11% of Scots think sectarianism is not offensive and is OK at football!

[Jack]

That’s 572,000 bigots in Scotland – or just about the population of the whole of Glasgow.

15% don’t think it should be a criminal offence!! That’s 780,000 bigot sympathisers.

9% don’t think any stronger action should be taken to tackle sectarianism!!! That’s 468,000 ignorant bigots.

Taken from a Scottish Government media release today ...

An overwhelming majority of Scots support stronger action being taken to tackle sectarianism and offensive behaviour associated with football according to a new poll published today.

The survey, carried out by TNS-BMRB, reveals that 91 per cent of Scots back stronger action, with 89 per cent agreeing that sectarianism is offensive and unacceptable in Scottish football.

The results come as the Scottish Parliament begins its consideration of proposals by Ministers to strengthen existing laws through tough new legislation to crack down on offensive and threatening behaviour in Scottish football.

The full results show:
• 89 per cent of Scots agree that sectarianism is offensive
• 89 per cent of Scots agree that sectarianism is unacceptable in Scottish football
• 85 per cent of Scots agree that sectarianism should be a criminal offence
• 91 per cent agree that stronger action needs to be taken to tackle sectarianism and offensive behaviour associated with football in Scotland

http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-...D?OpenDocument

While the Scottish Government have obviously gone for the big numbers, the small figures, covering the small minded, are not small enough not to be an utter and complete embarrassment to the Scottish Nation.

[southern hibby]

Then I would argue that 11% of Scots are neanderthals with draconian attitudes. GGTTH.

[El Gubbz]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

That’s 572,000 bigots in Scotland – or just about the population of the whole of Glasgow.

15% don’t think it should be a criminal offence!! That’s 780,000 bigot sympathisers.

9% don’t think any stronger action should be taken to tackle sectarianism!!! That’s 468,000 ignorant bigots.

Taken from a Scottish Government media release today ...



http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-...D?OpenDocument

While the Scottish Government have obviously gone for the big numbers, the small figures, covering the small minded, are not small enough not to be an utter and complete embarrassment to the Scottish Nation.

Think you got your answer

[greenginger]

I'm not offended by sectarianism at football matches. I grew immune to it during my seasons on the terracings home and away in the 60's and 70's and still laugh when I here the grunts perform their pathetic ditties.

But is it O K. No its time for all sides to cut it out and crank out football chants and they can be as un-P.C. as they like with an exception of outright racist chants.

[Sylar]

It's a sub-sample of the Scottish population, so let's try and avoid sweeping generalisations by trying to put it into numbers.

[Sir David Gray]

I've got mixed feelings about this to be honest.

I think that this has been blown up, big time, because of the Lennon v McCoist handbags last season and all of the nonsense involving Neil Lennon. What he had to put up with last season was disgraceful and out of order and the attack on him was shocking.

However, I can't help but think that this legislation is going too far in trying to tackle this problem and won't actually get to the bottom of the real issues.

Five years in prison for shouting an offensive word at a football game! Are you kidding me?

That's more than 60% of the time that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi spent in prison for murdering 270 people!

And then, a couple of months ago, we had a member of the executive saying that she couldn't rule out football fans being prosecuted for singing the national anthem as a result of this new legislation! I've never heard anything so absurd in my life.

Last week at Tynecastle, I could barely see a lot of the game in the first half because of all the extra police officers that were going about in the Hibs end. I thought at first that they must have had intelligence about a possible threat to the game. However, I soon realised that these extra officers were part of the "anti-sectarian initiative".

For a start, this has not been an issue within our support for many years and also if there had been the odd person who had said something out of order, I'm sure that the previous number of police officers who were on duty at Edinburgh derbies would have been more than capable of dealing with the incident.

When all is said and done, I am willing to bet that the Celtic fans are still singing songs in support of the IRA, and being allowed to do so, and Rangers fans are still singing their Loyalist songs as well, and being allowed to do so.

As far as I'm concerned, the physical assaults, violence and the death threats are the main issues at hand here and that is what the police and the authorities should be treating as the main priority. Once that is done, they can then move on to sorting out the songs and the chants.

[sven nil]

What i cant understand is people who take any notice of a goverment poll! whats worse is when you get one who spins it to 570,000 of the popultation,they are only words,you know like backboard,gollywog,blackman ice cream ect..Its just another form of control from your squeaky clean govertments past and pressent.

[green&left]

A proper definition of the word 'sectarianism' would probably help. If by 'sectarianism' they mean God Save the Queen and the Soldiers Song, Union flags and Irish tri-colours, Rule Britannia and Boys of the old Brigade then no, there shouldn't be any punishments etc. In my opinion anyone that takes offence at a flag/song is a bigger dafty than those taking part in such 'activities'.

[--------]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

That’s 572,000 bigots in Scotland – or just about the population of the whole of Glasgow.

15% don’t think it should be a criminal offence!! That’s 780,000 bigot sympathisers.

9% don’t think any stronger action should be taken to tackle sectarianism!!! That’s 468,000 ignorant bigots.

Taken from a Scottish Government media release today ...

http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-...D?OpenDocument

While the Scottish Government have obviously gone for the big numbers, the small figures, covering the small minded, are not small enough not to be an utter and complete embarrassment to the Scottish Nation.

Knickers-in-a-twist time come early this week?

First of all, just because someone thinks "sectarianism" - however exactly it may be defined in the context of the present argument - shouldn't be a specific criminal offence distinct from other criminal offences doesn't make them "bigot sympathisers".

Nor does being of the opinion that if the police were to actually apply existing laws relating to breach of the peace and threatening behaviour properly we wouldn't need new legislation to deal with the problem make one an "ignorant bigot".

The problem with a term like "sectarianism" is that it can be defined and redefined very easily to suit one's own prejudices. Which makes it a very useful tool for anyone who fancies himself/herself as a potential Thought Polis.

No matter how intolerant my views may be, I probably won't consider anyone who agrees with me to be a "bigot" - simply a decent upstanding right-thinking chap who just happens to hate all the same people as I do.

Of course, I can also take the position that I'm not in ANY way bigoted or prejudiced, which lets me build up a lovely glow of self-satisfaction and self-righteousness - thanking whatever deity I worship (myself, perhaps?) that I'm not as nasty as the bad bigoted Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Airdrie - whatever - supporters.

Generalising like mad about them as I do so, and sounding awfully like a good old-fashioned Pharisee.

So IMHO "sectarianism" shouldn't be the offence as such. Threatening behaviour, breach of the peace, illegal assembly, whatever - there are lots of offences already on the statute book which should enable conscientious police officers to deal with offensive behaviour inside or outside football grounds. We don't need new laws, just the police to enforce existing ones.

And no, this doesn't "utterly and completely embarrass" me in regard to the Scottish nation. True, we do have our share of bampots and hooligans, but Scotland isn't that bad a place to live.

Except when we get the horizontal rain and perishing cold wind like we have today...

[HibbyDave]

No One asked me! I think I must live in a far away land, i only heard on the radio yesterday that fans of hibs/hearts were involved with governmental discussions on this issue.

[RIP]

Apparently the sampling was all done by interviewing 200 people in Dalry Ayrshire.

Of the other questions asked we can now assume that 856,769 people in Scotland have married their cousin, 456,997 have had a child out of wedlock, 632,098 wear a Burberry Cap and 1,065,433 pick their noses whilst watching Gary - Tank Commander

[greenginger]

Defining a Bigot might be helpful too !

My Chambers Dictionary says a Bigot is " somebody who is blindly and obstinately devoted to a particular creed or PARTY"

There must be dozens of Labour Party Bigots and SNP bigots out there .

Get them lifted pronto.

[beensaidbefore]

While agreeing with the general theme that 'bigots' have no place in a modern forward thinking society, are the practicalities of enforcing this not quite difficult. Especially if we cant agree what is bigoted chanting/behaviour.

Could this be yet another knee jerk reaction to a moral panic, hoping to mend a broken arm with a sticking plaster.. Most people(apart from the great unwashed i seems) in Scotland know exactly what and where the problems with sectarianism lie. And one of the major factors in preventing a real solution to the problem is that most of the rule makers in scotland are bigoted followers of the old firm.


Interestingly , throughout the debates on the above subject, there seems to have been little or no mention of bigoted behavbiour on other parts of our society. Could attempts at introducing Sharia law ( http://loganswarning.com/2011/07/10/...force-the-law/ ) in some parts of the UK not to be considered equally bigoted due to the lack of respect for the beliefs of others? I have heard very little about this on the news, why has this not been given more publicity? Beacause as i see it, you cannot condemn one type of intolerance while condoning another. would be surprised to see every man and his dog so quick to condemn this behaviour through fear of being branded racist etc.

[heretoday]

What worries me about the prospect of Independence is not the economics or the oil or whatever but that lot in the west.

I reckon they would become far more vocal, form themselves into political parties and probably get elected to Parliament.

I'm voting No.

[smurf]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What worries me about the prospect of Independence is not the economics or the oil or whatever but that lot in the west.

I reckon they would become far more vocal, form themselves into political parties and probably get elected to Parliament.

I'm voting No.

Indeed. I'm surprised its only 11% to be honest..

[matty_f]

Sectarianism isn't a football problem, IMHO - it's a social one. That it manifests itself at some clubs - Hearts, Rangers, and Celtc makes it easy for the Government to link them together. Football isn't bigoted, though some of it's fans are. These fans are also cinema goers, shoppers, workers.

The Government should not be looking to football to cure this ill, it's mis-directed action that will continue to fail to address the deeper issues. They will never succeed in stopping the Hearts, Rangers, and Celtc fans from singing their songs until they sort out the social issues around the bigotry.

[Peevemor]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Indeed. I'm surprised its only 11% to be honest..

Ditto.

[Franck is God]

criminalising an opinion, point of view or belief is dodgy ground as far as I'm concerned as who determines who's beliefs are right or wrong.

We live in a multicultural society and there are always going to be those who are less tolerant of those that they perceive to be different to themsleves.

I agree with another poster that said that when these thoughts turn to violence it becomes a criminal act and those that carry out these criminal acts should quite rightly be punished for it and as severely as the courts will allow, I'm not sure if the motives matter or not.

I don't know if I would want to live in a country where laws determine what I can and cannot say or think.

This is a very heavy topic for a football message board..... the Hearts, don't call the thought police on me.....

[allezsauzee]

I find it offensive that the government is wasting money on such polls

[lobster]

6 out of 7 dwarves are not happy

[hibsbollah]

Id be interested in the findings of a poll that looked at the proportion of respondents that have any understanding of what sectarianism and bigotry actually IS. I bet there would be no commonly agreed definition except it is a 'bad thing'.

[libernian]

wonder what percentage of scottish fans were singing flower of scotland last night? 90%+ probs.

we really are a bigoted country.

p.s. im one of the 11% who dont find it offensive

[ancient hibee]

One of the things that has been forgotten is that this lurched into life on the back of an OF match where in fact all the abusive behaviour took place on the field or between the managements-not the spectators.

[Keith_M]

87% of statistics are just made up.

[Keith_M]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

wonder what percentage of scottish fans were singing flower of scotland last night? 90%+ probs.

we really are a bigoted country.

p.s. im one of the 11% who dont find it offensive

Deary me, not this again.


Please tell us which part of Flower of Scotland is offensive, why and to whom.


If you actually attempt to answer this, you'll be the first.

[The Baldmans Comb]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

wonder what percentage of scottish fans were singing flower of scotland last night? 90%+ probs.

we really are a bigoted country.

p.s. im one of the 11% who dont find it offensive

Dearie me

[libernian]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Deary me, not this again.


Please tell us which part of Flower of Scotland is offensive, why and to whom.


If you actually attempt to answer this, you'll be the first.

sorry, was trying to be sartcastic when i said "we really are a bigoted country". i dont find flower of scotland offensive at all.

cant really be bothered getting into an discussion about particular words used in a song in any case. but i dont really see the difference between gloating about winning at bannockburn (if thats what flower of sco is about) and orange marches or whatever...

[Hainan Hibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What worries me about the prospect of Independence is not the economics or the oil or whatever but that lot in the west.

I reckon they would become far more vocal, form themselves into political parties and probably get elected to Parliament.

I'm voting No.

What's stopping them from doing that now? More sensational ***** from Unionists.

[Keith_M]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

sorry, was trying to be sartcastic when i said "we really are a bigoted country". i dont find flower of scotland offensive at all.

cant really be bothered getting into an discussion about particular words used in a song in any case. but i dont really see the difference between gloating about winning at bannockburn (if thats what flower of sco is about) and orange marches or whatever...

Fair enough, you were being sarcastic but there's a lot of people make this claim and no one has ever been able to answer the question I raised.

The first people I heard saying this were OF followers trying to justify their singing of bigoted or terrorist-loving songs. None of them could answer my question either. It doesn't stop this being repeated ad nauseam as if it were an accepted fact FoS is offensive.

[DCI Gene Hunt]

I tend to take any political pish with a very substantial bucketful of salt, and never trust anything along the lines of "78% of twats think pish about a load of bollocks" but there again I feel two ways about this.

Part of me thinks that this is an embarrassing problem that needs to be routed from society good and proper. I cringe hearing it at the 'Tic, Gerz and Fertz games and I cringed when I recently met up with colleagues up in the Orkney Isles of all places who tell stories of nutters coming out with the sort of crap heard at these games, all from a place where all this has NEVER been heard of previously. What brought it in? Twats supporting Ra Gerz and Sellick who having been to the games and being infected with the poison brought it back home with them. Saddening.

There again another part of me also thinks that this is political pish being exaggerated for political reasons. Jailing some inbred doofus for 5 years for singing songs at a football game is bizarre IMO. Jailing folk for going out fighting, encouraging violence etc. for bigoted reasons is definately good, but singing songs? Hmm. One thinks if this really is serious then most of Parkhead and Ibrox and all in the infamous Section N at PBS will need to be arrested at their clubs' respective next home games. Circa 100000 arrests in one weekend hmm? Has this really been thought thru? Gene Genie suspects not.

Of course, you don't have to look far to see the problem, which isn't anything to do with society, or politics, or the economy, or any other political pish musing. The main problem is namely two certain football clubs in Glasgow.

Gene Genie