The Rangers Standard

Thanks for the brilliant article, it summed up everything that i believe about the subject. I couldn't give a toss what people choose to believe or how people choose to react in their private lives, that is entirely up to them. But, when it comes to supporting your football team you should be doing that very thing. Support the team, sing songs about the team. Religion doesn't have to come into it. Some guy in Rome doesn't have to come into it. Hell, even to an extent other teams or the SFA/SPL shouldn't come into it. Focus on Rangers and the joy they bring you, and leave the rest to float by unnoticed.

The majority of fans all agree something needs to be done about these clowns shaming the club but what's the answer?
Amognst all the reaction to this I haven't heard anyone suggest what can be done to stop this.


I honestly have no idea what it would take to stamp this out. What action can actually be taken?

The club - The club should ban these people (im pretty sure they do if folk are caught) but i dont think reacting when this is brought to their attention. Rangers should do everything they can to identify people behaving like this and ban them long before it gets to the stage it did at the weekend.

Police - These people are commuting a crime. The fairly simple solution is to arrest them or am i missing something obvious?

The football authorities - SFA/SFL they have the power to ban away fans and even shut down ibrox to fans. It sounds like an over the top solution but it might be what it takes to get through to these clowns.

The Fans - i keep hearing the magic term from Celtic fans of self policing, now forgetting the hypocrisy of that i am no advocate of this at all. I am a big fella who can certainly take care of himself but i have no desire to get battered by a mob of knuckle draggers for telling them to stop singing their bigoted/racist bile.

So what can the fans do and what should the other groups mentioned above be doing?

cont .. finally starting to change journos attitude towards clubs supporters. Daily Mail and herald/times reports particularly good as explored whole controversy and how it has just been controversial in isolated incidents. We as fans should acknowledge this progress while keeping critical and constructive eye on coverage of club and games by individual journos and papers.

John
As with all your articles, well written and covers many sentiments felt by well intended lifelong fans of our club.
The frightening thing is the number of youngsters involved in these happenings... it just ain't dying out. I sang the songs cause I didn't know any better and everyone else did it. Now 20 years later, after all the fines, headlines etc etc, LOTS still don,t know any better.
Despite the Billy Boys being gone, it is always just under the surface and could explode at any moment due to defiance, exuberance, whatever, and the UVF/UDA is sung at every home game.
The club needs to do more, and it's reaction to Berwick, in not burying its head in the sand, is encouraging.

As the game finished i was wondering if Graham Spiers had also finished his Rangers bashing article and closed his Laptop.
Check his article in the Herald today.
He just cannot help himself.
Its amazing.

Glendo, I have to honestly dispute your assertion that 'UVF/UDA is sung at every home game.' This certainly hasn't been my experience in recent years. In fact, I can't remember the last time I heard either organisation mentioned. Perhaps there are some determined idiots in your part if the stadium but certainly haven't picked up anything in either the Club Deck or Govan Rear.