging selective hearing, what will win the day is who heard it, and what there hearing is like. and the only winners, i can see is the lawyers like MC BRIDE. and Finlay

 

Soon we won't be allowed to fly irish flags, whats happening to scottish football

 

Well I would say that's what the BBC had a case of in the cup final, the old selective hearing. Fueled by the desire to break the next development in the story.

In reality they just ended up with egg on their faces due to the songs being offensive at most.