Smiley my intention was not to offend you. However as someone who considers themselves British/English i find the ideology displayed in a number of Celtic songs greatly offensive. I would never dream of singing songs of that nature which could offend people based on race/religion/politics. Celtic like Rangers openly do this and it is a large proportion of their support or though i'm sure not all of it. You make a good point about Chelsea and Millwall or though that is the reason both clubs are universally disliked. The point i was trying to make was to sing support for the IRA is no different to someone singing support for Al Quieda although perhaps the way i put it across could have been clearer so as not to cause offense.
I appreciate your opinion and wish you a happy new year
Superfred, Put simply. Celtic are a Catholic club. Rangers are a Protestant club. The British army (Black & Tans) killed a lot of Dublin catholics way back in the early Twentieth century when Ireland was fighting for independence. I have a relative who was shot dead by the English. The English army even opened fire at a sports ground, think it was Croke Park in Dublin, and killed a lot of innocent civilians. Tanks were involved. Celtic football club have a lot of history/links with Dublin and catholics there. Relatives, ancestry etc. Hence the hatred. I'm not condoning it. I dislike religion - any brand of it - it causes so much trouble around the world.
But I suspect the morons singing the sectarian stuff, Rangers or Celtic, don't know much about the history, they just enjoy being nasty bastards.
As a footnote, there was for a time a professional football club in Ireland named Belfast Celtic, until fairly recent times, early 60s I think, they had to disband because of all the sectarianism.
The Ken Loach film, (a local bloke of course) When the Wind Shakes the Barley, might be a useful film to give you an idea of why the English are so disliked.
To put it bluntly.
Rangers = Pro-British, i.e sing GSTQ, fly Union jacks etc.
Celtic = Pro-IRA, i.e sing IRA chants, disrespect rememeberance day silences, basically hate everything to do with Britain although their club is a British (not an Irish) club and the majority of their support are British.
To say it is a small minority of their supporters doing this is both stupid and ignorant, scum of the highest order.
To put it bluntly.
Rangers = Pro-British, i.e sing GSTQ, fly Union jacks etc.
Celtic = Pro-IRA, i.e sing IRA chants, disrespect rememeberance day silences,
basically hate everything to do with Britain although their club is a British (not an Irish) club and the majority of their support are British.
To say it is a small minority of their supporters doing this is both stupid and ignorant, scum of the highest order.[/QUOTE
Why is it that bigots on both sides can only see one side?
To balance things why didn't you say;
rangers=pro UDA pro UDF pro UVF, a club who for decades refused to sign a player based on their religion and colour, whose fans send letter bombs and bullets to a rival manager purely because he's a catholic, who have been fined and fans banned from Europe because of their vile sectarian chanting.
This is a Coventry City forum and this thread was started about a shit Depeche Mode song ffs. Did you have problems with the players doing 'the huddle' as that was copied from them too wasn't it?
I think both sets of fans have scum attached to them...most though have moved on thankfully. Surely it's time for you to do the same
i am a football fan and follow celtic football team (part time of course!) religion politics in sport do not interest me. bit like some on here who hate the inbred song......doesnt stop them supporting cov does it