Glasgow University politics student AIDAN KERR says recent comments don't reflect the modern reality for those of Scots-Irish descent
Friday's Scotland v Republic of Ireland football fixture has brought to the surface conflicting and unhelpful social attitudes to those of Scots-Irish descent that still permeate through Scots society.
Football, the world's beautiful game, still appears to illustrate Scotland's ugly side when it comes to identity.
Ex-Scotland international footballer Gordon McQueen launched the first ill-advised outburst on the fixture. In an astonishing attack on two Scots-born Irish internationals, James McCarthy and Aiden McGeady, McQueen stated: "You're either Scottish or you're not Scottish - and you should know that by the time you're 12 years of age. I'm sure somebody must have asked them to play for Scotland at some stage. But you're born in Glasgow but then you go and play for somebody else? I hate that!"
He added to this tirade by saying: "I played alongside the likes of Bob Wilson and Bruce Rioch, who were born in England but they always considered themselves Scottish."
For McQueen then, the issue appears not to be the principle for playing for your country of birth, but for choosing a nation over Scotland. That might leave readers wondering why he singled out the Republic of Ireland.
McQueen, though, didn't just express disgust at these footballers' decision; he said he would actually enjoy Scotland fans abusing these players for their choice to play for Ireland: "I hope they get a horrible reception because they deserve it. I've got no time for these players."
The second foot to be put in it came from George Galloway MP. Galloway, not widely renowned for his reserved and considered opinions, decided to use the 140-character form of Twitter to lampoon Celtic fans for daring to state their support for Scotland on Friday evening. In a series of incendiary tweets, the Bradford West MP goaded these Scotland supporting Celtic fans.
Galloway reminisced about the good old days when, in his opinion: "NO Celtic fan of Irish descent would EVER have supported Scotland over Ireland in the past. Now, it seems, all of them are." Unfortunately George didn't leave it there. He added: "Celtic [are] fans welcome to support the country which colonised the land of their fathers then 'welcomed' us as immigrants like a case of Ebola."
There are no doubt Irish migrants and those of Irish descent faced serious social and economic discrimination in Scotland, even in many HeraldScotland readers' lifetime, but to compare it to the Ebola crisis haunting West Africa is unhelpful language, to be polite.
Galloway seems unable to comprehend that many of those who would have chosen to support the Republic over Scotland in the past did so as a reaction to the racism and discrimination they faced in the Scotland of old.
Scotland has moved on though from those days of doors being slammed in the face of Scots-Irish and Catholics. Is it perfectly a harmonious society? No.
Indeed, even in the last decade when I was growing up in a Lanarkshire housing scheme, I used sectarian and racist language through being influenced by my peers.
Under Jack McConnell's Labour administration, so much was done to challenge sectarianism in our country. Scotland grew up, and so did I.
What I found particularly troubling though about Galloway's Twitter tirade is his assumption that Scots-Irish people should act and hold opinions in a homogenous fashion. More so, that those who did not adhere to this view were somehow traitors to their background.
Those of a Scots-Irish descent have absolutely no reason to have to justify their views and allegiances to the likes of Gordon McQueen or George Galloway.
Whether you wave the Irish tricolour or the Saltire at Celtic Park on Friday evening, I hope we agree that the views held by these two sexagenarians belong in the Scotland they were born into, not the one we live in today.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article