FAR-right groups are trying to muscle their way in to football, an MP has warned.
Labour’s Ian Murray said extremists saw tribalistic parts of the game’s support, including “impressionable lads” as a “hotbed where they can recruit”.
The Edinburgh South politician is protesting against widely trumpeted plans by rightist activist and convicted fraudster Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. a former leader of the English Defence League, to go to this weekend’s Hearts Rangers match.
Mr Murray said: “The bottom line is that there is a movement by the hard right to to get themselves in to football.”
Earlier Mr Murray has called on the police to stop Mr Yaxley-Lennon - who also goes by the alias Tommy Robinson - from attending the match, at Hearts’ Tynecastle ground.
He said: “This is a guy who’s deliberately going to a football match to stir up right wing hatred – he’s not going to watch Hearts and Rangers play a good game of Scottish football.”
Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s trip comes after a group were filmed in front of a banner commemorating the McCrae’s Battalion - which endured heavy losses in World War One, including 16 Hearts players and is heavily associated with the club - while wearing “Tommy Robinson” masks.
Campaign group Show Racism the Red Card called on Hearts to act against any fan who took part in the video. It said: “We urge the football clubs, fans and members of the public to call out their behaviour and reinforce the anti- English Defence League message not just in football but also in our country.”
Far right figures across Europe have tried to use remembrance symbols and football supporters to increase their profile. A rightist group called Football Lads Alliance has attended Yaxley-Lennon events in the past.
Mr Murray was not the only high profile fan to object to Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s attendance. Former SNP MP Angus Robertson, who. like Mr Murray, is a prominent Hearts supporter, tweeted: “Fascists aren’t welcome at Tynecastle. Genuine fans of the Jam Tarts are united against bigotry and hatred.”
Stuart Cosgrove of BBC Scotland’s Off The Ball, said most supporters would shun Mr Yaxley-Lennon. He said: “The vast majority of Hearts fans want nothing to do with Robinson he’s exploiting their club for his own gain and is clearly not welcome.”
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