Rangers fans warned over songs

GLASGOW RANGERS fans have been warned by their club that breaking into abusive and racist song about the Irish famine could lead to arrests.

The club’s chief executive, Martin Bain, in a statement on the club’s official website, has called on supporters to refrain from singing sectarian songs and warned that supporters who chant songs like “the famine song” could be arrested.

The song — with the chorus “the famine’s over, why don’t you go home?” — was loudly aired at last month’s Old Firm match at Celtic Park after which Irish diplomats lodged a formal complaint with the police.

Bain has also pointed out that many fans feel aggrieved that “the song they believe to be no more than a tit for tat ‘wind up’ of Celtic supporters should be singled out in this way and merit the attention of police, governments and anti-racism organisations”.

The club shared supporters’ frustration that “offensive and wholly unacceptable songs such as those ‘celebrating’ the Ibrox disasters or inciting death threats to our players are sung by supporters of other clubs on a regular basis with little or no comment or reprimand from any quarter”.

A Scottish Premier League spokesman said: “We introduced rules on unacceptable conduct last season, in line with the laws of the land.

“These have helped drive improvement in behaviour at matches and we will continue to work with clubs to this end.”

Show Racism the Red Card in Ireland — the agency promoting anti-racism in sport and society — said racism and sectarianism had no place in football or in society.

“We have been supported by both Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic in developing the initiatives of our Scottish project.

“The issue of sectarianism is closely related to the issue of racism. Both exist as hateful and divisive ideologies. It is right that the Government raises these issues with the relevant authorities in Scotland.

“However, the issues of racism and sectarianism are equally serious in Ireland. In Ireland, we have recently seen a case taken before the Equality Tribunal, which found in favour of an English worker for anti-English racism.

“Last year, Fermanagh hurler, Darren Graham, dropped out of the game temporarily because of sectarian abuse,” an organisation spokesperson said.

“Following years of fundamental demographic change, we are now entering a new challenging period of economic change. With this change, there is a more urgent need for the Government to address the issues of racism and sectarianism in Ireland, so that racist and sectarian behaviour is minimised.”