FOOTBALL is the biggest factor fuelling sectarianism in Scotland, with negative perceptions of Loyalist and Republican parades rarely borne out by the events themselves, new official reports will reveal.

 

In the Scottish Social Attitudes 2014 survey the sport is the most commonly referred to factor that contributes to sectarianism, with 88 per cent of those questioned mentioning it and 55 per cent citing it as the main issue.

Meanwhile, a two-year study by academics to be unveiled alongside the survey will claim processions by groups such as the Orange Order do much to create strong perceptions of community division and criminal behaviour.

However, when members of the public were asked their views of such events, their tone was much less negative.

The government commissioned the report from academics at Stirling University in 2012 with a view to it guiding local authorities on policies around marches.

A further report on communities and sectarianism looked at its impact on five areas across the country, encompassing Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Coatbridge and the Western Isles.

The main report by the Advisory Group On Tackling Sectarianism, which was unveiled in late 2013, said the problem neither stemmed from nor was the responsibility of denominational schooling.

It also claimed religious bigotry was neither "the biggest nor the most acute social issue Scotland faces" but had its lifespan extended to help work on the reports being unveiled today.

The latest official crime breakdown shows offences aggravated by religion fell by 17 per cent to 635, the lowest total since 2009-10. It is estimated around a third of these are football-related.

In March 2012, the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act became law in an attempt to eradicate religious hatred linked to the game. It created two offences, covering the behaviour of people at and around matches and messages sent by post and electronically.

There were 56 people reported to the Procurator Fiscal for football-related offences after the Celtic v Rangers League Cup semi-final at Hampden on February 1. Nine of the arrests were for offences covered by the act

The government has come in for criticism from senior figures in the legal profession, fans groups and opposition politicians over the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, brought in as an attempt to curb sectarianism and support for paramilitary groups at matches.

The most recent statistics also show race-hate crimes followed by individuals abused for their sexuality far exceed sectarian offences.

But the Social Attitudes survey found 88 per cent of respondents believed sectarianism to be a problem in Scotland, with 69 per cent claiming it is only an issue in certain areas, most commonly Glasgow or the West of Scotland.

Loyalist marches were cited as the second biggest factor after football, with 79 per cent mentioning it and 13 per cent believing it the biggest contributor, while 70 per cent mentioned Irish Republican marches and three per cent said they were the biggest contributor.

Families (58 per cent) and schools (55 per cent) were most commonly viewed as the best places to tackle sectarianism, although exactly half of those surveyed also considered football clubs or the game's authorities had a responsibility in this respect.

The parades report, carried out by Stirling University, surveyed almost 200 people in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, and the Glasgow areas of Govan, Parkhead and Bridgeton.

It found that almost three-quarters agreed recent processions had led to anti-social behaviour or caused tension in the community.

However, respondents surveyed on the street on the day of processions were much less negative and those who were there to specifically to support a procession were unsurprisingly generally positive.

It found that fringe Loyalist groups and the far-right Scottish Defence League (SDL) were causing communities greater headaches than established marching organisations and were often finding ways to get round parading legislation.

Officials said: "Although small in number, processions organised by the SDL and emerging Loyalist organisations created problems for local authorities and Police Scotland and often took the form of static demonstrations thereby avoiding the legislative requirements of public processions.

"On occasion, this caused significant disruption (and reportedly, great upset) to local residents."

One source said: "The expert group last year said the problem of sectarianism wasn't about schools, at least one of the reports is saying its not parades so are we back at football again?"