Remind Yourself: It's Just a Game!

Ok, I feel calm enough to respond now after the events of last night and this morning. Here I am, on the doorstep of Ibrox, witnessing idiocy on a grand scale. (And I don't just mean in Manchester, they were at it till the early morning outside). Never mind the drinking, the brawling, the shaming of your country and the impatience in face of technical failure, the looting, the stabbings, the attempts to set little dogs on fire and generally alerting the rest of the world to what most of Glasgow has suffered for years thanks to these so-called supporters. The main question I have is: left with no one else to take your frustrations out on, what kind of team support take it out on themselves? Rangers’ fans, beating each up, broadcast worldwide. Why? Just because someone once sang of "drink and fight and screws" does not mean you should take the words to heart.

Let's not beat about the bush here. Someone who goes to a football match and is violent in any form is not a true supporter of the game. A thug is thug, no matter how you dress it up.

200,000 thousand went to Manchester. Why? Only 10% of them had tickets to the match. What is the point of travelling all that way to "take in the atmosphere"? What atmosphere? One of fear and loathing as every establishment in the area bars its doors to the hordes? Fans on the news talk of wasting four thousand pounds to get down there and "we couldn't even see the game!" I sat down in front of the TV and watched the match. Total cost = one monthly TV licence (which would get paid anyway) and one Co-op Pizza (which was very nice). So I am not a fan of Rangers (or Celtic) in any way. It doesn't matter. I had an interest in the UEFA Cup final, and I didn't have a ticket for it. Why couldn't they do that? Football is expensive enough as it is without adding more to it.

As for this "it’s the atmosphere" gumph, I steadfastly refuse to believe it. After all, it was only two years ago yesterday that my beloved Thistle won the Playoff final. Do you know how many people jump on the bandwagon whenever Thistle suddenly looks like winning anything? There were precious few of them at Peterhead, since the only Thistle fans that descended on the Highlands were those with tickets. I wanted to go, I bought the tickets. Had I and Other Michael not got those tickets, we'd have listened to the game on the radio like the rest of Scotland. There is no need to go the city a final is in if you do not have a ticket.

And then we have the in-fighting? Why become more and moral like the animal pack you resemble? When I travelled to Peterhead, I spent the 6 hour drive in the back of minibus run by rather drunk Jags fans of long standing. The ringleader was best known as Big Dave. We talked long that day, and frequently disagreed vehemently in our language and opinion of everything: politics, religion, world affairs, pacifism, music, history and other problems. Did he then rise up to his full frame and whack me a good one with his beer bottle for my crimes? Of course not. We laughed it off, differences are differences but in the end game we were both Thistle men and as such respected the others opinion.

I should also point out that the merry 1200 left Peterhead in one piece, there were no arrests, and although many got very merry, they did it in the vicinity of social clubs and pubs and were chaperoned by designated drivers.

The same appears to be possible at large tournaments. Look at Barcelona and Japan! If they can do things peacefully, with the largest fan club in the world, then why can't anyone? Why do Rangers, England, Turkey and countless other clubs and national teams’ fans feel the need to bring intimidation and violence into the mix?

Have you been to Barcelona? Lovely city. Was there in 2003, when they were very-pro Scots, given the comparisons made between the fight for Catalunyan and Scottish independence. Then the Old Firm arrived. Now, Scots are being refused passage at hotels in the area. The reason? "We thought the Scots were very nice people, until the Rangers fans came over."

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Rangers fans are typically particularly bad though, if there's any trouble concerning Scottish travelling fans you can bet Rangers will be involved.

There was also trouble with Celtic fans on a plane. Aberdeen and St Mirren fans have in the past caused trouble abroad as well as home. And then we have the Tartan Army, although on the most the problems with them is down to ignorance - A cheery drunk "A'right, mate!" and attempts to chat up the general populace mean seem like a great idea, but is often not the done thing in polite society (or anywhere you can't speak the local language). The TA's problems are mostly of a tactful nature, and whilst uncondonable, not in the same light as violence.

But to claim the violence problem as a Rangers fans thing is a misnomer...it's much wider than that.

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I always have thought that Scottish football fans were basically a drunker, more mentally unstable versions of Rab. C. Nesbitt anyway.

I am Scottish, have been known to take the odd tipple of Jack Daniels, and am mentally unstable and unemployed as a result. So I can't really defend that stereotype!

I will however state that having seen enough of both to judge, the Scottish and English people alike are by and large a lovely people and its the minority that ruin it for everyone. Unfortunately, I think Father Ted put it best, when he said

"Even if there was two billion priests in the world, and 5% of them were paedophiles, that's only 20 million."

Same with Scotland. Say 1 in 100 was the sort who does the sort of thing which tarnished our reputation last night. That's still 450, 000 idiots ruining everything for the peaceful and likeable 4.05 million others.

If I believed every English person was like those who threatened my mum in 1999 when they swarmed to Hampden destroying every shop in Victoria Road in their path, then I'd have a far more cynical view of the English than I do. As it is, that was the minority. I know far too many people south of the border to know it is a minority thing. Likewise, most of Scotland is ashamed of the scenes from last night. I heard one commentator hoping we could rebuild Hadrian’s Wall and keep them out of Scotland once and for all...I'm not all that sure he was joking. (And that’s about as fair as loading us with all the English hooligans!)

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Yes mate, thats how we do things in England; get 10,000 people together, let them get drunk then switch the screen OFF so that you all get pissed off. Absolute stupidity

Yes, but the Protestants of Scotland (of whom Rangers fans are chiefly made) feel the need to have Orange Parades, to promote their right to existence against threats from outside.... when they comprise 79% of the country! I'm pretty sure we're not talking rocket scientists here.

Although, a deliberate lack of big screen coverage could be claimed to be a mercy killing. It was, after all, a dreadful game.

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- the fans claiming the police were heavy handed, ministers saying riot police probably made situation worse - the police and locals complaining about the fans, saying how they were animals and destroyed everything

Yes, because the police aggravating stuff made 30 fans (check it on TV, 30 fans) overturn a vehicle. Look at the CCTV videos, and then tell me who looks like the victims. This "the big boy started it" excuse is no excuse if you get involved in the action. Every person has their own brain to act accordingly, surely.

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So the Rangers fans went crazy in Manchester? Those Scots can be complete animals, just like us, yet because they wear kilts and ginger wigs they largely get away with it. And apparently a big screen for fans to watch the game on broke down. I just found a couple of quotes on bbc.co.uk that really, really annoyed me... It's let the country down? **** off. A screen broke down, it's nobody's fault, just bad luck. Why do you need someone to blame? **** off. Not everything in this world is someone's fault, just live with it. And shame on Manchester? Let the country down? It's a disgrace to the country is it? Three words for you. Jimmy ****ing Krankee! The article really makes it sound like this is a quote from a Rangers fan because of the 'down for this' quote. If it was, they seriously didn#s spend that amount coming down did they? If so, I have some land on Mars to sell them.

Benson, if were Thistle fans, the SFA and SPL would be FORCING UEFA to officially ban us. When Aberdeen and Old Firm fans throw coins and hit policemen around Firhill, it is Thistle who gets the police fines for refusing to deal with the crowds. When it happens at parkhead or ibrox, it’s the away team who get slaughtered for it.

But do you know what the most amusing thing is? The site engineer was fixing the screen, when some lovely fans decided to whack him with a bottle. So he apparently said "sod it" and left them to their own devices. And the nearest other person able to fix the screen was in Bradford. So they did kind of bring on themselves.

Oh, and I'm not fond of ginger wigs or kilts. Both make you look silly, for one, and whilst one aggravates my skin the other shows off my eczema scarring, neither of which is very agreeable. Scotland is a wonderful country, but like England it has its unsavoury problems. The problem is that these problems get the publicity to publicise their bile.


This is just a game. It's not life or death, and anyone who can still claim it is so, in light of the events in China and Burma and even with a lovely wee man cut down by cancer this morning, is a disgusting human being. It's just a game. **** happens. A linesman makes the wrong call. With one bloody exception in the history of human error, that has not caused a war. Life goes on. Seasons end and start over. If you support a club like I have, who have gone to the 11th hour of liquidation and escaped from the edge, you never again believe that a loss or a bad call or an opposition taunt is the end of the world. It’s just a game, be thankful we have it. Before it gets taken away from you.


#Quotes from comments made on various online forums.