Old Firm Summit

[Sylar]

After all the talk about "summit meetings" and "potential repercussions" following the shameful scenes at Parkhead last week, today marked an announcement that the outcome of the summit was the proviso of £500k to help "tackle the issue of sectarianism".

Maybe it's just me (and I didn't expect much else other than a cop-out really), but this says to me that the authorities have utterly no interest in taking serious steps towards eradicating this type of venom and hatred which arises whenever these 2 poisonous clubs meet

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-west-12670175

[H18sry]

http://news.stv.tv/politics/233524-o...sed-at-summit/

[Jack]

I really expected something to be positive to be done and for the whole issue to be seriously tackled as a result of this meeting.

[Beefster]

Where is the £500k coming from? The OF or the taxpayer?

[Jack]

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Where is the £500k coming from? The OF or the taxpayer?

Taxpayer, for adverts on toilet walls probably - that will put an end to all this nonsense

Can you hear them laughing all the way back to the Weege?

[dangermouse]

The next time an OF match descends into utter chaos like the last one, either dock both teams 25 points (unless Hearts lie in third place then they get docked 25 points as well ) or boot both teams out of the cup competition if it's a cup tie.

Simples.

[Saorsa]

£500,000? that'll be £250,000 each from the bigot brothers will it? not likely


what a loady pish! it's time that **** were hammered, never mind trying tae pass the blame around.

[Sylar]

I got the impression from the article that it was government funded.

It just makes no sense - they're bleating on about social issues of drink and domestic violence, internet spread of "sectarian hatred", licensing laws etc, when it all matters for nothing.

Surely you tackle a cancer at the source?

[Beefster]

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Taxpayer, for adverts on toilet walls probably - that will put an end to all this nonsense

Can you hear them laughing all the way back to the Weege?

Unbelievable. That'll teach the clubs and fans to misbehave.

[Golden Bear]

Whilst serious, we've all seen a lot worse and I can't help feeling that there has been a bit of an over reaction. There must be an election on the horizon methinks.

[Moulin Yarns]

The answer, IMHO is simple.

Most of their fans come from Ireland/Northern Ireland, so in future all OF games are played in either Dublin or Belfast. Sorted.

[Barney McGrew]

I've been sitting watching the press conference and end up shaking my head at it and shouting at the TV. Apparently it's all alcohol's and the internet's fault and it's a problem in society and not specifically the OF.

Salmond made one very brief mention of sectarianism, and it wasn't mentioned again after that. It was almost as if they were trying not to mention it. Elephant in the room or what?

You couldn't make it up.

[Paisley Hibby]

Makes you want to weep really. The two OF clubs AND the media make far too much money BECAUSE of the crap that goes with their matches to want to stop any of this. Alex Salmond just wants to be seen to be doing something and putting some money in because there's an election coming - but nothing that will rock the boat really. So the 6 point plan, Joint Action Group and £0.5m of our money is all just pish and wind. The battered wives and other innocent folk that get hurt every time these bigoted institutions meet up are just regarded as collateral damage.

[basehibby]

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After all the talk about "summit meetings" and "potential repercussions" following the shameful scenes at Parkhead last week, today marked an announcement that the outcome of the summit was the proviso of £500k to help "tackle the issue of sectarianism".

Maybe it's just me (and I didn't expect much else other than a cop-out really), but this says to me that the authorities have utterly no interest in taking serious steps towards eradicating this type of venom and hatred which arises whenever these 2 poisonous clubs meet

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-west-12670175

So... who the hell is supposed to pay for this £500K package then - it wouldn't by any chance be the two organisations who spent most of the 20th century developing and thriving on a football industry made out of sectarianism and religous bigotry in Scotland would it????
Nah - didn't think so - it's all the rest of us poor suckers who will have to cough up while the OF continue to suck the blood out of our game - ****in ridiculous I say - the OF should be made to stump up ALL of the funding for this initiative out of the profits of their regular bigot-fests.
The Scottish tax payer has enough to pay for cleaning up the mess left by those other blood suckers - the bankers - without having to pay for cleaning up the mess of ignorant backward thinking imbecility stirred up and perpetuated by the OF.

[Saorsa]

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I've been sitting watching the press conference and end up shaking my head at it and shouting at the TV. Apparently it's all alcohol's and the internet's fault and it's a problem in society and not specifically the OF.

Salmond made one very brief mention of sectarianism, and it wasn't mentioned again after that. It was almost as if they were trying not to mention it. Elephant in the room or what?

You couldn't make it up.

Neither of the OF representatives said what the six point plan was but I'll take a guess. The six points will be pointing the finger at everything and anything but themselves.

[Barney McGrew]

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Neither of the OF representatives said what the six point plan was but I'll take a guess. The six points will be pointing the finger at everything and anything but themselves.

From Septic's website:

The two clubs recommended:
• The creation of a stand-alone pan-Scotland police football intelligence unit as part of the ongoing review of police forces in Scotland.
• Greater enforcement of existing legislation to deal with sectarianism and drink related offences.
• The establishment of a task force comprising senior police officers, government representatives and club security personnel to deliver more consistency in policing of football matches across Scotland.
• A detailed academic study into the extent of the linkage of football to violent crime committed domestically and in the community.
• Celtic and Rangers will commit to playing an enhanced role in a partnership approach to encourage responsible drinking.
• A re-enforced code of conduct for players and officials.

Utter bollocks IMO. Not a single mention of either of them taking responsibility to tackle sectarianism at it's root cause at all - but then again why would they, after all it's what keeps them in business and they are the root cause of it in the first place.

[jdships]

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I got the impression from the article that it was government funded.

It just makes no sense - they're bleating on about social issues of drink and domestic violence, internet spread of "sectarian hatred", licensing laws etc, when it all matters for nothing.

Surely you tackle a cancer at the source?

Good post !!
Sad thing is this is not a new phenomena .
I have a friend , well educated member of the legal profession ex pro footballer in English League , now in his 50's who openly admits his "hatred" ( his word) of all things Catholic and that that comes from his NI grandfather's "teaching's " when he was a boy ( his word)
How do we deal with that sort of situation ?
Anybody who can find an answer to that will win a Nobel Peace prize

Does ones religous beliefs/sexuality matter at the end of the day ? For some it obviously , sadly , does

[Pretty Boy]

Wow.

£500K to tackle a deep rooted sectarian problem that has existed for hundreds of years and is kept alive in the west of Scotland by 2 teams who use it to line their own pockets.

How about withdrawing Police cover for Orange Order marches so they could no longer go ahead, doing likewise with various marches/demos held by 'Republican' groups, play a couple of Old Firm games behind closed doors, when they allow fans back in make them travel to games on designated buses from their own stadium and back again after the game, enlist the help of the Catholic Church in Scotland as well as that of the various Protestant churches to condemn continued sectarian in a show of unity and finally make it clear that any future trouble will lead to points deductions and fines.

There has definitely been an overreaction in some quarters after the last match BUT this kind of pish has gone on for too long and simply been swept under the carpet. If they want to behave like schoolkids then treat them that way IMO.

[Viva_Palmeiras]

Who was the guy 2nd from the left who talked about his links with the drinks trade
Should youth football have any links with the drinks industry?

Even if education initiatives should the brands also be given advertising? if it were all about education would they need names fair play if no brand names named tho'

[Paisley Hibby]

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Who was the guy 2nd from the left who talked about his links with the drinks trade
Should youth football have any links with the drinks industry?

Even if education initiatives should the brands also be given advertising? if it were all about education would they need names fair play if no brand names named tho'

And given how much of the OF problem is being blamed on alcohol, isn't it ironic that both clubs have Tennets Lager as their shirt sponsor.

[one day maybe...]

Nothing mentioned regarding the ramifications of them failing to behave themselves on future occasions.

No mention of points deducted.
No mention of games behind closed doors.
No media coverage whatsoever, No radio coverage, no tv coverage, No tabloid coverage and a ban on all fans from being within 2 miles of the stadium on the day of the match.
Maybe then would we get rid of the sectretarian bile that spews from them.
Get your finger out SFA..

But I won't hold my breath.

[PeeJay]

If the SFA really wished to make the OF and its fans sit up and take notice surely it only needs to hit them where it hurts: have the next OF game played behind closed doors, and no television broadcast, and if there is still any trouble do the same with the next game and so on until it stops. Seems an easy way to deal with it. Course it all depends on whether they really want to stop it that is ...

[Viva_Palmeiras]

For all the non-Edinburgh residents you may find it unsurprising to hear that the mere presence of the OF in Edinburgh turned an pleasant sunny but a bit gusty day into an overcast dreich rainy day.

[hibbymac]

Lip service, no more.

[ginger_rice]

There are some really valid points coming through in this thread. However I only know of one minister in the Scottish government who is a hibby and as he's the transport minister I doubt that he will be involved in this, I don't even know if he reads this board.

As pointed out though it is an election year and politicians do tend to listen just a tad more to their constituents during campaigning, so it wouldn't harm to write or email your MSP, the justice secretary, the minister for sport and possibly even the first minister. Perhaps if the c4 million Scots who don't support the OF did that then they really would have to do something.

[hibsbollah]

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There are some really valid points coming through in this thread. However I only know of one minister in the Scottish government who is a hibby and as he's the transport minister I doubt that he will be involved in this, I don't even know if he reads this board.

As pointed out though it is an election year and politicians do tend to listen just a tad more to their constituents during campaigning, so it wouldn't harm to write or email your MSP, the justice secretary, the minister for sport and possibly even the first minister. Perhaps if the c4 million Scots who don't support the OF did that then they really would have to do something.

Did Iain Gray have anything to say on the subject?

[Beefster]

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Did Iain Gray have anything to say on the subject?

I'm not sure that Iain Gray has ever said anything of note. However, like every other politician in Scotland in an election year, he'll go out of his way not to upset a substantial portion of the electorate.

[ginger_rice]

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Did Iain Gray have anything to say on the subject?

No idea but an educated guess would be that he didn't have a credible alternative

[hibsbollah]

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I'm not sure that Iain Gray has ever said anything of note. However, like every other politician in Scotland in an election year, he'll go out of his way not to upset a substantial portion of the electorate.

I dont particularly like him either. However, his default position is 'disagree with the nats about everything', and bearing in mind hes east coast i thought he might seek to make political capital out of salmonds trouser-dropping to the old firm.

[Westie1875]

So, which players do we send out in the next derby to rile things up, start a fight and get sent off so that we can have an Edinburgh derby summit and get £500k for us and Hearts to spend on improving the situation which will in turn result in more promotion of the match?

Who would win a fight between CC & Jumbo Jim? Riordan v Skacel? Palsson v Black? Murray v Webster? etc....



On a serious note, I know it is a big problem but the bill for this should be coming from the old firms own pockets IMO, they are the ones that have turned a blind eye to sectarianism for years and this is their own faults. How about they start by clamping down on the party tunes in the stadium and some of the guff they play over their PAs, that would be a start.