Silence of Shame - Celtic fans protesting against the Poppy - what say the media?

Last updated : 06 November 2008 By Grandmaster Suck
It's bizarre that while Northern Ireland has had ceasefire on and off since 1994 that Celtic have been left behind in a mad little world promoting and celebrating attitudes and actions the people of Ireland - however you define them - have left behind.

The smirking behind the hands over designating songs and chants as political as opposed to sectarian hides the reality that they have given the green light to the crackpots who live in haze of hate where the confusion of sectarianism, history, politics and religion produces a cult of the idolisation of violence. It's not much of an identity but for some of them hating Protestants is enough to satisfy their confusion and inadequacy.

The current manifestation of this warped world view is the news that a gang of these inadequates intend to protest against the players of all SPL clubs having red poppies on their shirts this weekend.

Amongst this weedy collection are Cairde na hÉireann - the official Sinn Fein representatives in Scotland - and indeed the leaflets for this protest will be distributed from their shop in the Barras on Saturday.

The degeneracy of this mob is beyond the ken of human beings. Worked up into a frenzy of hate you wonder what has suddenly made these Scottish born, bred and buttered Celtic fans suddenly hate the poppy? It's hardly been a tradition in Scotland has it?

Whilst we can take the mickey and exaggerate in the name of footballing rivalry the facts are that the Catholic community on Scotland is Scottish and that in the two World Wars there was no measurable opposition to conscription and that in British Legion branches up and down the land they have partaken in commemorations and collections for generations.

This opposition to the poppy is ill - it can be be dressed up as sudden concern for Iraqi and Afghan civilians but it has nothing to do with that. It's simply another excuse to demonstrate their hatred of anything - even this most sacred symbol of sacrifice - which they believe to be associated with Britishness and Protestantism.

It is the duty of all in positions of authority - the media, in politics, in football - to condemn this display of hate. If it was a group of Rangers fans doing this there would be no hesitation in the condemnation. Now is the time to crush the remnants of hate in our society.




If anyone is bewildered by this bizarre behaviour just cast your mind back to where they get their motivation for their hate.

Back in 1987 11 civilians were murdered in the Enniskillen Massacre when a Remembrance Sunday service was attacked. What is often forgotten is that two more no-warning attacks were foiled that day - at the Tullyhommon memorial in Fermanagh and on the headquarters of the British Legion.

This is what excites these monsters - the murder of Protestants, the reality of ordinary decent people having to face the rest of their lives blind or in wheelchairs.

It should not be tolerated - the media, the police, the politicians and most importantly Celtic FC themselves should not surround this evil in the Silence of Shame.