The poppy row at Glasgow Celtic FC

FANS at Glasgow Celtic FC have been in revolt recently against the decision by the club’s hierarchy to go along with the Scottish Premier League’s instruction for all SPL clubs to wear an embroidered red poppy to honour the British armed forces on the shirts of all sides competing on the weekend of 8 November.

The Celtic supporters were protesting against the compulsory nature of the SPL’s ‘advice’ and contend that the red poppy, rather than being a symbol of commemoration, peace and reconciliation, is actually a propaganda tool used by the British Army to bolster support for its wars in countries like Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of leaflets were distributed at a recent home game and a walk-out during the match and a 500-strong protest at Celtic’s front gate have seen the club retaliate by taking further punitive measures against the rebels.

An Phoblacht spoke exclusively to one of the protest organisers, ‘SL’.


An Phoblacht: Why did you organise the protest at the Motherwell game?

SL: A great many Celtic fans in Scotland, Ireland and further afield were very unhappy that Celtic FC as an institution should be throwing its weight behind the PoppyScotland Appeal and blindly following the SPL’s instructions for the compulsory wearing of poppies on the shirts of all SPL sides and for the observance of a minute’s silence at all SPL matches last weekend.

After deliberating over what form the protest should take, the three groups involved – TAL Fanzine, Green Brigade and local republican support group Cairde na hÉireann – under the umbrella of Celts Against Imperialism, decided to leaflet all sides of the stadium before the match against Motherwell.

Despite the often-repeated lies of the Scottish media, at no time did we call for the minute’s applause (or minute’s silence as we originally expected) to be disrupted.
Our position regarding the poppy was clearly outlined in the flyer: that our protest was not against individuals that wear the poppy, nor did we mean any disrespect to any of those who lost fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers in two world wars. However, we believe the red poppy to be a symbol purely associated with the British military which is today effectively being used as a propaganda tool by the British Government to bolster support for its illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That a club like Celtic should simply go along with this, apparently oblivious to the many fans in Ireland who have suffered directly at the hands of the British Army, is testament to the type of politically arrogant people that are now in control of our club.

What did the protest entail?

The walk out on the 10-minute mark attracted the greatest attention in the media and has now prompted Celtic into witch-hunt mode. Several hundred supporters walked out of the stadium after 10 minutes play to a mixture of jeers and applause. Around 500 gathered at the Walfrid Statue and spent the next 50-60 minutes chanting slogans against the board, Celtic Chairman John Reid and the British Army.

There were various forms of protest throughout the day. We were told that Celtic has not had so many latecomers arrive for a normal SPL home game in many years. This suggests that many of those unhappy about the poppy being promoted and a minute’s silence or applause being implemented arrived late and did so deliberately to avoid participating in any public acknowledgement of the British Army.

A great many fans boycotted the match completely; most of the Celtic pubs on the Gallowgate did business all through the match, not normal for a home game when most of them have a couple of quiet hours until the match is over and the supporters return.

What happened at the subsequent home match on the Wednesday night against Kilmarnock?

At that match (on 12 November), approximately 32 young Celtic supporters were ejected from the area of the ground

Here is the text of the leaflet distributed on Saturday...

PROTEST AGAINST BRITISH IMPERIALISM

WALK OUT OF STADIUM ON 10 MINUTE MARK

CONTINUE PROTEST - MEET AT WALFRID STATUE

The SPL has decided that all Scottish Premier League clubs should support the Poppy Scotland Appeal. Celtic PLC without proper reference even to its own board, supporters groups or employees has decided to comply with the SPL’s recommendation and has produced a special strip embroidered with a red poppy to be worn by all players in today’s match against Motherwell.

For Celtic to support such an enterprise is extremely insensitive to the huge fan base that the club has in Ireland. In recent times many of our supporters in Ireland have suffered directly at the hands of the British Army, an army whose soldiers we are expected to applaud and commemorate today.

This is an insult to our supporters in Ireland and to all of the many thousands with Irish heritage and ancestry that follow the club. How can the Celtic PLC board expect our supporters to lend support to an army that has plundered and murdered many of our own people?

Bloody Sunday, The Ballymurphy Massacre, the murders of Aiden McAnespie and Peter McBride – these are just a few of the atrocities committed by British troops in Ireland.

This is not about the fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers who were conscripted to fight in two world wars. This poppy day is about the British Army in the here and now - and is being given extra impetus this year because of the falling recruitment figures as a result of its involvement in unpopular conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our protest is not aimed at individuals who wear the poppy, it is against the idea that Celtic as an institution should be backing British imperialism in any way shape or form.

We believe that the poppy appeal has long passed its original aims to commemorate the fallen conscripts of two world wars and has now become a focal point to rally support for the modern professional volunteer soldiers of the British Army and its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An honourable compromise could have been reached if the club had opted to wear the White Poppy which symbolises peace and opposition to all wars, but it seems that other political agendas are now at work in our club.

The Celtic Chairman John Reid is fond of telling us to “leave your politics at the door” yet this former minister in the British war cabinet continues to bring his own British imperialist and unionist politics into our club. Dr Reid should follow his own advice.

It is a disgraceful turnaround in the history of our club that we should even consider endorsing a celebration of the British Army. Celtic was founded by Irishmen who opposed British military involvement in Ireland and whose lives were devoted to this club, the Irish community in Scotland and the struggle to free their homeland from British rule.

It’s time to reclaim our club from those who would prefer to wrap it in the Union Jack rather than the Irish Tricolour.

Printed & Published by Celts Against Imperialism

POPPYCOCK

By Bre Abu - Tal Fanzine

When my grandmother passed away in the early 1990s I was going through some old photographs and found a card with the photo of a young soldier with a black ribbon attached. It was addressed to my Great-great grandfather and family from the War Department announcing the death of their son at the Battle of Loos in September 1915. He was aged 19 and conscripted into the Highland Light Infantry.

One year while travelling through France curiosity got the better of me and I visited the Commonweath War Cemetery at Loos and saw his name inscribed on a granite wall. No grave simply buried in a mass pit along with thousands of others.

When i got back to Glasgow I decided to try and find out what actually happened to him and his company in the battle. I visited the regiment's archives, stored in the museum on Sauchiehall Street.

I was given the officer in charge of the 10th Batallion HLI’s diary to read. On the day my great uncle was killed he was sent to attack a train line being held by the Germans. The officers ordered mustard gas to be fired in advance at the German positions. According to the diary, prevailing wind conditions hadn’t been considered and the mustard gas blew back into the faces of the Scottish troops. So there you have it. Chemical weapons and death by friendly fire...in 1915.

Do I feel like contributing to the Earl Haig Fund (to give the organisation behind Poppy Day it's real name) because of this tragedy? Certainly not.

These lions led by donkeys deserve our thoughts and remembrance along with the many other tens of thousands of conscripts slaughtered in Gallipoli and other places the Celt died for Anglo-imperialism. However, I won’t be contributing because nowadays the funds go to VOLUNTEER soldiers who have in my opinion collaborated with the ruling class in the name of imperialism in Korea, Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Recruitment in Scotland for the Crown forces is at an all time low and jingoism is the order of the day to reverse that trend for the overstretched British military. So now it’s mandatory poppies, minute silences and aggressive recruitment in our schools, colleges and shopping centres.

Remembrance this November should be for the great Scottish Republican Socialist John Maclean who stood in front of huge crowds during the imperialist slaughter of 1914-1918 and called for mutiny amongst the troops and class war. He was jailed several times for sedition and force-fed while on hunger strike. He died an early death in 1923. So on November 30th, the 85th anniversary of his death, remember one man who would never have worn a poppy no matter how much pressure he was under...

John Maclean, the fighting dominie.

http://www.talfanzine.com/thetalblog.htm