WHEN I was at school in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 80s any pupil who used insults like “Fenian b******” or “Orange b******’’ would most likely have been expelled on the spot. No ifs, no buts, no apology accepted, their feet wouldn’t have touched the ground.

There would have been outrage among parents if the schools I attended – ordinary, religiously mixed, state-owned – had been seen to passively collude with such behaviour by not coming down like a tonne of bricks on the offending pupil.

Failure to deal with such offensive behaviour in the most punitive way possible would have been a green light for pupils to behave like animals. A culture of ugly bullying, of neanderthal bigotry, would have been allowed to fester inside schools doing their best to instil respect and decency in children growing up within a hate-filled sectarian society scarred by The Troubles.

That zero tolerance approach to bigotry within the school gates probably helped create a generation which turned its back on religious hatred and ushered in an end to violence and the beginnings of peace in the 1990s. To be uncompromisingly tough with the worst excesses of human behaviour is often the only way to help forge a better world.

So it’s little wonder that Scottish football, the Old Firm, and their toxic tribes of hardcore bigoted fans disgust me. Sadly, outside of Scotland, football in this country is seen through the prism of Rangers and Celtic. The Old Firm is Scottish football to most of the world. Fans of other teams may not like that fact, but it’s the case – what the Old Firm does reflects on the entire Scottish game, on every team and fan.

When bitter anti-Catholic Rangers fans call Steve Clarke, the Kilmarnock manager, a “Fenian b******”, when bitter anti-Protestant Celtic fans call Kris Boyd, the Kilmarnock striker, an “Orange b******”, everyone outside Scotland sees the game and its supporters through this lens.

I cannot believe that supporters who view themselves as decent human beings would wish to be in any way associated with the glamorisation of sectarian hatred, with the glorification of terrorism – as revealed in the vile and petty songs and banners of the worst fans in both clubs. How can you support a team, or go to a game, where religious hatred exists in any form? In any other walk of life – any other business – such behaviour would spell a mass exodus of public support and concomitant financial collapse. But football is given a place of exceptionalism - and so for some, social norms can be disregarded and society debased while money is made.

Decent supporters of Rangers and Celtic – of whom there are many – may not like to be lumped in with the UVF-adulating mob at Ibrox, or the IRA-supporting mob at Celtic Park, but to many people you’re judged by the company you keep. If I stand peaceably in a crowd enjoying a game of football but within that same crowd there are fans chanting “Fenian b******” or “Orange b******’’, I have to accept that this isn’t a good look for me. Some might see me as guilty by association. Some might see me as passively accepting what is happening. Some might see me as too cowardly to disassociate myself from such behaviour. Some might think I get a little vicarious thrill from what is going on. At the very best I’m guilty of being a bystander – of deciding the game, the club, is more important than common decency.

But supporters are supporters, and clubs are quite a different thing, and some – like Rangers and Celtic, it could be said– sit atop mountains of gold mined from bigotry and hatred. Perhaps these clubs haven’t deliberately enriched themselves by allowing sectarianism to flourish within their grounds, but as long as such behaviour continues they are guilty of passive acceptance, of a failure of responsibility.

If I own a company and a byproduct of my work as a business is something seen as a social ill, then I have to take responsibility for it. Social media companies are being pilloried every day – rightly – for failing to act over fake news or abuse. The CEOs are dragged before politicians, there’s public talk of boycotts. But with football, it’s simply a matter of exceptionalism.

I’m sick to death of hearing excuses for the so-called beautiful game – it’s a bloody ugly game and it needs dragged to heel as roughly as possible. Humza Yousaf spoke for a silent majority of decent people across Scotland at the weekend when he issued what he called “a very stark warning” to football clubs. Mr Yousaf said that the “Government is looking at every single option that is on the table”, including strict liability and stadium licensing. I cheered as loudly as any football fan when I heard him say that. Mr Yousaf has put the clubs on warning that if they don’t act, the Government will.

“Strict liability” is just a complicated way of saying the clubs will be fined and suffer other sanctions, and stadium licensing means that a game could be played with no fans in attendance. Mr Yousaf should impose a ticking clock now, giving the clubs a limited window of time to get their act together. If, and when, the clubs fail to take what he described as “definitive measures” to deal with sectarianism then the Government needs to take control and pass legislation – and make the legislation draconian, so once a club is hit, the fines and empty stadiums will leave them cowed and obedient.

Similarly, the police and prosecution service must ensure that any breach of the law by fans within or outwith football grounds is cracked down on fearsomely. If a fan so much as drops litter in the street, then arrest them. Anything even remotely resembling harassment or intimidation should end in court and a criminal record.

Docking of points should be a regular sanction – either legislation should cover it, or government should strong-arm footballing authorities to use such powers. Hit the clubs where it hurts: in their pockets, and wreck ambitions for sporting glory.

When football in Scotland becomes a sport that you would happily take your children to, then and only then can it call itself the beautiful game.

Read more: Whataboutery is no defence