Celtic fans were granted a Fair Play award by UEFA. Journalists, politicians and police authorities were happy to outdo each other with their support. Unfortunately, it is now so very clear that they were equally content to lie. And it is equally obvious that the campaign involving punters and media to gain the award in the first place has given them practice when it comes to other, more despicable and traitorous notions.
But back to the lies: first up, Strathclyde Police. We all heard the mantra, 'No arrests in Seville.' Many of us wondered how on Earth this was possible after a year where the merry craicsters stabbed each other in Amsterdam, caused a near riot at Vigo airport, redirected a plane to Cardiff and were alleged to have been involved in widespread forging of tickets and violence in Blackburn. Speaking on the eve of the UEFA Final in Seville, Superintendent Tim Love offered the following:
"Of the seven away European ties Celtic have been on this season there have only been 14 arrests, four of which took place during the course of the matches," he said.
"And there were no arrests made in Portugal when 2,700 fans travelled to watch Celtic play Boavista in the semi final."
Unfortunately for Tim, someone had clearly forgotten to do the Maths homework. Home Office figures show that 42 arrests were made at the Blackburn V Celtic match, 26 of them were Celtic fans. Further to that, 9 Celtic supporters were issued with banning orders as a direct result of this tie. To give an example of the negative effect felt by Blackburn, in their entire Premiership season the number of arrests at their home matches was less than the number of Celtic fans taken into custody on that one evening.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/football-arrests-0203?view=Binary
It's interesting that Tim makes mention of arrests taking place during the course of matches, as that tends to make a fair play case for the nine lifted as a result of the Cardiff redirection incident. The flight from Vigo airport, where there was a lot of trouble, some involving the son of the Chairman. Fair play to those plucky lads, indeed - I'm sure those scenes made you as proud as punch (and stab).
Strathclyde Police is happy to lie for Celtic.
So, of course, is the press corps. Take a very recent example, the weasel words of Phil Gordon, given access to a national audience with the prestigious Times of London, who claims Rangers' reputation is tarnished as a result of Barcelona and offers the following as a handy comparison:
"That was one of five trips that Celtic have made to Spain in the recent past, including two to the Nou Camp when about 20,000 Celtic supporters went to Barcelona and, of course, the 2003 Uefa Cup final in Seville against FC Porto, when only half of their 80,000 supporters who arrived in the city had a ticket. However, those events went off without an arrest."
http://tinyurl.com/kvxab
Nice try Phil, but another whopper. The manner in which the Scottish press and the Scots abroad managed to kill negative publicity about Celtic during that run has long been remarked upon. Thankfully other countries are not so unbalanced in their description of the Sevillian escapade:
"Celtic supporters in the Spanish city have been enjoying the carnival atmosphere and scorching spring sunshine ahead of the game.
One 38-year-old Celtic fan was arrested after an incident at a city centre bar in which another Celtic supporter, 23, suffered a minor knife wound.
Elsewhere, police had reported only a handful of arrests involving traveling fans with the green and white army."
http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2003/05/21/story99744.asp
A handful here, a few dozen there, a stabbing, a riot on an aircraft: what's all that between friends? The news that UEFA are looking into Rangers and have been 'compiling evidence and complaints' illustrates that the same people who persuaded the governing body that a group of fans that behave in the manner described above were worthy of an award are the exact same people who will only rest if we are wiped from the face of the Earth. And they are the people behind this crazy statement on bigoted chanting and exaggerated violence. The double standard could not be more pronounced.