Old firm facts column why its wrong to claim the famine song in Rangers kit ad

[Porto Loyal]

Adam Miller is person that runs old firm facts page and does the podcasts, so it’s him.

I believe Adam Miller is a pseudonym.

 

[Porto Loyal]

I have memories of the words of the song being shared online just as it was taking off.. and months before people were suddenly offended by it. It was very clearly taking a pop at the types you mention, it was a piss-take and not anti anything.

As I remember it, the song was was sung for a few months from early 2008(?) with no reaction at all but when Rangers beat Celtic at Parkhead early the following season and the Rangers=Bad clamour that followed it was suddenly claimed that the song was anti-Irish and mocked the Famine. A very coordinated attack followed and the song was fast-tracked to being the most offensive thing ever without the words or sentiment really being debated.

Always seemed to me that Rangers fans having a song that took the piss out of the absolute core of them with their Plastic Paddy tendencies really stung and they just couldn’t have that.
I’m sure that in the wave of offence that followed there was even a verse of the song offered as evidence of being offensive, a verse that had just been made up by someone and wasn’t in the original song?

It was a surgical strike by them right enough, I’m sure that even tweeting or sharing the words of the song to from instead that it is more sarcastic than actually offensive would see you in bother.

Yes, it was a reaction to them having a Famine banner at a match. It was fine until the Dirty Blighters song with all the verses came out

 

[RabSpackman]

You can see where the downtrodden, orchestrated by such individuals as Michael Stewart, want this to end up, i.e. a tune being banned due to the eternally offended, just as the tune of Marching Through Georgia is apparently unacceptable, no matter what words are sung.

Depends who is singing it… supporters of other clubs are able to sing a song to that tune without a care or comment.

Here’s the thing with the relentless campaign against the club….
A few years ago I looked at the situation over TBB as one where the club had to concede.. the words were what they are and it’s aggressive etc, etc.
At the same time I recognised that in the real world they actually wanted the song banned because it was a rousing anthem that was used to rally the support and the team when the chips were down. “They” hated that.
On balance, the words sung put us in a tricky position so it had to go from the match day songbook. My reasonable, good citizen head understood that the song was a bit much in today’s more liberal & inclusive society.

Fast forward a few years and the attacks continue. They are now chasing after a song about 4 boys starting a football team because it doesn’t go with the stereotype that they want for us of singing songs that are bigoted/racist/whatever.

My reasonable, good citizen head is now sick & tired of how this plays out and why. I’m getting far more emotional in my response and I’m at the point of the “%^*& them, they’ll complain anyway and I’ll do what I like” line of thought. Now I know that this is a road to further damage for the club but I wonder whether it’s actually just a shortcut to the same destination and whether the gradual concessions are more damaging.


The club does need to stick up for itself and the supporters in all of this.
A song that has no lyrics that could possibly be interpreted as being anti-anything is being chased now, a song that the club has got behind and play before matches.
I’d really love to see the club give the support a bit of backing here, backing for changing the songbook, backing for supporting the club in buying up tickets, merchandise and anything they throw at us over recent years.

At the moment, our detractors are able to decide that they are going to “go” for something, lay their groundwork then attack, and generally speaking we are put in a position of having to concede.
Rangers just don’t engage and as a result we are inviting the attack because these people won’t stop until they see padlocks on the gates.

The lines are being drawn that anything sung by Rangers support is twisted into causing offence to an incredibly wide and subjective thing called, “anti-Irish racism”. They are of course jumping on the BLM bandwagon and creating a “racism” that nobody in politics or media would dare challenge but nobody is allowed to question it or say it out loud.


Looking back, the club should have gone hammer & tongs about effigies being hung from the rafters at Parkhead in 2016 but we somehow ended up with the damage to toilets being the headline news (funny that the media chose to focus on that) and the club letting the imagery that Cetic FC did nothing to address go uncommitted on.

It’s a very worrying one-way street and generally mild-mannered folk like me are getting irate then you are beyond a tipping point.

 

[Craigie]

It hardly needs explained, the whole thing was orchestrated outrage that was completely invented by people who hate our very existence.

Correct. Those who have jumped on the bandwagon are not interested in the truth or reality.

It's all part of their own bigoted agenda. Which is ironic given their anti-bigotry crusade that they claim to be on.

 

[RabSpackman]

Yes, it was a reaction to them having a Famine banner at a match. It was fine until the Dirty Blighters song with all the verses came out

That was it.. umpteen verses that nobody was interested in singing at a football match were found (although I’m sure someone added a few lines that nobody had ever seen before into the attack just for good measure) and suddenly you had “racism”.

As a song to pull the piss it absolutely delivered.. clearly landing too close for comfort.

 

[wee bud's pit boots]

Nine words aimed at people who are as Irish as a plate of porridge. A piss take, that the filth just couldn't handle.

When the author has the balls and integrity to asks exactly how these nine words can be viewed as racist, then I'll take him seriously.

 

[Googsly 8]

Nailed it. Some folk are so desperate to find a bigotry angle in anything we do that they’ll just flat out make one up. They absolutely feed off this shit.

Put it this way, it wasn’t the famine song, but they are pretending it is. That tells you everything.

You know what would piss them off more than us voluntarily giving up the orange walks? Us voluntarily giving up the orange walks. Same goes for singing the famine song.

Same goes for signing high profile catholics. Remember the praise he got from them for smashing that Catholic signing taboo they were raging about when mojo signed? Me neither.

Well said M8, it seams as though we need to explain/ justify almost EVERYTHING we do whether it be songs, strips, celebrations, nationality, I for one am fkn sick to death of pandering to those scummy c&nts, and now we ALSO need to try and appease krankie, ussless, daily rebel, etc etc etc. F#ck every last one of them if they are offended by anything in our country they have the choice to gtf and join there long lost kid-on relatives in Donegal or Palestine, And let us get on with being the most British, most successful football club in the world. WATP

 

[sonofbunk]

I believe Adam Miller is a pseudonym.

I think it’s telling that on his podcast, there has only been one person of a ‘Rangers’ background.

 

[yardie]

I must have missed their articles on the IRA singalongs. There is no doubt about those.

 

[Bluenose Whistler]

That made me laugh out loud. Thank you for cheering up a wet , miserable, home alone morning.

Your welcome just glad someone spotted the metaphoric humour

 

[Jenny Geddes Chair]

As I understand it, from folk that sung the famine song, they have explained a million times on here that it was aimed at the plastic paddys amongst the Celtic support.

Those scotsmen who have no irish ancestry, have never set foot in Ireland in their lives, yet you cant read their twitter or facebooks pages without being hit in the eye with shamrocks, balaclavas and absolute vile idiots pretending to hold machine guns.

Exactly, that was the context. It was never 'telling the Irish to go home' like the media/politicians claim.

 

[EH47]

Ruins the article by saying that famine song was aimed at Irish Catholics. This lie has been allowed to be turned into truth

It was aimed at a bunch of Scottish plastic paddies waving Irish tricolour. Their nationality and religion was totally irrelevant to the (crude) humorous element of the song

This 100% but I suspect the author already knew that.
Despite him mentioning several times that anti Irish and anti catholic sentiments exist he never once mentions anti protestant and anti British prejudice are also very real and continually expressed in Scottish society.
To me this betrays that his own mind is closed to the fact bigotry is a two way street. It is that obstinate stance taken by one side that ensures that any perceived problem is not going away any time soon.

 

[Meo-meomeomy]

It hardly needs explained, the whole thing was orchestrated outrage that was completely invented by people who hate our very existence.

It doesn’t need explained for us - but the wider public’s perception of Rangers is important and so it’s good to see this opinion being represented - otherwise the famine song narrative is the one that is suggested - and unchallenged, seeds of belief are sewn.

While I agree with him that we do have fans who have views that are not acceptable in the modern day (that they need to stop airing in the name of Rangers) it is still infuriating that we are the only fans mentioned in such conversations. Football related hatred in Scotland is present in many forms within many fan bases. At least we are having conversations around our conduct where others deny that there is any conversation to be had.

 

[Jenny Geddes Chair]

You can see where the downtrodden, orchestrated by such individuals as Michael Stewart, want this to end up, i.e. a tune being banned due to the eternally offended, just as the tune of Marching Through Georgia is apparently unacceptable, no matter what words are sung.

We used to sing 'Edu' to the tune, so the claim that the tune is banned is bollox.

 

[RoyalBlue1]

The only thing worse than the Michael stewarts of this world are thise who constantly feel the need to justify a song.

%^*& the detractors, the song and tune are brilliant. Move on.

 

[Scrubs UK]

I see this bellend has now backpedaled after the backlash from what are the core majority of his 'followers' and basically apologised for his article.

 

[Hammy]

Disappointed he’s posted an apology, or at least posted an apology for certain words and phrases used.

I think he comes across as a decent guy and mocks the whole ridiculousness of the Old Firm rivalry, how seriously we all take it and how we lose perspective in it all. That’s the angle he’s coming from. And yes he does mock us a little, but ultimately it’s pointing how how daft the whole thing is.

Unfortunately though, politically he’s quite to the left and people have called him out for victim blaming, gaslighting bla bla bla. So he’s got a bit of cold feet as he’s probably thinking he’ll be accused of being anti Irish, anti RC etc etc and people calling him a hypocrite as he’s spoken about anti Semitism before. It’s basically a false equivalence though but one he’s struggling to get out of.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1450568350266920964

 

[blueman14]

Not the one bit surprised he’s crumbled.

Spine of a jellyfish.

 

[Tino_Col]

Disappointed he’s posted an apology, or at least posted an apology for certain words and phrases used.

I think he comes across as a decent guy and mocks the whole ridiculousness of the Old Firm rivalry, how seriously we all take it and how we lose perspective in it all. That’s the angle he’s coming from. And yes he does mock us a little, but ultimately it’s pointing how how daft the whole thing is.

Unfortunately though, politically he’s quite to the left and people have called him out for victim blaming, gaslighting bla bla bla. So he’s got a bit of cold feet as he’s probably thinking he’ll be accused of being anti Irish, anti RC etc etc and people calling him a hypocrite as he’s spoken about anti Semitism before. It’s basically a false equivalence though but one he’s struggling to get out of.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1450568350266920964

What even is that? It's like an apology but not apologsing.

Basically that he is really sorry to celtc fans but what he wrote was still what he thinks and he's sorry again. Numpty.

 

[sonofbunk]

Not an unsurprising turn of events. Still too scared to call out Stewart, an ‘academic’ who supports the dissident IRA or a charity that can only see one point of view.

Confirms what I have often though about him.

 

[Rob the Ranger]

It is the people who are always going on about bigotry who are the most bigoted.

 

[Boabinho]

The famine song is as ridiculous as the plastics who are supposedly offended by it.

 

[Hammy]

What even is that? It's like an apology but not apologsing.

Basically that he is really sorry to celtc fans but what he wrote was still what he thinks and he's sorry again. Numpty.

I know mate. It’s like he still believes what he says but wants to tone it down for fear of having his lefty credentials questioned.

I think we need to start playing that game too though. The whole drama has been basically caused because of bigoted confirmation bias.

Labelling and stereotyping a large working class community and assuming when they say one thing they’re actually meaning something entirely different and negative.

The worse thing is it’s those who claim to be socialists/leftists who are the biggest culprits in showing scorn towards working class football supporters.

 

[Gheorghe_Hagi]

Disappointed he’s posted an apology, or at least posted an apology for certain words and phrases used.

I think he comes across as a decent guy and mocks the whole ridiculousness of the Old Firm rivalry, how seriously we all take it and how we lose perspective in it all. That’s the angle he’s coming from. And yes he does mock us a little, but ultimately it’s pointing how how daft the whole thing is.

Unfortunately though, politically he’s quite to the left and people have called him out for victim blaming, gaslighting bla bla bla. So he’s got a bit of cold feet as he’s probably thinking he’ll be accused of being anti Irish, anti RC etc etc and people calling him a hypocrite as he’s spoken about anti Semitism before. It’s basically a false equivalence though but one he’s struggling to get out of.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1450568350266920964

Impossible to respect anything he says when he starts pandering to those idiots by reaffirming the notion that they are in any way a "marginalised group". Utterly grotesque and a slap in the face to members of actual marginalised groups.

 

[Kentbear]

If a medal was to be handed out for looking to be offended when there is none, this would get the lifetime achievement gold one, the depths to which they stoop are embarrasing.
They are so fvcking thick next weeks will prob top this one.

 

[Papa_bear]

Disappointed he’s posted an apology, or at least posted an apology for certain words and phrases used.

I think he comes across as a decent guy and mocks the whole ridiculousness of the Old Firm rivalry, how seriously we all take it and how we lose perspective in it all. That’s the angle he’s coming from. And yes he does mock us a little, but ultimately it’s pointing how how daft the whole thing is.

Unfortunately though, politically he’s quite to the left and people have called him out for victim blaming, gaslighting bla bla bla. So he’s got a bit of cold feet as he’s probably thinking he’ll be accused of being anti Irish, anti RC etc etc and people calling him a hypocrite as he’s spoken about anti Semitism before. It’s basically a false equivalence though but one he’s struggling to get out of.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1450568350266920964

Wow , absolutely embarrassing.

Clearly has had some abuse for the column and now trying to appease people who will never and can never be appeased. Either wrote your piece and stand by it or don’t bother. This just looks pathetic.

For me the piece wasn’t strong enough in the first place, he should’ve said anyone hearing a “ famine song” in our new kit advert is clearly a deranged bigot , much like those crying about the fake video, hearing what they want to hear because it could give them reason to pour hatred on Rangers , which is what they live for.

They’ve picked an innocent, beautiful football song this time and made a total arse of themselves- simple as that

 

[Stevie McDougall]

They really should "go home"!!

 

[The Pontiac Bandit]

Disappointed he’s posted an apology, or at least posted an apology for certain words and phrases used.

I think he comes across as a decent guy and mocks the whole ridiculousness of the Old Firm rivalry, how seriously we all take it and how we lose perspective in it all. That’s the angle he’s coming from. And yes he does mock us a little, but ultimately it’s pointing how how daft the whole thing is.

Unfortunately though, politically he’s quite to the left and people have called him out for victim blaming, gaslighting bla bla bla. So he’s got a bit of cold feet as he’s probably thinking he’ll be accused of being anti Irish, anti RC etc etc and people calling him a hypocrite as he’s spoken about anti Semitism before. It’s basically a false equivalence though but one he’s struggling to get out of.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1450568350266920964

That's utterly pathetic.

Spineless fud.

 

[RoyalBlue]

Ruins the article by saying that famine song was aimed at Irish Catholics. This lie has been allowed to be turned into truth

It was aimed at a bunch of Scottish plastic paddies waving Irish tricolour. Their nationality and religion was totally irrelevant to the (crude) humorous element of the song

Agree 100%.

“Why don't you go home” was a brilliant piece of satire that poked the slightest pin prick straight into the heart of the faux Irish bheast.