FOOTBALL supporters have launched a campaign calling for Brendan O'Hara to stand down as the SNP's candidate for Argyll and Bute after using the word 'hun' about Rangers fans on a Celtic forum.
The SNP said Mr O'Hara apologised for any offence caused by the use of the word but had no intention of stepping down.
More than 2000 have supported an online petition which calls on SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to take action over the revelations.
The Herald previously revealed that a campaign supported by the Rangers fans board has already been lobbying the First Minister to make the use of the word 'hun' illegal following the online abuse of pop singer Amy Macdonald.
Mr O'Hara, who has stood for the nationalists in two previous general elections in Springburn in 1987 and Glasgow Central in 1992, used the name spikeybhoy to post the material on a Celtic fans forum.
One came in 2007 days after Celtic confirmed the signing of Scott Brown from Hibernian.
He wrote: "For those worried about the fee, think of it as £3.5million for the player and £1million to shove it up the huns. A great piece of business!"
Another came in 2008 following trouble in Manchester during and after Rangers' defeat to Zenit St Petersburg in the Uefa Cup Final.
Commenting on another post, he said: "I reckon the point he's trying to make is that we and the hun come from the same part of the world, share similar upbringing in terms of the influences around us and are by and large from the same demographic. Yet the hun CHOOSE to behave in the manner they do and we do not."
The new petition said the SNP should take action having been at the forefront in introducing controversial legislation regarding sectarian hate speech in Scotland.
"Such legislation has recognised that terms such as 'hun' are sectarian, as do anti-sectarian charities such as Nil By Mouth," said the petition.
"In calling Rangers fans 'huns' ...he used a term that is deeply offensive to those who identify as Protestant and British, and it is the sort of hate speech that is more commonly seen in the form of graffiti on a Belfast gable-end than coming from Scottish politicians," it said.
An SNP spokesman said: "Mr O'Hara acknowledges that in the past he used a derogatory term commonly used about Rangers supporters. It is not a term he would use any longer as thankfully football culture in Scotland has moved on from those days. He would apologise for any offence it caused."
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