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Wishaw Bhoy: We shall not be moved.

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Vital Celtic member, Wishaw Bhoy, shares his views on the barriers and obstacles we have had to fight long and hard to overcome, and those we are still very much fighting to remove

Long-standing Vital Celtic member; Wishaw Bhoy, shares his views on the barriers and obstacles we have had to fight long and hard to overcome, and those we are still very much fighting to remove…

Throughout my Celtic supporting life there have always been certain aspects of life in the west of Scotland – no matter how unpalatable – that have been generally accepted as being part and parcel of our Irish / Catholic ancestry or in other words; ‘being one of them’. And, whilst it has to be fully acknowledged that not all Celtic supporters are defined as such, they too are deemed guilty by association and subsequently persecuted accordingly.

For as long as I can remember, life in this part of the world and being of a Celtic persuasion, was perceived by the powers that be as an act of defiance, treachery even – and in an environment whereby all professions were for all intents and purposes out of reach for ‘my kind’. It then followed suit that prejudice, persecution and intolerance abounded in every form and from every corner of a institutionally corrupt society. A society who were totally focused on their resolute objective of self preservation.

My late father once recounted an event whereby a mother and toddler happened to be in the vicinity of my home town where the bus routinely departed for Ibrox or wherever the ‘teddy bears’ happened to be playing on a Saturday, which was awash with red white & blue whilst bigoted rantings permeated the normally sedate surroundings. On witnessing this scene the toddler demanded of his mother; ‘Mummy! where are all the council workers going today?’ – so familiar was he of seeing the local councils employees proudly sporting the colours of their favoured team whilst executing their daily duty’s. Such was life…

Growing up and having joined the ranks of the Celtic masses, I quickly learned to expect things such as none too complimentary headlines and derogatory stories regarding the club I had fallen in love with, and even more so in the lead up to high profile games such as the Glasgow derby match whereby the ridiculous fabrications grew arms and legs in a sustained and wicked vendetta – designed purely to give the opposition and their supporters a psychological advantage prior to kick off. This scenario got so bad that the late great Jock Stein reverted to manufacturing Celtic related stories in order to stem the flow of anti Celtic rubbish appearing on the back pages prior to such high profile games.

However, quite remarkably this phenomenon still ‘religiously’ occurs to this day, and to such an extent that it is out with the norm in the lead up to rangers games in particular and Celtic matches in general if we are granted any fair coverage! During this formative period, I also regularly witnessed Celtic supporters being arrested in and around the grounds for reasons best known to the boys in blue, which inevitably resulted in extremely unjust and harsh sentences for those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end and that was after having to endure their brutality.

On the field of play it was always accepted that Celtic teams had to be head and shoulders above the opposition to win matches and also that we would regularly return from games totally dumfounded by ludicrous match changing decisions which incessantly went against us. Again, such was life…! I mean, after 100 years of an SFA backed policy, whereby rangers refused point blank to sign a player ( or any staff ) descended from an RC / Irish background – to include extended family members – it naturally followed suit that it was also deemed normal that SFA employees also openly affiliated themselves to Masonic & orange lodges. Both of who’s intolerance of anything Green was the principal reason for their vile existance, as well as their ready-made billy boy network and methods of recruiting.

Only in the west of Scotland could this be deemed acceptable and, rather ironically for one of the freest countries and one of the freest press’ in the world, the media in this country blatantly refuse to report it, far less have the decency, professional pride and integrity to actually condemn it. Then again, neither do rangers…

No, the proof is there (over 100-years worth) that the Scottish media is full of the same bigots.

Over the years, myself, like all Celtic supporters, have been clearly labelled as being overly paranoid in our assertions of ‘unjustifiable’ bias. Yet we have – particularly in recent times – clinically proven beyond any reasonable doubt that this is indeed the case. From Farry to ‘Dougie Dougie’ & Dallas to the unprecedented 6 match ban unjustly administered to Neil Lennon in his first season in management. I’m aware that Dr Reid is not everyone’s cup of tea in his position as chairman, however, he is a lifetime supporter of the club and has had to endure the same as the rest of us and, as such, I’m 100% behind his statement of ‘NO MORE’ and ‘THOSE DAYS ARE OVER’.

In conclusion, I welcome both the appointment of QC McBride in defence of our manager, as well as Joe O’Rourke’s proposed bhoycott of the forthcoming Kilmarnock game in March and, with that in mind – NO MORE – time to stop being angry. It’s now time to get even… Oh, and we shall not be moved! Hail Hail.

Wishaw Bhoy



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