A couple of years ago our old pal Graham Spiers coughed up the quote “why are Rangers Protestant? Bill Struth was not a theologian.” In doing so he gave away the next set in the anti-Rangers campaign and displayed his own vanity, alongside a profound and wilful misunderstanding of the subject.
It suited Spiers, and his sinister cheerleaders in the background, to begin with a false premise. His argument runs something like this - there is no founding club document which states “Rangers are Protestant” so therefore they can’t be a Protestant club. Of course, it’s not bigoted, sectarian or racist to be an Irish, Catholic or Republican club, but that’s for another time. In any case, if such a document was uncovered Spiers would simply change his tune.
All of the above kind of begs the question - what does constitute a Protestant club?
For instance, does the dramatic decline in urban church attendance in the last 50 years make a difference. How, apart from not signing Catholic players did this Protestantism manifest itself?
A PROTESTANT CLUB FROM THE START
Revisionists try to claim that Rangers ‘became sectarian’ as a result of either a response to Celtic’s success, or politicians manipulating the fans, or the influx of Ulster shipyard workers from Harland & Wolff in 1912.
All poppycock. A simple examination of the player lists shows Catholic players to have been as rare as hens teeth. In fact, were there any before Celtic were formed?
Sociologists have a term called “social closure” - they use it to describe the phenomenon whereby members of a community tend to stay within it - whether that be cultural, political or religious.
In the Victorian era for instance - much of the social life in Glasgow would have been centred around churches - and each church having choirs, social outings, sports clubs, etc. If you were in the Church of Scotland for instance you could easily fill your life with a whole range of extracurricular activities in societies formed by the Kirk or meeting in Kirk premises.
COUNTING THE CATHOLICS
Bob McElroy’s work in the Rangers Historian edition “From Moses To Mo” 20 years ago is probably the most exhaustive attempt to list the Catholics who played for Rangers. Strangely there was a brief upsurge in the number of Catholics playing for the club from around 1905 to the start of the Great War but that was a blip that seems a little strange considering the raising of political/religious tensions in Ireland and the fallout from that in Scotland.
THE HARLAND AND WOLFF RED HERRING
A myth much-loved of Timothy is that the opening of a Harland & Wolff shipyard in Glasgow in 1912 led to an influx of workmen from Ulster who turned Ibrox Orange. It’s drivel. The “opening” of the Harland & Wolff yard was in fact an acquisition and amalgamation of three existing yards - the Govan Old, Middleton and Govan New. There was no need for workers from Ireland.
Interestingly, the yard in Belfast at that time actually ‘over-employed’ Catholics considering the percentage of the population of the city and the Chairman of Harland’s was Hugh Pirrie - a Liberal Home Ruler. Indeed Pirrie organised and chaired a famous Home Rule meeting at Belfast’s Celtic Park football ground on 8 February 1912. So, why would a company that didn’t discriminate in Ireland open a yard in Glasgow and do so there? It’s ludicrous.
Rather than being a grand conspiracy the Rangers association with Protestantism is simply a reflection of reality - that societies produce social, artistic, cultural and sporting organisations which reflect the reality of society around them. In France, Italy and Spain we see this in the massive historic divide between the Church and the Secular. In Scotland it’s been a feature too - in the land of the Reformation - clubs and associations covering all sorts of social endeavour formed in era where the influence of religious bodies were pervasive often took on a tone and a membership which reflected the reality around them.
The club will continue to be a Protestant one for as long as enough supporters care for it to be so. It is a club that is culturally Protestant rather than one which is the recipient of the endorsement of a particular denomination. But Protestant it is.
Rangers were and are a Protestant club. It reflects the values of the community which created it. In an increasingly secular world where fewer and fewer people have a church connection the history of the country still pervades the social interactions and political views of the population. It’s as simple, and as complex, as that.