It's another example of a charge being thrown against us without any specifics attached to it. It's like the allegation of ‘sectarianism' that's thrown at us by the likes of Spiers and McNee without either of them ever actually producing a solid definition of it.
In the case of Spiers, he's made up something to suit his own agenda and has promoted himself as being able to read into the minds of 50,000 Bears when they sing “Hello, Hello, we are the Billy Boys” and can state for definite he knows they're singing about Catholics. As ever, we as Rangers fans are not allowed into the debate on an equal footing.
Every time the issue of that song comes up Rangers fans' representatives are asked to unequivocally condemn it without being given the courtesy of the right of reply as to what they think the meaning of the song is. It's a case of our enemies saying, “We're right, you're wrong; and if you don't agree with what we say we'll throw more accusations and muck at you.” It's fascism.
A mature society would be able to tolerate a debate over issues like this. Sadly, this is 2006 Scotland we're dealing with: a country where child obesity is reaching epidemic proportions; where we have the worst heart failure record in the developed world; and where we are officially the most violent small nation on the entire planet. It speaks volumes for what Rangers are up against when issues like these are secondary to what Rangers fans chant at football games.
Make no mistake: this is the thin end of the wedge if you'll pardon the use of a dreadful cliché. There is absolutely no way our Club's enemies will stop at this issue. As has been stated by many, many people in these pages and on the FF website, the anti-Rangers Scottish Establishment want nothing less than the closure of Rangers Football Club. That is the long and short of it and no amount of posturing by the supposed anti-sectarian campaigners in Scotland will mask what their primary goal is.
This is not paranoia. This is a judgement based on evidence collated and events witnessed in the last 15-20 years. We were told to sign a Catholic. Maurice Johnstone arrived. That wasn't enough: more were needed to prove we were sincere. More did arrive. They didn't count because they weren't Scottish. Neil McCann arrived.
The target then became the Rangers board. They proved to be an easy target with their total refusal to defend the Club and all sorts of anti-Rangers bigotry went unchallenged. From jokes about the Ibrox Disaster to slurs on three of our greatest ever servants in Bill Struth, Jock Wallace and Davie Cooper, there were no depths to which the anti-Rangers scum in the media would not stoop.
The dehumanisation of the Rangers support gathered intensity to the extent we were defined in the terms eliminationist regimes used to define their perceived enemies. The spinelessness of the Board has ensured we arrived at the position we are in today. We are now involved in a struggle for the very survival of Rangers FC. It may not be a palatable truth but it is something we as a support have to confront. Our enemies are involved in proceedings that will not stop with the eradication of a simple word from Ibrox; but will end when Rangers FC cease to exist.
We all must be aware of the hatred that surrounds our beloved Club. The current political, media and academic arenas in Scotland have proven themselves beyond all doubt to be in the main hostile to early-modern Scotland's Protestant foundations. 450 years of history, struggle, progress and Enlightenment are written off as bigotry.
The benefits that the Reformation brought to Scotland are ignored as it does not suit the agenda currently being promoted whereby the only thing to arise out of the Reformation was anti-Catholic bigotry. See The Rover's article in the last FF for clarification. Rangers, with the Protestant identity we undeniably have, are the priority for those who wish to obliterate any vestiges of Scotland's Protestant heritage given the surrender to apologia by the Church of Scotland and the educational establishment.
It's obvious religion isn't a part of everybody's life; but that aspect to our Club is why we are such a target. Whether you're an atheist, agnostic, Protestant, Jewish or RC Rangers fan does not matter; you're still an enemy in the eyes of the Scottish Establishment simply because you're a supporter of a Club that is still a culturally Protestant one.
When you enter Ibrox Stadium on the day of a game, look around you. Feel and embrace the history of the place and of the Club as a whole. While Rangers haven't played at that exact location for their entire existence, each and every player who represented our great Club is still represented in the magnificent arena that sits on Edmiston Drive.
Far from merely being a football Stadium, it is a place that still holds a massive emotional pull for Rangers fans all over the world. Thousands of Scots – and, indeed, Ulster-Scots – left their respective homelands to start a new life in other parts of the world but still kept a link with the place they had left and Rangers FC is a massive aspect to that. That support for the Bears has been passed from generation to generation to of those of a Scottish extraction all over the globe. Rangers are a symbol of identity not just in Glasgow, or even Scotland, but anywhere the Scots settled.
When you talk of the history of the Club, it's not just about the fans. It's about the stories of players long since dead but whose memories live on in the reminiscences of Rangers fans who keep the tales of bygone days of yore alive. Is there a Rangers fan out there who doesn't love the company of Bears from a previous generation when the talk revolves around games from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s?
Think of the great men who pulled on a Rangers jersey in the 19th Century. Think of the tales of how good players like Alex Smith, Jock Drummond and Neiily Gibson were. Think of how good it would have been to have seen Rangers winning their first Scottish Cup in 1894, or to have been a supporter during the 100% season in 1898/99. Think of the stories of the Iron Curtain of Brown, Young & Shaw, McColl, Woodburn & Cox. Think of the days of Alan Morton and Bob McPhail. Think of the sense of duty Bill Struth felt towards The Rangers. Think of the pride Bobby Shearer felt when playing for Rangers. Think of Sammy English and his goalscoring record that will in all probability never be beaten.
Think on how the Moscow Dynamo game in 1945 has become a part of Ibrox folklore. Moving on to more recent times, think on the contribution Jock Wallace made to Rangers. Think on the thousands upon thousands upon thousands who made the trek to Barcelona in 1972.
All those memories and stories and many, many more like them are what's at stake. Dangers face this Club of a nature that have never been apparent before. As it happens, it has fallen upon this current generation of Rangers fans to rise to the challenge to ensure that 100 years from now, Rangers fans will be wondering how good a player Brian Laudrup was the way we wonder about Neilly Gibson; or that the future historians of the Club will analyse who was better between Andy Goram and Jerry Dawson. Stories from this generation of Bears will be a part of those discussions, the way stories of Alan Morton and Willie Woodburn are part of the scene in current times.
People come and people go. What each and every one of us must do is ensure that Rangers are not allowed to be beaten in this fight. It's sad to note that the support, based on recent evidence, cannot expect too much backing from the current custodians when the Club is under attack.
Nobody else is going to stand up for us: this is something we are very much on our own with. So the next time you enter Ibrox, think about everything that has happened there before you were born. Think about the past generations of players and fans whose heritage is under threat.
Think about what you can do to ensure our Club's enemies do not realise their ultimate desire and see Rangers wiped from the history books. Think of the legacy this generation of Rangers fans can leave when we part from this earth but our Club is still going strong.
This challenge has fallen to the current generation of Bluenoses. Rangers till we die? Undoubtedly. But Rangers Football Club must never die and that is the challenge we must all rise to.
AYRSHIRE BILLY BOY?