The Political Football – An Opinion of a Rangers Fan

‘I don’t let the club I support dictate who I vote for’.

Totally correct, a nice thought and in an ideal world it would be a universal truth.

Here’s some more opinions:

• A regular independence referendum, for any nation, should be a healthy thing. The Union by its very nature is a benefit to all parties involved, but should one party be neglected or misused then the option to leave should always exist.

• The same applies to the EU.

• The presence of such a vote should keep up standards and keep everyone honest.

• Any referendum cannot be too regular or there’d be a constant state of destabilisation and chaos.

• For me, it cannot be a simple 50/50 vote either, that’s too indecisive for such a weighty question. A two-thirds majority carries with it an indisputability that even the most grudging adherent has to yield to.

Had the SNP worked with a proficiency and quality that was undeniable then it would make their argument stronger – irresistible even – to anyone basing their vote on what’s truly best for the nation.

But I do not see that at all with the current SNP. I see a party that needs a serious wake-up call to up their game. SNP2021 is a party that’s played every dirty, divisive trick in the book and deliberately trod over many Scots to get what they want. I’d be expecting people who truly want the best for Scotland to hold a similar view and be worried by what they see.

But then I would never vote for the SNP and this goes back to the opening comment. I don’t let my football club dictate who I vote for, however, I absolutely do consider a party’s treatment of my football club in my decision.

Scotland 2021 is far from an ideal world. On many levels it’s no different from 100 years ago, or even 100 years before that – everything has the under-current of tribalism. Some people may refute that but I can only conclude that they’re choosing not to see it.

Football is meant to be a release from politics and real-life, any yet politics has too readily wandered into the realm of football. Rangers has been used as a political football for the past two decades. An easy dog to beat that can’t always bite back.

Politically, I first became aware of this with the sectarianism debate. The narrative was that Rangers were bad, had a problem and were fair game. Like any good lie, it will work best wrapped around a truth. Scotland has a sectarianism problem, it’s a divided country, in many, many ways. It’s not wrong to say that Rangers are part of that and that any solution could be provided by involving Rangers. It is wrong to think that attacking Rangers alone would fix anything. The big push and clamour primarily came from, you’ve guessed it, the other side of the divide.

Now here’s the clever part of targeting a football club. All fans are normal people, most will agree that sectarianism is bad and that ending it is a good thing. They’ll recognise that it happens within the support but probably not consider themselves to be part of the equation. And so they’ll go along with (or at least submit to) the push.

After a period of time, you realise that it was all a bit of a tribal ruse to attack the club and deplatform the support from this and other debates. How can I say this with any certainty? Most of the major players, in the press and in Holyrood, have since shown their hand and loyalties. There were no good intentions, just political and footballing mileage from attacking a rival.

Politically, Rangers were hung out to dry in 2011. This coldness and isolation was undoubtedly built on the decade of sectarian oxidising performed by the detractors. But it was more than a passive disinterest by many in Holyrood, this was a political play. Nicola Sturgeon has represented the Glasgow Southside constituency since its creation in 2011 election. She was previously an MSP Glasgow Govan between 2007 and 2011. Rangers are a big employer in that area and are without question the most renowned and famous symbol for that region (and indeed in Scotland). Why would you overlook that and not help out? There were not even a few choice words to placate a genuinely worried support.

Rangers fans had collectively switched off the connection between football and politics, but had also neglected the politics aspect in its own right. Others hadn’t.

Of course, prior to this Labour had hardly been Rangers friendly and certain MSPs were trying their best to out-celtic each other. There’s a certain level of immaturity and insensitivity required to wear a celtic top around Holyrood whilst representing people of all backgrounds.

Amidst Rangers dark days it was Indy 2014 that was now on the horizon, and so too was the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014. Rangers being dumped out of the way and neutered would certainly not hinder the Indy drive. Whereas CW2014 had somehow turned into a competition to win to ‘the Catholic vote’. Labour and SNP MSPs threw everything at Celtic FC through the medium of the CW2014. An extensive upgrade to the stadium and surroundings, top-billing and more-free PR than even their Chief Exec could imagine possible. Many Celtic fans were impressed and duly rewarded the SNP with their backing – so it was decided that Scottish Nationalism would join Irish Republicanism as their hobbies.

From memory, the SNP had grew 10% or so over this period of Rangers-bashing / Celtic-courting. As a Rangers fan I have to admit I found this type of independence uncomfortable. I am also at a loss as to how any Independence-supporting Rangers fan could look past this? Amongst a seemingly inexhaustible list:

• We’ve seen our club regularly dragged over the coals in Holyrood.

• We’ve seen countless SNP MSPs take pot-shots at Rangers from twitter and other social media.

• We’ve seen the First Minister stand up and salute Neil Lennon’s dignity (sic).

• We’ve seen silence in Holyrood as the Hibs cup final celebrations took a dangerous turn.

• We’ve never seen the sectarianism directed against Rangers supporters or other clubs raised as a concern.

• We’ve seen the Justice Secretary and others completely ignore the victims of CSA in Scotland, based on club and party allegiance.

• We’ve had that Justice Secretary take to twitter to brand anyone in a Rangers top as right-wing.

• We’ve recently seen distinguished lawyer and SNP party member Aamer Anwar follow up his work in support of Glen Kamara by knowingly and incorrectly tweeting that the tragic murder of a man in Glasgow was a Rangers vs Celtic thing.

I may not vote based on my football team but I can’t overlook parties playing politics with my football team. It is part of my identity and an important part of my life. It’s not something to attack for cheap votes or to feed the MSPs own prejudices and bigotry. Rangers will continue to exist and flourish in the Union as they would in an Independent Scotland.

I want the best for Scotland. I don’t want brazen bigots polluting Holyrood and dragging every subject to the gutter, syphoning funds to themselves and their friends, whilst using Rangers as a diversion.

There’s also the uncomfortable principle that any independent country should largely be of one mind, going in the same direction, all focused on a shared and common goal. We are one million miles away from that. Scotland needs to be honest about its history, its tribalism, its politics and its mistakes. Until that day I could never in good conscience as a Rangers fan vote for this SNP or support an SNP led independence any time soon.