Secttarianism And Bigotry In Football Fans

Many football fans, including myself, love to watch the team they support play and cheer them on. However, sectarianism and bigotry play a huge part in football in Glasgow and the surrounding areas resulting in fans abusing the opposing team’s supporters. Sectarianism is the rivalry between two religious parties – In Scotland this is conflict between Catholic and Protestants. There is an extremely strong link in the West of Scotland between religion and support for Celtic and Rangers. A survey revealed that 74% of Celtic fans described themselves as a Catholic and 65% of Rangers fans labelled themselves as a Protestant. For some, the role of football was so significant that it actually replaced religion as the source and focus of sectarian attitudes and behaviours. While most cities experience rivalry between local sides that occasionally spills into violence, Glasgow is viewed as peculiar in the intensity of the rivalry. This division within

In fact, arresting people should be a last resort - we should be doing everything we possibly can to eliminate the problem itself, not just relying on police officers and the courts to, hopefully, make it go away."

Sectarianism due to football rivalry has resulted in many deaths and injuries throughout the years. News articles have outlined how the colour of a top led to the death of a fifteen-year-old boy and the brutal attack which resulted in the death of a father of four. Communities have been divided by prejudice throughout the generations. In a survey which asked people about how common different forms of sectarianism are, 66% of people said sectarianism violence was either very or quite common while 57% of people said sectarianism threats were also either very or quite