What is Scotland’s problem with sectarianism?

Sectarianism is a complicated concept – this will be examined more in Chapter Two of this dissertation – but can broadly be defined as ‘a movement of religious protest against the social order be it state, institution or society or established religious organisation – which results in voluntary separation from such environment to demonstrate the dissonance between what the group perceives as normative in matters of faith and practice and what it experiences as dominant in the social order’ (Hamm, 1987, p11). Even this definition may seem overly complicated at first glance, but it serves as a good starting point within the context of this dissertation and also succeeds in highlighting the precise nature of the term that will be discussed more in the following chapter. In Scotland, sectarianism has been a problem since Protestantism emerged as a religion in the fifteenth century and was later adopted by Scotland – at the time a predominantly Catholic country – as its national religion in 1560. Since then there has been tensions between the two religions which has often resulted in sectarian attitudes. Today, sectarianism is currently described by the mainstream media as ‘shameful fact of Scottish life for generations’ (Millie, 2009, p224). In 1999, at the Edinburgh festival the problem and its extent were exposed by Scottish composer James Macmillan during a widely reported speech in which he stated:

‘In many walks of life – in the workplace, in the professions, in academia, in the media, in politics and in sport – anti-Catholicism, even when it is not particularly malign, is as endemic as it is second nature’ (From Bruce, 2004, p1)

Sectarianism and the problems associated with have also been intrinsically linked with one of the biggest football rivalries in the country – in its biggest city Glasgow between opposing fans of the two teams Rangers and Celtic. Andrew Millie (p227) reinforces this opinion, stating that:

‘Football in Scotland, and particularly the Old Firm institutions of Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers and the matches between them are inherently defined within the sectarianism problem in Scottish society, mirroring the connection between urban disorder and largely white working class populations that characterises the discourses around the Respect and anti-social behaviour agendas’

However, despite the writings of authors such as Mille and the claims of Macmillan and other notable and respected sources – such as award winning BBC documentary series Panorama -there has been a significant backlash to the idea that sectarianism dominates Scottish society as the media has portrayed it, pioneered largely by Steve Bruce in direct reaction to Macmillan’s speech. Bruce (pvii) prefaces his seminal text ‘Sectarianism in Scotland’ with the following message confirming this attitude:

‘This book was born out of the frustration with the dreadful quality of public debate over the importance of religious identity in modern Scotland. James Macmillan is a Catholic and he may be an excellent composer but neither of these facts mean that his views about the salience of sectarianism are well founded; yet, when he delivered his famous August 1999 speech, his claims that Catholics were still victims of serious discrimination were given enormous prominence in the mass media’

This dissertation aims to investigate the importance of sectarianism in modern Scotland – examining differing viewpoints such as those presented by Bruce and Macmillan – with particular focus on its importance in the footballing rivalry between Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic (which from now on will simply be referred to as Rangers and Celtic respectively). The dissertation will attempt to answer the following research questions:

– Would the Old Firm have the support that they do if it were not for an element of sectarianism between the two clubs?

– How important is the rivalry between the Old Firm to both sets of fans?

– Is sectarianism in Scotland a result of the Old Firm? Or is the rivalry between the Old Firm simply an outlet for tensions that run deeper through Scottish society?

– Is age a factor in sectarianism in football? i.e. do younger people (ages 16-20 for example) understand the religious overtones of the rivalry or do they just sing songs and repeat slurs they have heard elsewhere (usually from relatives) to fit in with older supporters who they admire?

– What is the psychology behind the prominence of sectarianism within the Old Firm? Is it the desire to belong to something, and similar to gang mentality in that respect?

In order to answer these questions, the dissertation will undertake a variety of different research from primary and secondary sources. Following Macmillan’s infamous 1999 speech, the topic of sectarianism has come under intense scrutiny from a variety of academic disciplines such as politics, psychology, theology, and sociology and aspects from each of these fields will be utilised in order to help answer the research questions posed by this dissertation. Key to the dissertation will be writings from authors such as Bruce, Millie, Hamm and McDougal and their theories, thoughts and discourse will underline the basis for the development of research techniques, and these writings will be discussed at length in the literature review chapter which follows this one. The ideas will also establish the theoretical framework in which the investigation will be conducted. Both primary sources – such as James Macmillan’s speech, government documents and the Panorama documentary on the topic – and secondary sources – such as the texts of Bruce and Millie – will be used to establish the

The main primary data collected for the investigation in order to answer the research question will be obtained from questionnaires submitted to and semi-structured interviews undertaken with members of each section of the Old Firm’s rivals. The questionnaires will be designed with the intention of obtaining a large amount of data from each of its subjects e.g. ethnic backgrounds, genders, religious practices and nationalities and therefore hopefully determine the characteristics of those more likely to hold sectarian values than others and the extent that it is prevalent within the two sets of supporters. It is also hoped that other Scottish football fans of different teams may be interviewed in order to gauge their feelings on the subject of the Old Firm and to see if the sectarian feelings are prevalent in football in other areas of the country or whether it is solely consigned to the city of Glasgow. Specifically another huge local derby – a local derby is defined by Llamas and Watt (p224) as ‘a fiercely contested match between local derbies’ which ‘calls forth deep emotions within supporters of both clubs’ (Ross, 1999, p42) – between Hearts and Hibernian in Edinburgh will be examined to determine if sectarian attitudes dominate that fixture in addition to the Glasgow derby games. Finally, it may be useful to interview a psychologist to determine the characteristics associated with those people who may be associated with organisations such as the Glasgow Old Firm, in order to compare this ‘model sectarian’ with the data collected from the questionnaires in an attempt to determine the true characteristics of sectarianism in modern Scotland.

The dissertation will consist of six chapters. The first chapter (this one) will present an overview and introduction to the subject and propose the research questions which will be investigated during the course of the dissertation; the second chapter will consist of a literature review which will examine important theories regarding the subject; the third chapter will discuss the methodology utilised in order to attempt to answer the research questions posed in the first chapter; the fourth chapter will present the results of the of the research methodology; the fifth chapter will analyse and discuss the implications of the results and seek to determine the answers to the proposed research questions whilst the sixth and final chapter will serve the role of a conclusion chapter, discussing the results, conclusions and methodology incorporated in the dissertation, as well as any potential limitations, improvements and ideas for further study that could perhaps be investigated in the future to further corroborate the results.

The next chapter will present a literature review of the topics associated with the dissertation from which the investigation will develop its theoretical framework. It seeks to examine what previous authors and academics have written about the subject and apply this knowledge to this study.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims to examine what previous authors have had to say on the subject of sectarianism within Scotland and the Old Firm rivalry with the aim of basing the research model employed in this dissertation within the work on the subject that has already been completed. Research is built on the foundations of the work and findings of earlier researchers and writers in the field, so it is critical to the success of this dissertation that the theories and conventions surrounding the subject matter are fully understood and utilised to create a framework for this dissertation to work within. The general concept of sectarianism will be examined and defined briefly and then the general history of the social movement within Scotland will be looked at, before finally the more specific nature of the movement within football rivalries and the Glaswegian Old Firm mentality will be studied. This final section will form the bulk of the literature review. The majority of the literature review will focus on secondary sources i.e. texts written about the subject from prominent authors associated with it, but primary sources, such as James Macmillan’s speech and government documents from organisations such as the Scottish Executive, will also be referred to. It is hoped that this review will enable the dissertation to begin its data collection with a complete understanding of the problem and the concepts associated with it.

It is first essential to obtain a good grasp of the term sectarianism and to understand the complications associated with it and to develop a definition for use in this dissertation. Hamm (1987, p11) argues that sectarianism has two separate meanings dependent upon whether the term is being used in a sociological or non-sociological discussion. He argues that in a non-sociological context, the term can have ‘pejorative overtones which adherents of such a religious group do not find complimentary’ and can also ‘denote a type of warfare among religious groups because of their differences.’ It also refers to ‘esoteric religious beliefs that the established religion would frown upon’ whilst implying ‘a querulous attitude of intolerance resulting in secession from a larger religious body.’ Hamm continues (p12) by explaining that the term has a slightly different meaning when used in the sociological sense and that in this context it refers to ‘a particular type of religious organisation that stands in protest’ with the ‘idea of dissent as its main notion.’ He finishes his discussion of the term by offering his definition of it – which begins this dissertation and will not be repeated here due to its length – which even in its finality still displays the complicated nature of the term. As our study is clearly viewing the term from a sociological standpoint due to the analysis of the footballing rivalry, it is perhaps better to use the ideas from this definition as the basis for the one used in our study. This can be combined with the definitions of other thinkers on and organisations concerned with the subject to devise a suitable term explanation.

The Scottish Executive (2006, p5) defines a sectarian in alignment with the Oxford English dictionary (and also notes that it is a very complicated idea) as someone who ‘adheres in a bigoted or narrow minded fashion to a sect or body of persons who have agreed upon particular religious doctrines or practices.’ Bruce (p4) defines sectarianism as ‘a widespread culture of improperly treating people because of their religion’ and also states (p5) that within the local context of Britain it normally refers to relations between Protestants and Catholics. A government study on the issue of sectarianism in Glasgow (NFO Social Research, 2003, p5) stated that the term is ‘a pejorative term to describe division bigotry, and discrimination based upon religion, which within the context of Glasgow refers to the conflict between Catholics and Protestants.’ These are all recent definitions of the term associated with the problem discussed in this dissertation so it makes sense to utilise the definition provided by the NFO Social Research which amalgamates the main points from the other two and is very relevant to this study. It is important to remember though, as per Hamm’s description of the term, that the reality of the concept is not as simple as this basic definition and its connotations can be a lot more far reaching than those definitions discussed here pertaining specifically to Scotland and the problems surrounding the issue within the country.

The problem has been particularly huge in Scotland and in particular Glasgow, with the national television programme Panorama casually stating in 2005 that ‘sectarianism and religious bigotry have long been accepted as part of a way of life in Scotland.’ The fact that the issue is covered on the national media’s flagship documentary programme illustrates the extent of the problem and how large it has become. Before examining the specifics of how sectarianism is rooted in the footballing rivalry of the city, it is first important to understand its origins and development; this will then hopefully aid in discovering an explanation for why it has become so entrenched in and associated with the Old Firm.

As mentioned in the introduction, the problem has its origins in the sixteenth century and Scotland’s adoption of Protestantism as its national religion despite the majority of the population being of the Catholic persuasion. Sectarian tensions really developed in the 19th century though ‘as a result of the immigration of those who fled Ireland (a traditionally Catholic country) and sought to live and work in Ireland’ (History of Sectarianism, 2010). Growing urban cities and industries in Scotland offered those Irish with few prospects in wake of the famine a chance to work and provide money for their family and so there was a mass influx during this period. As occurs with many mass displacements of population from a homeland into a new environment, social tensions between the now dominant Protestant demographic and the incoming Irish Catholic population began to emerge and this resulted in the emergence of ‘pockets’ of Irish populated area. Of particular importance to this study was the manifestation of an Irish diaspora in the poor East End of Glasgow. This led to increased tensions within the city as the Irish and Scottish clashed over job and housing opportunities and it was these pressures that led to the initial development of sectarian attitudes in Glasgow and the rest of Scotland, albeit mainly concentrated in Glasgow.

Tensions were at their worst during the inter-war years of 1918 – 1939 and were exemplified by the existence of a national depression with ‘huge levels of unemployment and fierce competition inflaming an already volatile situation’ (20th Century Scotland, 2001). This led to ruthless discrimination with sectarian overtones in the labour market, with Orange and Masonic lodges often discriminating against Catholic workers in favour of their Protestant counterparts. This was actively encouraged by the Protestant church within Scotland too. The divide between the two religions spread to become apparent in all aspects of life, with children often attending separate schools based upon religion, different religions lived in different parts of the city, and of course the emergence of the two separate football teams within the city and the great rivalry associated with this. Although the sectarian element has declined since this peak period, it is still perceived as having a major influence on Scottish society, as can be seen by the impact of James Macmillan’s speech and the discourse on the subject it has spurred.

Now that a basic understanding of the sectarian problem in Scotland has been achieved it is now necessary to look at the specifics of the concept within the framework of the Old Firm rivalry. Celtic football club was founded in 1888 as a direct focal point for the Irish Catholic immigrant community that had established itself in Glasgow’s east end (History of Sectarianism) by Brother Walfrid, and even at this early point the rivalry was intense with Walfrid stating his main intention with the foundation of the club was ‘to keep the poor free from the temptations of Protestant soup kitchens and to provide a leisure activity that would save them from apostasy’ (Armstrong & Giullianotti, 2001, p24). Following this declaration of religious intent from the newly formed club and its rapid success in the league – Celtic won four league championships over the period 1893-8 – Rangers took it upon themselves to ‘become the home grown team to challenge most keenly and successfully the Irishmen of Celtic. Home grown meant Protestant just as Irish was synonymous with Catholic’ (Armstrong and Giullianotti, p24). From this point the rivalry between the two clubs progressed alongside their successes and failures, as did the sectarian attitudes associated with both sets of supporters. In the early 1900’s, Catholic players began to be asked to leave Rangers upon disclosing their religion, and it was around 1912 that the famous Rangers club policy of not signing Catholic players began to be enforced. Bad blood between the two clubs as a result of sectarian attitudes was registered as early as 1896, but Armstrong and Giullianotti (p25) argue that it was encouraged by management as ‘sectarianism and its accompanying violence was a crowd puller.’ The anti-Catholic policy was enforced up until the 1980’s and meant that Rangers missed out on great players such as Kenny Dalglish and Jim Leighton because of their stubbornness, although they finally relented on the policy when signing Mo Johnston in 1989. Tensions between the two sets of supporters – and Protestants and Catholics in general – had cooled since their peak during the inter war years too. However, there is still some element of sectarianism present in the support of both teams.

It is often cited that sectarian attitudes within the Old Firm are not as extreme as they once were but Callum G. Brown (1997 p196) observes that ‘Scottish national identity has never fully integrated Catholic and Protestant, even in the late twentieth century there is evidence of a religious based ethnic division which confounds a common identity.’ Brown continues (p198) by stating that ‘Rangers fans tend to identify with Britain and its symbols (such as the union flag) as an act of solidarity with Northern Ireland loyalists; whereas Celtic supporters associate poorly with British symbols of identity and relate strongly with the Irish Republic.’ This is illustrative of the divide that exists between the two sets of supporters and that there is still a problem between the two. Horne (1995, p10) back this view up, questioning ‘how much meaning there is to the term sectarian in a society with widespread social and cultural interaction and a great deal of intermarriage.’ However, he does importantly note that ‘Sectarianism is ritualistically conveyed in some football fanzines and football fans still sing sectarian songs and display different symbols of allegiance, but without it being of major significance to the rest of Scotland. It is further reinforced by the history of sectarianism which states that ‘the historical links of some clubs and the traditional ethnic and religious makeup of their supporters have led to them being held as symbols of religious, cultural and political beliefs. Supporters often use chants, songs or banners on match days to express abuse or support towards the Catholic or Protestant faiths or to promote their support for Northern Irish based terrorist groups such as the IRA and UVF.’ This clearly adds an extra sectarian dimension to the nature of the rivalry that exists between the two sides of the Old Firm; even despite comments that it is not now as fierce as it has been in the past there is clearly still an element of sectarianism involved in the support of each club. The question this dissertation needs to answer though is how inherent and important this is to the supporters of each club. Recent research into the subject is available, due in part to James Macmillan’s recent speech which served to draw attention to these divisions and provoke discourse on it amongst academic communities.

A NFO social research study commissioned in 2003 as a direct result of James Macmillan’s comments at the Edinburgh festival over the issue of sectarianism within football is perhaps a good starting point for examining the facts regarding the issue in modern Scotland. Essentially, the study found (NFO Social Research, 2003, p57) that the residents of Glasgow felt that sectarianism was still relatively common within the city, and that this mainly took the form of ‘making sectarian jokes with friends, using sectarian terms to describe people, sectarian vandalism, violence, threats and intimidation or harassment were either very or quite common in Glasgow with 66% stating that they felt that sectarian violence occurred regularly within the city.’ However, interestingly, when questioned about whether they had been a victim of a sectarian attack in the past five years, less than 1% of respondents claimed that they had. The difference between the perception and the reality of the situation can clearly be seen here. This is a viewpoint that is backed up by Bruce (pvii) who states that a number of violent attacks in Glasgow are misreported as sectarian violence due to the media’s current obsession with it. Again, this brings into debate the question of how serious the sectarian problem is in Glasgow, and also what specifically defines sectarianism and whether or not it needs to be extreme in its nature to be classified as sectarianism. The Scottish Executive (p5) expands upon this question by stating that within football, it is ‘the actions and words of individuals rather than their beliefs as such’ that people should be concerned with. This is an important sentence, as it exemplifies the fact that perhaps people who participate in sectarianism within football are not always serious sectarians themselves but are often simply caught up in the atmosphere and ‘gang mentality’ of the supporters and footballing legacy that they find themselves immersed in as a supporter. The history of sectarianism reinforces this view and the dangers that can be associated with the allowance of so-called ‘casual racism’ by stating that ‘offensive sectarian language is still used in Scotland on a daily basis with abusive terms such as “Hun” and “Orange bastard” being used negatively against Protestants (or those perceived to be) and others such as “Fenian” and “Tim” used negatively against Catholics (or those perceived to be). This reinforces religious and racial stereotypes as well as fuelling the divisions and conflict between the denominations and people of no religious denomination. Children commonly use words without any knowledge of their meaning, but with an understanding that these words are a means by which to insult others.’ The dissertation will attempt to determine the extent of this ‘actual sectarianism’ during the data collection section of the dissertation and the questionnaire will be designed specifically with this as one of the goals in mind.

Liam McDougal (2006) highlights the problems that are associated with defining sectarianism and how this can be applied to the Glaswegian example of the Old Firm in his 2006 article which challenges many of the assumptions made by First Minister at the time Jack McConnell in his high profile attempt to eradicate ‘Scotland’s shame’ of bigotry through an extended awareness campaign. In his article, he states that many supporters of both Rangers and Celtic feel that sectarianism has been all but eradicated within the rivalry and that language highlighted by the government as bigoted is often used regularly in the workplace or other areas of socialising and that it was merely seen as ‘a joke, banter or harmless fun.’ McDougal cites the example of ‘being called a Fernian or Proddy bastard by colleagues or using the terms themselves was accepted as simply being a Rangers or Celtic fan.’ He expands upon this by stating that fans view songs such as Billy Boys, the Fields of Athenry and the Sash – songs traditionally sung by Rangers fans that have been criticised by UEFA and the Scottish Executive for being sectarian – are not viewed by either set of supporters as sectarian: ‘people are not bigots because they are singing a certain song – they are simply singing along to the song.’

Critically, McDougal explains that the Executive and UEFA were not being specific enough in their criticism of sectarianism and essentially allowing fans to make their own minds up as to what constituted being sectarian or not – hence their decision to decide that many of their songs were not actually sectarian. This highlights the confusion associated with the term again, and this is a factor that the dissertation needs to be aware of when conducting and constructing its questionnaires and analysis, as one person’s sectarianism can quite clearly be labelled another man’s harmless fun. This can perhaps be accounted for by the inclusion of questionnaires to other football fans asking their feelings on the Old Firm, and through semi structured interviews with psychologist and members of the Old Firm and other football supporters associations. This will be discussed more during the methodology chapter of the dissertation. Another important aspect of his article that is particularly important to this dissertation is the idea that sectarianism is actually not that prevalent in the Old Firm rivalry anymore – again this is an idea that will need to be implemented in the design of the questionnaires that will be distributed during the course of this investigation. Promisingly though, McDougal’s findings were from a study similar to this dissertation – in which fans from both sides of the Old Firm were questioned about their views towards sectarianism by University of Edinburgh fellow Dr. Chris McVittie – and the success of that research and the NFO social research paper implies that there will be hopefully be similar level of achievement from this study as it will be based on a similar methodology.

The insights into footballing mentality and the statistics associated with both sets of supporters are probably the most useful and interesting part of the NFO social research paper in relation to this dissertation though. The statistics (p10) reinforce the stereotypes about each group of supporters, with 74% of those who support Celtic claiming to be Catholic and 67% of those that support Rangers claiming to be Protestant. Again, even if sectarianism is not as prevalent as it once was, these statistics clearly encapsulate that religion still plays a huge part in the Old Firm derby. However, more interesting are some of the comments that emerged from semi-structured interviews with those questioned such as: ‘A lot of violence kicks off because of sectarianism yet a lot of people don’t even know what it’s about! They are just into it for Celtic,Rangers’ (p11), and ‘It has nothing to do with Catholics and Protestants, it’s the new religion of Celtic and Rangers’ (p10). This was later summarised in the studies closing arguments by the line: ‘for some the role of football has become so significant that it was actually felt to have replaced religion as the source and focus of sectarian attitudes and behaviour’ (p56). This idea is further exemplified by the Scottish Executive (p5) who state that the problems of sectarianism exist within ‘the divide between club supporters claiming to be attached to the Protestant and Catholic groups.’ Again, the use of the word ‘claiming’ suggests that the sectarianism aspect of the divide is often only implemented as an excuse by those supporters who seek to participate in violence and/or slurs. This is an important aspect of this dissertation and one that will attempt to be examined thoroughly through its course. Importantly, the NFO survey also found that there was no consensus on whether football violence is essentially sectarian in nature, or just simply reminiscent of mindless football hooliganism that exists everywhere. Another important interview quote was that ‘the real problem is not sectarianism, but drink.’ These are both important ideas that need to be examined and discussed during the course of this dissertation.

This literature review has enabled the study to gain an insight into the history and complications of the term sectarianism, the application of it in Scotland and to the Old Firm, the complications of the term and its application to the Old Firm in modern Scotland and most importantly to lay the foundations for its own data collection methodology through the examination of previous studies and key theories regarding the topic. The next chapter will now discuss the methodology employed for this dissertation’s data collection.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter seeks to discuss and explain the research and data collection methods employed in this dissertation in order to answer the research questions posed in the introductory chapter. It also attempts to provide justification for the methodology used – this is important as it gives the findings and recommendations of the dissertation validity and reliability, which are necessary for it be taken seriously in the academic domain. The chapter also discusses the sampling techniques used in the research, the research instruments that were used, the research process, the administration of questionnaires, how data was analysed and what was done to ensure its validity and reliability. The chapter also presents the limitations of the study.

First, it is necessary to decide upon a course of research design. Research design illustrates how the data collection has been planned. Essentially, there are two types of research: qualitative and quantitative.

This dissertation intends to utilise the questionnaire as the main form of investigative technique in its methodology. The literature review previously conducted in the last chapter will serve as the basis of knowledge relating to the data collection and construction of the questionnaire and the areas of sectarianism that need to be investigated. The questionnaire was chosen as the method of data collection as it was decided that