A chara, – After a soccer match between Celtic and Rangers last August a letter-writer to The Irish Times complained about the extremely audible racist songs from Rangers fans.
Last Sunday once again Celtic hosted Rangers in a football game in Glasgow. The sorry news is that the racist singing from Rangers fans was still audible. The racist song “The famine is over, why don’t you go home?”, directed at those of Irish descent, was even louder and more repetitive than last August. A number of other abusive sectarian songs were belted out from the Rangers section.
Since last August a number of questions have been asked in the Dáil and in the European Parliament concerning such songs. Eoin Ryan MEP visited Scotland and held discussions with local groups. He then wrote to all Scottish MEPs stating that “the singing of the ‘famine song’ at Scottish League matches is highly insulting to the Irish people and to our country. This song has been rightly condemned by the ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ campaign”.
It is now clear that the efforts to wipe the scourge of anti-Irish racism from Scottish football grounds have been ineffective. It is now time that the Irish Government made representations to the British government and to the Scottish football authorities in attempt to put a stop to it. – Is mise,
E.F. FANNING,
Churchtown, Dublin 14.