BBC NI enjoyed it mightily. Newsline on Sunday night was positively triumphant. “Well, supporters of Glasgow Rangers came out onto the Shankill Road on Belfast tonight to mark their team winning the league title in Scotland. Rangers became the Scottish Premier League champions for the first time in 10 years after Celtic drew with Dundee United today.”
Cue huge crowds roaring and waving flares on the Shankill, blocking the road and singing songs. The songs that were being chanted all over social media footage were not used.
To be fair, there was one brief mention of a thing called Covid-19 (“some fans flouted the guidelines to celebrate the success”). The piece continued:
“It was a 55th domestic league title for Rangers, a world record. It’s been a remarkable journey by the Glasgow football club etc, etc.”
Gary came on, a local Rangers supporter.
“I don’t think any other club in the world could have come through what Rangers came through and live to survive, and indeed go right back to the top of Scottish football.” (I thought there only were two teams in Scotland. As Billy Connolly said once, “I was an adult before I realised that they were not called Hamilton Academicals Nil.”)
The piece ended with the words “The celebrations by Rangers supporters will be long.” Before handing back to the presenter and that was that.
There were of course, no arrests. It would be churlish indeed if the PSNI were to spoil the party. Indeed, the only surprise was that they didn’t join in, throwing their hats in the air and letting off a flare or two to celebrate the defeat of those pesky fenians.
PSNI Superintendent Nigel Henry said the next day that “officers received reports of a street party and flares and fireworks being set off on the Shankill Road, as well as fireworks in the Ballysillan Road area.” Which he said was “disappointing”. Nigel, I have a question. On a scale of 1 to 10, how disappointed are you? As disappointed as you were when your officers arrested survivor Mark Sykes last month for breach of Covid advice as he laid flowers along with four others to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the Sean Graham Massacre?
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the scenes in Scotland and Belfast “infuriating and disgraceful.” Meanwhile, our own First Minister said in Stormont on Monday:
“Deeply concerned about the images from yesterday. Covid-19 is no respecter of victories. Other events are being responsible. Sport and health will be the losers. The authorities need to address this. Serious questions arising from the footage.”
Only joking. In fact, that is what Mrs Foster said about the 50 or so Dungannon supporters who invaded the pitch after they won the Tyrone Roman Catholic Garlic Association Championship in September past.
What Mrs Foster actually said about the thousands crowding the streets of the Shankill was “Unfortunately we have seen yesterday in parts of Belfast, people who were rightly jubilant about Rangers’ success in the Scottish Premiership and I send them my absolute good wishes it’s wonderful to see Steven Gerrard and our own Steven Davis at the top. But as Ally McCoist rightly said, we have to abide by the public health regulations.”
As comedian Tommy Tiernan put it in his Tommy Hector and Laurita podcast this week “A stately blind eye turned again.”
I have no problem with Rangers winning the league. They won by 20 points so they must be a very good team and fully deserve their triumph. Their many fans here will be genuinely delighted and I am glad they are experiencing that joy. We have had little enough to celebrate here over the past while and it was a very important moment for Rangers supporters who have had a most uncertain journey with their club over the last decade.
But you get my point here. There is a central truth. Nothing has changed. My friends, our options are limited. A United Ireland appears the only viable one now. After we get our Covid vaccines, of course.
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