Rangers and Celtic – Plus a Hothead From Senegal!
Some sporting fixtures are a replay of wars between communities. That’s the case in Scotland where Glasgow’s two teams, Rangers and Celtic, represent the Protestant and Catholic religious divide. This year there was an extra, spicy ingredient from Senegal.
The history of the United Kingdom includes many battles fought between the four nations who form the union, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Even after hundreds of years some grievances and memories are still bitter. The anger is out in the open, and unleashed daily.
The last thing needed is the injection of a hot headed character from Senegal with his own history of trouble!
One of the longest running disputes is the religious divide between Catholics and Protestants that involves three of the four countries, England, Ireland and Scotland. In the north of Ireland the English establishment decided to control the Irish by settling protestant families from Scotland there and giving them the dominant role, politically and economically. Many of the displaced Irish re-settled in Scotland mostly in the Glasgow area. This disastrous policy created problems in Ireland as the native Irish became second class citizens in their own country – and problems in Scotland as the mainly protestant Scottish resented the influx of catholic Irish.
This has resulted in a situation in which the two Glasgow football teams represent both sides of the divide. Glasgow Rangers the protestants, Glasgow Celtic the catholics.
It is an explosive situation which disappointingly seems to be getting worse, not better. Into this mix the Rangers management decided to add a player who needs no provocation before causing a riot on the pitch. This is El Hadji Diouf, a Senegalese player with a short fuse who has created many one-man trouble spots throughout his troubled career in the English Premier League.
In the latest game Diouf was goaded throughout and inevitably erupted. The referee gave him a red card, and sent him off.
Even the managers of the two sides got involved on the pitch as the trouble started. There was fighting inside and outside the ground. The match may have represented an ancient religious dispute – but underneath all that there are problems of social and economic deprivation. Glasgow has some of the poorest housing areas in Europe and politicians are happier condemning football violence – than actually tackling the social problems.
The only difference in the latest outbreak was the presence on the pitch of a player from an entirely different culture and background. But Diouf is very Glaswegian in one respect – he enjoys a serious argument that often ends in violence.
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