"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or less."
Alice Through the Looking-Glass
On further examination of the evidence it's incredible to think that Spiers and his seedy band of not-so-merry ploughboys got away with spinning their poisonous tales in Switzerland.
Everything is of course arguable - as we will see in the coming paragraphs politics, sport and language intermingle and some terms of description can be terms of abuse and can be used by different groups at different times and have different meanings.
The line Spiers & Co. have chosen is to ignore all evidence to the contrary and simply battered away at a single line - “Fenian means Catholic.” They do that because at this point in time it suits them so do so, not because they believe it to be true.
Yet consider this - you and I may use it to legitimately describe supporters of terrorism. Some may mistakenly use it as a term of abuse for those uninterested in politics. Yet one does not rule out the other.
Indeed, Spiers and his fellow-travelers may have some difficulty in explaining the words of imprisoned IRA torturer Danny Morrison - “We are pleased to be here as unrepentant fenians” - (Quoted in Republican News, 1 December 2003)
Is the boul' Danny Bhoy speaking on behalf of the whole Catholic community in Belfast or just those who support murder?
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Do he and his jolly band of hurley-bat wielders (the baseball bat being a symbol of American imperialism I would imagine) produce and sell the likes of this “Unrepentant Fenian Bastard” coffee mug in the Sinn Fein shop (www.sinnfeinbookshop.com) because they are abusing Catholics? Or because they are perfectly happy with that description as it links them to the violent Irish-American political organisation of the same name which perpetrated terrorist actions such as the Clerkenwell Outrage of 1868 in which 13 civilians were murdered?
I wonder how they explained the obviously ready market in items such as this t-shirt found at Parkhead?
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The popularity of the song “Unrepentant Fenian Bastard” amongst the brain-dead (11,000+ references on Google) might raise an eyebrow (mono or stereo) you might have thought.
What of the large Celtic message-board going under the UFB moniker?
What of the fans' book of memories of Seville (don't laugh) published by UFB Books?
These can't all be Masonic plots.
In Ulster, normally in the Greater Belfast area, the word Taig is used to describe Catholics. In Scotland it is not a common term and is generally confined to active loyalists describing supporters of IRA terror. It's misuse led to it being banned in our Rivals days. An example of one word being used in two totally different ways.
Likewise Huns used to be a term used by Bluenoses in Scotland to describe supporters of Irish Nationalism going back all the way to World War One. I myself can recall Rangers fans singing “Go home ya Huns” to Celtic fans well into the 70s. Since the rise of fanzines it seems to have spread as a term for Rangers fans out of the ranks of Celtic fans. I notice that the Johnny Come Latelys who make up the bulk of the Celtic support in Ireland regularly use it to describe Protestants as a whole.
Overturning or ameliorating the UEFA directives will not be easy. But it does hold UEFA up to ridicule. Expand the ‘logic' of the directives and any body of politically motivated fans and fellow- travelers can have their rivals dragged in front of UEFA because they deem a song or chant to be offensive.
Already eagle-eared Bears have been sitting with the video running and pencils hovering over notebooks during Celtic's never-ending pre- season friendlies. When their Champions League run comes along will their seemingly uncontrollable (copyright Peter Lawell) away fans be
Scotland's Not So Secret Shame? Will UEFA be ready, willing and able to cast a blind eye?
And what of Man United fans glorying in the burning of Scousers, the murder of City fans and the praises of the Yorkshire Ripper? Or the Scousers lauding Doctor Shipman? You can see UEFA's problem.
DISCIPLINE
There are of course those within our own ranks who seem determined to fail rather than fight. You get the impression from some armchair generals that having a stand (or even four stands) shut would be a victory of sorts. They'd have proved themselves and hang the consequences - it's a lot easier to bawl and shout than to do the sort of patient work required or bother, for once in their lives, to display some measure of self-discipline and control.
Better by far to let Celtic, Killie, Hearts, etc come to Ibrox and belt out their version of Hello Hello and then go back to UEFA with the video evidence than to walk straight into the trap Spiers has prepared for us.
Some of our punters imagine there is a magic wand we can wave to rid ourselves of the UEFA directives - some have been acting as barrack room lawyers claiming “UEFA don't write the law of the land in the UK.” They don't, they might be issuing daft directives - but they do run European football - if you imagine bar room level arguments are going to win then over you are deluding yourself.
Before anyone starts getting all ultra-militant - let's be frank. Do what Spiers wants you to do and one stand gets closed, do it twice and the whole ground gets shut. UEFA closed the San Siro last season - do you really imagine they will think twice about shutting Ibrox? We've got to be disciplined and we've got to be smart not lead people down cul-de-sacs in a vainglorious charge.
Some (usually those who had some involvement in the anti-terrorist struggle it must be said) have been arguing for years that the neglect of history, the bastardisation of our songs (it was the Gub himself who coined the phrase “FTP Brigade”), poor PR, poor education of the fans, the 20 year wait for a museum, etc, etc, would come back to haunt us. And they have been proved right.
You can blame Murray and Bain and previous directors and you can be right - but a lot of us have to examine our own track records and question whether we did everything in our power to change things for the better. I certainly am prepared to say I wish I had done more to prevent the situation arising where the world has such a skewed view of RFC and it's fans.
This state of affairs has taken years bear it's ugly fruit - is anyone daft enough to imagine that it's going to be turned around overnight?
The crucial things for the coming period are two-fold - discipline amongst the punters not to fall into the very obvious traps laid for us. AND leadership from the club - a clear signal that resources are being deployed to challenge UEFA's lunacy in the short-term and to bring our domestic enemies to heel in the long-term.
Without such measures we will stagger from one debacle like UEFA to one like the cancellation of the Bolton game.