Scottish Football Fans Should Respect Each Other More

Date: 9th May 2022

This isn’t an article that’s going to tell you to give up on football rivalry. I believe that rivalry within the game is actually a good thing and if that rivalry doesn’t become abusive it can actually be a good thing in society as a whole. 

Growing up a lot of my friends supported an opposing team and the friendly banter we would have between ourselves was great. We didn’t want our teams to lose to there’s and we didn’t want to see them winning all the silverware but our slagging matches never became personal or fuelled by any sort of hatred. 

Social media can be a great thing. It can create new friendships, help people find things that they need and during the pandemic it helped forge tighter links between clubs and fans. 

Unfortunately it can also create divide and anger.

The respect that was once there seems to be seeping away. We can no longer have simple opinions on Twitter without a group of people who disagree with that opinion jumping on and creating friction. 

Something happened on Twitter last week and it showed me that tolerance of other people’s views no longer seemed to exist as it once had. 

Rangers beat RB Leipzig, that victory at Ibrox secured their place in this season’s Europa League final. 

An Aberdeen fan had commented saying he’d like to see Rangers progress as it would be good for Scottish football. In return for making this point, he was sent a whole load of hate filled nonsense that was sometimes personal and people questioned the love he had for his team. 

Now I am not saying Celtic, Aberdeen or any set of supporters should be cheering Rangers on in Europe… It’s there right to support whomever they want. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t respond to the original tweet and disagree with the sentiment. But there’s a line and it was crossed on Thursday night. If you can’t be nice and debate respectfully without turning things into a personal attack, then you should look at yourself and ask why not? 

No one knows what is going on in that other persons life, so why be nasty to that person? It makes no sense to me. 

I can see both sides of the Rangers doing well argument: 

Rangers getting to a European final is a huge success story for Scottish football. The coefficient points will be great and will hopefully help others in the Premiership with extra places in European competitions. Plus our league might just get some respect that it has been lacking in recent years. 

On the other hand, the main benefactors for this success will be Rangers themselves. It will lead them to becoming richer and both Glasgow clubs will only have greater funds that will see them possibly going further out of everyone else’s reach. Plus every other set of supporters will know that Rangers fans will gloat beyond belief for at least the next twelve months, if they win, and that’s never a good thing for a rival to witness (Just think about England winning the World Cup again).

I just wish Scottish football fans would show each other more respect. Let’s do away with the abuse whether it be personal, racist, sectarian, sexist or homophobic. We don’t have to all get along or support each other’s team (boring) but we can have rivalry and debate that’s respectful.  

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