An utterly shameful Saturday

“Watershed” was a term coined to describe the aftermath of events at Berwick. I would have to agree completely. I never thought I would live to see the day that the son of the manse offered a more resolute defence of the Rangers support than some of our own.

But I did. On Saturday night sportsound he highlighted the fact that the Rangers support have made considerable strides forward in recent times, as opposed to the Celtic support who appear, to have taken backward steps.

Reading some of the comments on various forums on Saturday night, one could be forgiven for thinking our club had been hi-jacked by some ultra right wing group of right wing Protestant uber zealots determined to use our club as a platform for their political and religious beliefs. But let me put your minds at rest – I'm assured there are no plans for Rangers to take the field with an image of John Knox replacing our famous RFC badge.

Between descriptions such as “knuckledraggers” and “sectarian bigots” appeared to be an element of surprise and investigation as to why a song so long forgotten in our repertoire had suddenly reared it's somewhat ugly head. Might I offer an alternative explanation as to what transpired on Saturday. Rather than our club being held hostage by some fanatical religious group, might I suggest that perhaps a group of misguided young lads decided to sing a song that they thought would be amusingly reflective of the current vacancy in Vatican city.

Of course it wasn't amusing nor particularly clever but what cannot be denied was it caused something of a watershed moment within our support. I have to say that after reading and listening to some comments on Saturday night I had some pangs of jealousy. I wish I had led such a clean, sin free life, unaffected by the stupidity or misjudgement of youth as some appear to have led.

As a young marine I remember being described as a “wild un”. Fortunately whenever that wild nature surfaced and resulted in some incredibly stupid actions, there was always a nurturing, guiding hand on my shoulder gently rebuking, re-directing and setting me back onto the straight and narrow, On my wall at home is a medal plaque filled with decorations and campaign medals. It serves not as boast of reckless courage, but as a testimony to those who saw through the recklessness, the stupidity and exercised a considerable degree of faith and belief in me and what I could become. Had such nurturing in the aftermath of such stupidity, been characterised instead however, by public vilification, condemnation and humiliation, I very much doubt there would have been any medal plaque.

But Saturday's events gave birth to considerable myths. One of which force me to indulge in a word I detest. “Whataboutery”. It's easy to dismiss whataboutery. But what should not be forgotten is that when Rangers fans indulge in whataboutery what they are actually defining is a considerable imbalance with in our press and media which has gone on for years. Saturday's irresponsible singing undoubtedly gave the enemies of our club some ammunition for their gun. That is not the real problem however. The real problem is that they find ammunition without irresponsible behaviour by the Rangers support. From false inferences that the bouncy celebrates a sectarian killing to blatant lies recently from McNulty that the Rangers support sang the famine song.

Another myth which has arisen seems to be that we can do nothing about such imbalance or tackling damaging press lies and inaccuracies until “we get our own house in order”. I have one question for the proponents of this theory. Has this stopped Celtic FC ?

I'm firmly of the opinion that the singing on Saturday is little more than a blip, a deviation on a successful course we are currently chartering as a support. If this course was to show a series of continual and regular blips then perhaps there would be some kind of justification for the internal examination which took place on Saturday.

It's perhaps ironic that Saturday's events became the catalyst for considerable theological debate in many Rangers online communities, with some suggesting it's time for our club and support to exorcise whatever lingering spirit of our Protestant heritage remains.

I would disagree. I think events on Saturday night show there is a considerable need for some true Protestant virtues amongst our support – tolerance, forgiveness and nurturing.