Peter Anderson ⚽ What a week! 

For someone who believes in the separation of sport and politics it hasn't been a good one. What, with the Royalists imposing their national grief, North Korean style, and republicans being so quick off the mark to hurt and hate, I've had to take myself off Twitter as much as possible. Usually just scrolling down until I see dog or cat videos, or videos of Russian armour getting Javelined.

My own cycling club even lowered themselves to the level of the emotionally incontinent and banned all club rides for the weekend. Over 50 of us met anyway (sans club kit) and did the usual runs. The EPL stopped for one whole weekend, creating a fixture nightmare in this World Cup year. Why football stopped but other sports didn't is beyond me. Would the Queen have wanted us all to sit at home and grieve? What about those that didn't like her or didn't care?

Personally, I liked the Queen. She was a good Head of State, in that she did a better job than any president could have done. My affection, though, is tempered by the fact that she was rich, entitled and inherited everything she had. And my limited affection does not extend to her sons, I may yet become a republican, time will tell. 

My mother is a different story. She has taken the Queen's death quite hard. As my mum approaches her final years, it is clear that the death of long-term friends hits her particularly hard. The Queen's death falls into that category. The Queen has been an ever present in her life. A young woman thrust into global prominence in a man's world. She became an important part of mum's life, an icon and "friend" for 70 years. It is hard not to sympathise with my mum, even if I don't share her deep affection. So, it was particularly galling to see so many republicans taking to social media immediately to gloat and spit their bile before the woman was even cold. Celtic's Green Brigade were in the vanguard, as expected. On Sunday, they managed to take a break long enough from gloating over Lee Rigby's beheading to ruin St Mirren's minutes applause, but sweet karma ruined their day as the Brigadiers had to watch their team getting pumped 2-0.

However, we shouldn't have been here in the first place. Celtic's fans shouldn't have been put in this situation. Clubs shouldn't have had memorials imposed from on high. Individual clubs could have decided for themselves after consulting with their fans as to what, if any, memorial would take place. Take Liverpool, where the Hillsborough Justice for the 97 organisation took to Twitter to urge Liverpool supporters not to disrupt the minutes silence. After Liverpool supporters booing the national anthem at the FA Cup final, they were worried that supporters of other clubs would no longer respect future minutes silence for the 97. Given that many supporters prickle at Liverpool's victim status, considering Liverpool fans' role in the Heysel disaster, they were right to fear a major disruption. In the end the minutes silence was interrupted, but only by a few. Hopefully, future remembrances for the 97 will be respected, but it just highlights the constant difficulties of remembrances, anthems and other politicisations imposed on fans. 

The best way forward for me would be to ban all imposed politicisations and let them come organically from within the fan groups. I accept that this is never going to fly. So, it should be incumbent on all football authorities to consult widely before any decision is taken. Chelsea and Rangers aren't Liverpool and Celtic; different clubs, different fans, let them decide.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

Hurt & Hate

Peter Anderson ⚽ What a week! 

For someone who believes in the separation of sport and politics it hasn't been a good one. What, with the Royalists imposing their national grief, North Korean style, and republicans being so quick off the mark to hurt and hate, I've had to take myself off Twitter as much as possible. Usually just scrolling down until I see dog or cat videos, or videos of Russian armour getting Javelined.

My own cycling club even lowered themselves to the level of the emotionally incontinent and banned all club rides for the weekend. Over 50 of us met anyway (sans club kit) and did the usual runs. The EPL stopped for one whole weekend, creating a fixture nightmare in this World Cup year. Why football stopped but other sports didn't is beyond me. Would the Queen have wanted us all to sit at home and grieve? What about those that didn't like her or didn't care?

Personally, I liked the Queen. She was a good Head of State, in that she did a better job than any president could have done. My affection, though, is tempered by the fact that she was rich, entitled and inherited everything she had. And my limited affection does not extend to her sons, I may yet become a republican, time will tell. 

My mother is a different story. She has taken the Queen's death quite hard. As my mum approaches her final years, it is clear that the death of long-term friends hits her particularly hard. The Queen's death falls into that category. The Queen has been an ever present in her life. A young woman thrust into global prominence in a man's world. She became an important part of mum's life, an icon and "friend" for 70 years. It is hard not to sympathise with my mum, even if I don't share her deep affection. So, it was particularly galling to see so many republicans taking to social media immediately to gloat and spit their bile before the woman was even cold. Celtic's Green Brigade were in the vanguard, as expected. On Sunday, they managed to take a break long enough from gloating over Lee Rigby's beheading to ruin St Mirren's minutes applause, but sweet karma ruined their day as the Brigadiers had to watch their team getting pumped 2-0.

However, we shouldn't have been here in the first place. Celtic's fans shouldn't have been put in this situation. Clubs shouldn't have had memorials imposed from on high. Individual clubs could have decided for themselves after consulting with their fans as to what, if any, memorial would take place. Take Liverpool, where the Hillsborough Justice for the 97 organisation took to Twitter to urge Liverpool supporters not to disrupt the minutes silence. After Liverpool supporters booing the national anthem at the FA Cup final, they were worried that supporters of other clubs would no longer respect future minutes silence for the 97. Given that many supporters prickle at Liverpool's victim status, considering Liverpool fans' role in the Heysel disaster, they were right to fear a major disruption. In the end the minutes silence was interrupted, but only by a few. Hopefully, future remembrances for the 97 will be respected, but it just highlights the constant difficulties of remembrances, anthems and other politicisations imposed on fans. 

The best way forward for me would be to ban all imposed politicisations and let them come organically from within the fan groups. I accept that this is never going to fly. So, it should be incumbent on all football authorities to consult widely before any decision is taken. Chelsea and Rangers aren't Liverpool and Celtic; different clubs, different fans, let them decide.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

5 comments:

  1. Peter, you are so right. Compulsory mourning and enforced conformity around symbols such as the poppy does alienate. People should be allowed to grieve and show their respects in private. I cried buckets after the death of Amy Winehouse but I would never seek to impose my grief on others. Having said all that, it is good to feel belonging to something bigger than oneself. As you say; if an initiative had come from Liverpool and Celtic fan groups to just have a minute's silence for the Queen then the Green Brigade would have been shown up for the embarrassment they are.

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  2. Even if it wasn't mandatory those fans would have pulled something.

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  3. As for suspending all foootball for a weekend it sickened me. To make matters worse, as a Man Utd fan, our game against Leeds the following week was also postponed. Even allowing for the postponment, which I do not, the first week, which included FC United in the lower divisions, non league, why did Man Utd v Leeds have to be affected? Manchester is 200 miles north of London so what the fuck did our game have to do with a funeral happening in Englands capital?

    The London Metropolitan Police have at their dispoal 32,000+ officers, more than enough for a funeral. Why then, as was the claim, they might need Mancunian coppers cited as the reason for the postponment? A load of class distinctive bollocks, as Peter points out, other sporting events went ahead, the rich kids game of Rugby Union most notably unaffected.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile

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    Replies
    1. Caoimhan for a Dublin Republican you do so love the English game 😆

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  4. This piece tackles a range of problems and tries to ferret out the more unsavoury aspects associated with the past fortnight. It does not go with the flow and on reading it, reflection immediately follows particularly in relation to some of the language used: North Korean style imposing of grief, hate and hurt. For someone from a unionist background this required more fortitude than the normal piece.

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