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Shameful silence from BBC Scotland

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BBC SCOTLAND Celtic newsBBC Scotland has fallen strangely quiet after breaking the news that Celtic supporters were singing sectarian songs at Saturday’s Scottish Cup Final.

Anchor man Rob McLean broke the news with Pat Nevin jumping in to quickly to condemn the action promising to highlight it at any game in which he hears such songs.

McLean introduced the issue spelling out his disgust at having to mention the subject and reminding viewers that Rangers were again in trouble with UEFA this season after their supporters were found guilty of singing sectarian songs in the home and away Europa League matches with PSV Eindhoven.

With Alex Salmond bringing in legislation to jail bigots and those guilty of sectarian actions it was certainly a topical issue for the BBC to get involved in.

Since the claims of McLean and Nevin on Saturday afternoon there has been the deafening sound of silence on the subject.

Tonight’s flagship news programme Reporting Scotland failed to follow up the allegations and indeed completely body-swerved Celtic’s Scottish Cup victory.

Having broken the story live on Saturday afternoon the BBC are duty bound to follow up the story- unless it is a non story and the creation of those that wish to tar Celtic with the same sectarian tag that Rangers have been labelled with by UEFA.

Celtic supporters at Hampden and beyond deserve to be told which songs upset the BBC into making these totally unfounded allegations against fans whose good behaviour has been recognised by both FIFA and UEFA.

If the BBC, or license thief’s as some people call them, have no evidence for their claims then the Celtic support and the club are due an apology by McLean, Nevin and the BBC who should reveal the source of their claims.

In other exciting news today for license payers BBC Scotland can exclusively reveal that Scotland will host the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

At least with the event being held in Scotland there will be less expenses filled jollies to foreign climes to be paid out.

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0 comments

  • Aldog82 says:

    Have to say, Joe, I was astounded there was no mention
    let alone highlights of the final! Was looking forward to seeing the goals on the box and interviews and stuff having been at the game! A disgrace!

  • Joe McHugh says:

    They must be really hurting not to mention the cup final in any way.

    The BBC has virtually no live football, that is supposedly their big event and not a single mention of it on their sports slot.

    Someone decided that the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was more worthy of a mention.

    Would they have mentioned the result if Steven Craigan had been the winning captain?

  • renfrewdave says:

    i email bbc scotland to complain as well.

    Asking for the song or songs to be listed for timings, general area of singing and if they witnessed persons singing

    But also more importantly did the BBC REPORT THE ISSUE TO THE MATCH COMMANDER?

    Cause they would have been able to highlight the general area, the times of the singing via video playback, maybe they even seen the people singing thus helping the boys in blue catch the offenders.

    Have also asked for a reason if they didn’t report it to the match commander.

    I am also thinking about contacting the police to find out if they had complaints from anyone at the ground relating to the singing and also for arrest numbers.

  • Frank McGaaaarvey says:

    An utter disgrace. Seems like an agenda at play from hurting hunnies – “We’ve been fined an’ how come they huvnae?”

    Are folk so uneducated and ill-informed that they don’t even know the meaning of the word of the moment ‘sectarianism’?

    We know perhaps that the song (I presume) they were referring to (BOTOB) can cause offence to some (and usually those who think nothing of shouting loud support for loyalist paramilitaries and, yes, terrorists) and we as Celtic fans are mature and reasonable enough to have open and honest debates about the suitability of these songs at games but I would DEMAND that Knob McLean and Rat Nevin go on air with the lyrics to BOTOB and point out to the nation where the sectarianism is.

    Offensive to some? Yes. Not suited to a football ground? Perhaps. But sectarian??? Go look the word up in a dictionary.

    The very fact that a supposedly neutral and unbiased (ding-dong!) organisation that grabs the public’s cash with impunity could fail to even mention REAL issues of sectarianism and racism at the Leaguew Cup Final around 2 months ago makes me sick to the pit of my stomach.

    How can they get away with this shit?

    On a similar note, around 3-4 seasons ago I remember Mr Bhardwaj on Scotland Today on a Monday reporting that the SFA were about to investigate Celtic fans for ‘sectarian chanting’ (buzzword time again!) at Pittodrie the previous Saturday.

    At least he had the good grace, or was forced to, issue a complete denial and apology for stating utter lies the next day! Hunbelievable.

  • They’re clearly trying to brush it under the carpet.

    There was no mention of any songs during the highlight show he hosted later that night.

  • Ciaran says:

    You would think someone getting paid a considerable amount of money (I imagine), would have a reasonable grasp of the language he’s being paid to spout.

    You would also imagine he has access to a fecking dictionary?

    So, we can gather from that there is something more sinister about his outburst.

    Didn’t McLean publicly condemn Artur Boruc for blessing himself? I believe he did.

    I also believe he is a hurting Hun and a bigot.

  • lenny4myth2 says:

    Those muppets in their desperation to attack Celtic have now left themselves in a position whereby they will be told to apologise or explain.

    Can’t wait to watch them squirm, on top of that their attempt to sully Celtic has now turned and bit them on the @rse, they have just proved celtic right again that there is obviously an agenda.

    Nevin saying he will say it whenever he hears it….er……YOU DIDNT HEAR IT! you were commenting on heresay despite being at the effing stadium yourself.

    Funny enough nipple head Nevin didn’t hear the Rangers support in the other cup final, and certainly has never said it when hearing it, and that’s in cases when it has actually happened. these guys need to be forced to apologise immediately.

  • Shug says:

    The songs were not sectarian, but they ARE offensive. Trust me, they are. Take it from one who has suffered from the actions of those people Celtic fans glorify. Also noticed both sets of fans giving the kids at half time some abuse. No club is exempt from having some undesireable fans. Time we self policed…only wish I had the nuts to do it.

    • Nobody is denying that they may be offensive to some, but that’s not the claim that the BBC made.

      If they did then I’d still question why they highlighted them while ignoring the CIS Cup Final fiasco, but at least they wouldn’t be wrong.

    • lenny4myth2 says:

      Theres a huge difference between offensive songs and illegal sectarian songs, there is much debate on songs like botob as it’s clearly a reference to those that fought in the war of independence, personally i think the songs like that should stop as they obviously do offend many including some celtic supporters.

      Then I hear people like McLean call them sectarian, and have people like Traynor who called celtic supporters “manufactured irish” which is in my opinion borderline racist and i think fu@k them, if they are so ignorant to our background that’s their problem and we should fight them on every front.

      I don’t know anymore, the more these people attack our heritage the more I want them to make fools of themselves by labelling folk songs refering to the IRA as sectarian.

  • johnbhoy says:

    is that the same songs they heard us singing but never recorded during their sectarian special last week

  • David white says:

    When is nevin on a phone in again…preferably 5live? I wanna make mince meat outta the sniveling little Uncle Tom

  • Starky says:

    Pat Nevin said the week before that both sides have a problem (rangers & celtic) he was talking about Scotland so who are both sides ?? Scotland has a problem and he thinks it’s all about 2 teams.

    I love our Irish roots but I’ve no time for songs like botob. At the end of the day we are a football team, we should sing about the football.

    Pat Nevin hasn’t a clue and you got to wonder why he gets work from the likes of the BBC? Oh yeah none of them have a clue. SPL tv may not be a bad idea.

  • n stafford says:

    BOTOB is not a song we should be singing at matches anymore because it isn’t appropriate for a football match, the club most recently through the manager have asked us not to sing it and it does cause offence to some people.

    That being said IT IS NOT SECTARIAN, neither does it glorify the provisional IRA.

    You would think that in a month where the Queen finally acknowledged past British wrongs in Ireland and paid respect to those who fell in the stuggle for independence (original members of the IRA during the time period the song actually recalls) the media would realise the difference.

    Does anyone else feel that it’s time for the authorities to come out and list exactly what songs on both sides are unlawful because they are sectarian.

    Wonder why they havent done that yet – oh yes because distasteful isn’t sectarian and there are no grounds in law to punish, us but the same can’t be said for the other side.

    As for the BBC’s unbias approach to broadcasting, did anyone notice how they jumped up and down on Saturday when the ‘Motherwell’ fans were heard singing that well known Motherwell song ‘ I was born under a Union Jack’ -no? Neither did I.

  • Tim Zarrus says:

    The real point is: Why was that song being sung, anyway, at a Scottish Cup Final between two Scottish teams?

    Forget the mock outrage that it strictly isn’t sectarian, but its sentiments do cause great offence to many people in Scotland.

    Celtic was not founded to glorify terrorist groups, so what is the justification in singing such songs in the first place?

    • lenny4myth2 says:

      Its not mock outrage to be angry at people with an obvious agenda against our club, the support as a whole was wrongly accused of sectarian singing and therefore wrongly accused of committing a crime.

      On top of that the accusers have sat silently and allowed racist and bigoted illegal songs to be aimed at Celtic for decades, the BBC has replied to complaints about these incidents by saying their presenters do not comment on supporters songs, then to add insult they falsely accused Ki of making racist gestures live on Radio Clyde.

  • paul says:

    Tim Zarrus , Celtic were formed from the Irish , for the mass Irish immigrints who left over the famine , in which time they were still under occupation and suffering slaughter at the hands of an empire.

    Celtic have the right to sing about those freedom fighters the same way the other team sings about being loyal to the crown occupying a country who has practised and still does practice to this day invading other countries and murdering innocent people they claim to protect for that countries resources for their own profit.

    The BOTOB is a song celebrating those soldiers that won their own land and country against the occupying forces of darkness.

    We have a right to sing that song if we want as it is part of OUR history it is not sectarian or bigoted we ARE NOT glorifying the PIRA as you all seem to think.

    We are honouring men that the Queen of that country herself only last week honoured.

  • paul says:

    So maybe we should be asking the Queen why oh why was she honouring these so called “terrorists” while her country is at war “fighting terrorism” in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq and soon to be Pakistan.?

    The fact is these men who fought and died for Irish freedom from 1912-1919 are not terrorists they are the people who removed the shackles and freed the people of the country and those who had left.

    This also led to the state , the army.

    Before anyone questions the right to anyone singing a song maybe they should read the lyrics and actually look up on some history. God Save the Queen , Flower of Scotland , Britania Rules The Waves , these songs are no more sectarian than BOTOB.

    Ireland and the Irish always expressed their feelings and injustices on them “through song and laughter” and will always do so.

  • Tim Zarrus says:

    There are people on this forum in clear denial and are trying, but failing, to justify the singing of a song in praise of the IRA.

    The potato famine was a horrendous event in Ireland but its effects should never be bound up with alleged “occupation” for the reasons it either happened or forced many Irish folk to flee.

    There is no more justification for BotOB being sung at a Scottish football match than there is The Sash etc.

    We are Scots first and foremost, and although pride in one’s roots is no bad thing, it should not be used as an excuse for singing unacceptable songs of any kind.

    Celtic’s hierarchy agree that such songs are indeed unacceptable and have outlawed the likes of them from Celtic Park.

    • lenny4myth2 says:

      “Alleged occupation?” it WAS colonial occupation, that’s a historical fact. I have a feeling your not a Celtic supporter, and im pretty sure by your use of “alleged occupation” your not irish or of irish decent. I was born and bred in London to a scots father and irish mother so i personally am not a “scot first” and as Celtic have hundreds of thousands of irish fans who do not live in Scotland i dont feel we should just dismiss their opinions.
      I think most tims agree most ira songs are unacceptable, i find its just a couple like the botob that people are debating, if you look on Celtic forums you will find a fair, educated, balanced debate amongst the Celtic support.

    • john west Belfast says:

      Tim Zarrus Did your English Queen not lay a wreath to the Boys of the Old Brigade last week , So to those looking for an excuse to claim TBOTOB it is sectarian send yer complaints to Lizzies big house in London

  • Liam McCabe says:

    Fact # 1 – BOTOB is not a sectarian song – read the words and decipher what they mean. There is no reference to religion or hating protestants etc.

    Fact # 2 – The media delight in promoting the status quo – there is absolutely no chance of them apportioning % blame to offending clubs. The easy copout is always to say “rangers and celtic” fans do it (when it is patently obvious that it was Rangers fan) but when given an opportunity to slaughter Celtic (as on Saturday), they revel in their ignorance of what they hear and call it sectarian. As for that wee gobshit Nevin, he is like the majority of tims in the media – he adopts an anti-celtic stance every time to show that he is a “neutral”.

    Fact # 3 – Why has the SFA done nothing to target the sectarianism clearly displayed at Ibrox, when UEFA have done them 5 times, in as many years?

    Fact # 4 – The primary reason that Marco Negri left hunland was that he was told not to display any catholic tendencies at the club or on the pitch. He would not accept it and was frozen out so don’t let anyone tell me that Rangers have changed and are non sectarian. Only when I see catholics openly displaying their faith on the park e.g blessing themselves or catholic’s in the boardroom, will I accept that they are changing. That ain’t going to happen for a while

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