Not for the first time BBC Scotland are missing the point.
Last week the newsroom of the state broadcaster were all over the demise of the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act which fell conveniently just after they had decided to highlight the concerns of match delegates that the SPFL.
Clearly irked by the way that he saw some Scotland fans acting in Rome, John Beattie decided to highlight some of the anti-catholic ‘banter’ enjoyed by fans from Bearsden Rugby Club.
Playing the bagpipes to a loyalist folk song maybe isn’t the smartest idea but The Sash has been passed as legal if not the wisest course of action by UK courts.
The real issue of this story is that a couple of Scotland fans, of the Bearsden variety thought it appropriate and funny to add in their favourite lyrics of ‘F*** the Pope’.
It is a classless phrase heard often and celebrated openly in Partick and Drumchapel and also by the nice middle class Bearsden types that BBC Scotland panders too.
With it’s middle class and public school image it’s hardly a surprise that rugby clubs, like many bowling and golf clubs, are a refuge where those sick of trendy modern equality issues can relive the good old days.
Not so long ago BBC Scotland had an employment policy similar to the one in operation at Rangers (FC), newspaper publishers, shipyards and many major industries.
A token Catholic here and there but make sure that they know their place.
As the Scottish Rugby Union look into this incident perhaps the state broadcaster may decide that it’s time for them to look in-house at their own approach to an issue that they choose to cover very selectively.
CLICK HERE for the brief and nameless BBC report into the Rome incident.
