Linfield vs Donegal Celtic 2007

Yesterday was the first time Linfield played Donegal Celtic at home in a competitive fixture since 1990. At that game, approximately 12,000 were there, it was billed as a Norn Irish 'Rangers vs Celtic', there was major crowd disorder, plastic bullets fired into the Celtic end to restore order, a Linfield fan got onto the pitch and aimed a kick at one of the Celtic players, and it was pretty much a sectarian hate-fest, lots od songs praising terrorist groups and individuals etc etc. It was also damn scary, especially for an 11 year-old kid who was doing ball-boy, to be called back in after 5 minutes, and to have to line up against the wall outside the players' tunnel so as not to be pelted with missiles, while the RUC riot squad filed past, plastic bullet guns in hand.

Shift to 2007. Norn Iron has moved on a lot. Only 3,000 fans there yesterday, Linfield had 4 Catholics in their starting 11, DC fans were welcomed in the Viewing Lounge and have since thanked LFC fans for their efforts on ILF, and there were no major incidents as Linfield, as expected, coasted to a 3-0 victory.

However, fans are still up in arms about yesterday on ILF, 180 posts so far about Linfield 'fans' constantly indulging in sectarian chanting. I listened to the coverage on the radio yesterday, and the usual dirge was clearly audible, 'Billy Boys' including the lovely line 'We're up to our knees in fenian blood' as well as those ecumenical chants 'Stand up if you hate fenians', 'If you hate the fenian b*stards clap your hands', 'Dirty fenian b*stards' etc etc. All this aimed at the largely Republican-leaning DC support, regardless of the fact that Linfield HAD FOUR CATHOLICS IN THE STARTING ELEVEN. The manager, David Jeffrey (DJ), even made an announcement over the tannoy during the first half, appealing for the sectarian songs to stop, which apparently pacified them for 15 minutes, until it all started again. Then Mr. Jeffrey did a very unwise thing. The 'wkd cru' started their song lauding DJ as they always do, and DJ responded foolishly by clapping them to acknowledge their support.

In a way, these incidents show us how far we've come; they also show us (by us, I mean Linfield) just how far we still have to go. The songs would barely have warranted a mention the last time the sides met; now, Linfield are rightly shamed by them, and are making concerted efforts to eradicate these morons who are dragging the name of the club throught the mud again and again. During the summer, the True Blues initiative was established to bring Linfield into line with the UEFA 10-point plan; Of the Linfield committee members, Andy Conn, picked up an award from the 'Football For All' awards at the weekend as "Community Relations FFA Unsung Hero"; he has worked tirelessly on cross-community initiatives to promote the good name of Linfield, including a group of Catholic youths from the Republican Poleglass estate who were guests at the last home game and played mini-football on the pitch at half-time; supporters away at Shelbourne last year managed to shout down and drown out a few idiots who were chanting racist and sectarian bile; but still these 6-matches-a-year merchants, plus a few more regular neanderthals, won't accept that society has moved on and singing anti-Catholic sectarian songs when a large amount of your playing staff is of that persuasion is fu cking stupid.

The Management Committee made a statement following the game:

The Management Committee of Linfield Football Club was extremely disappointed at the sectarian chanting of a small section of the Linfield support at today’s game against Donegal Celtic. We have stated before that this will not be tolerated, and it came from a section which does not normally present itself at the Park.

The majority of the support today from both sides was superb.

However, future matches of this category will be all-ticket with identification required.

But ultimately, there's only so much the club can do. It's widely agreed on ILF that the sectarian chanting is out of order and that it has to end, but no-one is really sure how. There's been a lot of soul-searching and head-scratching, and as far as I can see, the following proposals have been mooted (I have given my opinions on each one here):

The stewards should eject these people

Nice idea in theory, but unworkable. Our stewards are volunteers; most are not the most well-built; their crowd-control training is minimal; throwing offenders out and enforcing bans is unworkable without any legislation or way of keeping the offenders banned, which in turn could lead to repercussions and acts of revenge against the stewards within and without the stadium, most of whom are well-known to all Bluemen; stewards manhandling fans can be done for assault; and quite simply, there are too many sectarian singers and not enough stewards, it would be carnage. At the very least, stewards should be used to check those entering the ground properly for alcohol, bottles etc, and anyone looking the worse for wear in terms of alcohol should simply be refused entry.

Employ outside professional stewards

Unworkable and too expensive for IL clubs. The only possibility in NI is EventSec, and they have already proved themselves to be incompetent on countless occasions (23/04/05, CIS Cup Final 2006, Boxing Day 2006).

Bring in the police

This is a good serious possibility, but again I fear it would be too expensive for the financially-troubled IL

Use CCTV photos to name and shame

This is a possibility. The police had their cameras trained on the Alex Russell stand yesterday. Surely they could have identified who the instigators were and used this as a basis for imposing a ground ban for guilty parties. My fear is that Linfield diehards sitting in that stand could be guilty by association and wrongly accused.

Fan Power

Can be effective, but very dangerous. There were apparently at least 30 people involved in this crap yesterday. It would take a large group of people to challenge them and tell them to shut the hell up. Fan power can manifest itself in different ways, though. The simple way to do it is for a group of engaged fans to sit not too far away from these idiots during 'contentious' games eg DC, Setanta Cup, Cliftonville, Glentoran, and to strike up Linfield songs at full belt EVERY time these 'fans' start their sectarian crap. Every time. Hopefully, the respectable silent majority would join in and drown these kids out, and make them realise that their songs are not helpful and not wanted.

Ultimately, it IS up to the silent majority to make it clear that this is not on, instead of sitting there in embarrassed uncomfortable silence. I know there were a few 'exchanges of opinion' in the South Stand yesterday about the matter. Everyone involved in the club can do more. The club can make a serious concerted effort to weed these boys out, they should know who they are. Fans can present a united front, drown them out (probably the safest and most effective method) or shout them down. This is a Norn Iron societal problem; it's not going to go away, and Linfield just appear to be affected more often because of the size and draw of our support. But this type of 'support' belongs to the past.

Something has to be done. I'm sick, sore and tired of Ueber-Prods using Linfield as a platform to display how much their religion and culture means to them by outdoing each other in expressing their hatred of the 'other side'. I know what my culture is and where I come from; I want to support my team. Singing shit that alienates half the team isn't supporting the team in anyone's book. Just stay away, or cut it out.