"Our supporters do not want this any more. We are a non-political organisation"

But again, for me personally as a Scottish person, the Club to me is not about the Republican movement first and foremost, or even much at all. Why would it be? All i'm saying is that I understand entirely why some people (many, in fact) feel so strongly about this, but to somehow indicate that I am somehow less of a fan of the Club as a direct result of not feeling like that seems beyond harsh, truth be told.

It's a club playing in Scotland, representing Scotland in Europe, with undoubted Irish roots - for people to take greatest pride on point 3 is entirely understandable depending on their situation, However, it's not my situation - as such, I personally prefer it to be kept away from football, in the exact same way I do "Indy" *, SNP publicity....anything. For me, it has no place - for others it does.

I respect the other stance without castigation, but when the shoe is on the other foot plenty are unable to reciprocate and simply accept the fact you can support Celtic without having to support the republican movement. The two don't have to go hand in hand for everyone in my opinion - and I don't think that opinion is worthy of ridicule - in the same way I don't intend upon ridiculing those who feel so strongly to the contrary!

Words like "embarrassment" etc etc just seem idiotic to me, truth be told. A complete unwillingness to try and get on with fellow fans who have a different viewpoint.

A good quote I always remember - "there's more that unites us than divides us."

Sometimes I think we'd be better off remembering that more often.

 

See post above - hopefully that clarifies. It's a forum mate - people have opinions. To be honest, the "self righteous" aspect could equally reflect you more accurately given the post above. I'm just saying what I think...genuinely not meaning any offence.

A bit of respect for opinions that differ from your own. It's not too much to ask is it? If it is, then that's a shame to be honest.

 

Is he happy with the Indy Bhoys? I'd imagine they'll be coming under scrutiny.

Do the SNP advertise in our stadium?

There is no point debating the poppy point again so I'll leave it.

 

Why have I never seen nor heard of the Indy Bhoys? where do they sit?

 

For consistency, i'd be * off if the Indy Bhoy aspect is not clamped down on. To simply continue to permit it would be ridiculous.

 

Right, Ok from reading your above post I'll admit I may have got the wrong end of the stick in regards to your opinions. My post was more saying that it's embarrassing the opinion that some Celtic fans should accept the harassment etc....

Anyways I do respect the views of all Celtic fans republican or otherwise, as long as other don't tell anyone else what views they should or shouldn't have.

So sorry.

 

I appreciate that mate - from my end, if I was being unclear, then I also apologise.

 

Judging by this forum and the wider media interest, the banner wasn't perceived as attacking a piece of legislation.

My take on it, as I've not trawled through the previous 60 pages to clarify, was that it was making a 'one mans terrorist is another man's freedom fighter' between Wallace and Sands. If that's the case then there is a fairly big leap to look at that as an attack on a piece of legislation that wasn't even mentioned (as far as I'm aware).

 

My feelings exactly.

 

I don't think we take more pride in point 3, I think it's the one that people discriminated against and that gets peoples backs up. The fans that active participants in the discrimination, in my view, don't know the slightest thing about what it means to be a Celtic supporter and that's not the likes of you and Marie btw, it's not if you don't support it, it's if you actively discrimanat against others who celebrate that heritage, one the club itself was born and brought up with.

 

I really wish people would stop crying over the media

Since when did the Celtic support care what those hun * said about us? Really winding me up this.

 

I know. The people who hate us will always hate us. Who cares?

 

How the media portrays us is important as far as attracting new fans, from outside the typical celtic fan background, goes.

A quick google search shows the news of the recent banner has reached places like Canada and Europe, as well as being on goal.com

These can be described as biased outlets even if they didn't see the intended point of the banner.

 

And how did they report it or was it just a rehash on the Scottish media nonsense?

 

Clutching at straws. People aren't going to one day decide to become die hard Celtic fans because of an article they read in the paper.

99.999999999% of our fans will have a family member or a friend who introduced them to Celtic.

* the media.

 

Would you agree that the general idea is to try and get people on side though? IE those who were not before, or were not aware? Because in that event, widespread media is where they will get their news from.

 

So we should lose our identity to make us look appealing for other fans?

Naw

 

I would like as many people on side as possible, aye. But on our terms. If people are put off Celtic by a Republican banner then they'd probably be better off elsewhere anyway.

 

I mean put off the cause in this instance - ie fans against criminalisation mate. IE, more harm caused than good on this occasion?

 

But just as easily, not many people are going to decide to become fans based solely on a friend/family member introducing them to the club. It takes time to become a proper fan and some of that time would no doubt be spent googling a few recent news items.

Plenty of people would be put off by what they could perceive to be support of the IRA. Far less people would be put off by a banner against football fans being treated like criminals. My point was that this banner doesn't immediately jump out at many folk as an attack on a piece of legislation.