A CONTROVERSIAL law to tackle sectarianism in football has been branded a mess and should be scrapped because it fails to understand the “social reality” behind the conduct it seeks to ban.

A leading academic who carries out research on fan behaviour at Old Firm match days says the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act fails to understand that sectarian and other abusive behaviour is about cementing “solidarity and fraternity” within groups rather than directing hatred at their rivals.

Dr Joseph Webster, an anthropologist of religion at Queen’s University, Belfast who will be at tomorrow’s Old Firm match at Ibrox, says the Rangers and Celtic fans who behave badly will do so “primarily for their own benefit, to validate their tribe”.

Writing in today’s Herald, the academic compared rival football fans to “boys facing off in the playground” who are unwilling to throw a real punch.

He said: “My suggestion is simple: the Football Act is such a mess because it completely fails to understand the social reality behind the behaviours it seeks to ban.

“The assumption of those who railroaded the legislation through Parliament without proper scrutiny is that the sectarian misbehaviour surrounding certain football matches is all about rivalry, and a hatred of the other. But this isn’t the full picture.

“An exclusive focus on rivalry and hate completely ignores the equally important sectarian dynamics of solidarity and fraternity.”

Dr Webster, who has attended Orange “social clubs” and shadowed Protestant flute bands as part of his anthropology research, said most sectarianism occurred in the absence of rival supporters or where fans were already strictly segregated.

He added: “This observation is crucial because it shows how engaging in ‘offensive behaviour at football’ is an attempt to create intra-group cohesion rather than inter-group rivalry. In shared spaces, as a result – on the streets or on public transport – such behaviours decrease dramatically.

“Offensive chanting is thus a collective performance engaged in by a group for themselves, as a demonstration of their own collective membership of that group.”

He continued: “Their insults may well be grossly offensive, but that is not their primary purpose. If it were, then why would the strongest expressions of verbal sectarianism be offered in the absence of rival fans, inside supporters clubs, and on their private buses?

“And why would verbal sectarianism decrease so dramatically in shared public spaces like train stations and town centres, regardless of the presence or absence of police?”

Dr Webster’s comments come as Celtic and Rangers prepare to face off at Ibrox tomorrow, with police urging supporters to “behave responsibly”.

He said fans were much more interested in celebrating their own sense of belonging than what “the other tribe is doing”, and argued the Football Act is “unjustified, unworkable, and counterproductive”.

The controversial legislation was passed by the SNP when it had a Holyrood majority in 2011, but efforts to repeal it have since attracted cross-party support.

Dr Webster added: “Even more fundamentally, the Act should be repealed because it offers the wrong diagnosis – a diagnosis of acute, outward-looking, sectarian hate, when the real ‘condition’ is actually chronic, inward-looking, self-absorption.

“Because I’m not convinced we can legislate our way out of the problem of boorishness, I’m left wondering if something like the Debrett's A-Z of Modern Manners might offer a better way forward, and not only because its title is shorter.”

Dave Scott, campaign director for anti-sectarian charity Nil by Mouth, said it was important not to “excuse or legitimise this type of behaviour”, adding: “We wouldn’t do it with racism. Nor should we with Sectarianism.”

He said: “The Old Firm fixture is a cocktail of passion, pantomime and poison and I’d agree that the majority of people who attend the games are decent human beings.

“However, we can’t ignore the evidence. A third of all sectarian arrests each year are directly related to football and the poison that still emits from this fixture spills over into pubs, public spaces, homes and A&E wards right across the country. That’s the reality.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Singing songs about terrorism, mocking incidents involving loss of life and being hateful towards some of our most vulnerable communities with no regard for the impact is not acceptable in a modern Scotland.”