Letter: Uneven playing field for Old Firm debate

REGARDING the article by Tom English (Sport, 27 March), supposedly an interview with Stewart Regan, chief executive of the SFA.

I was looking forward to reading his ideas on how he/they were going to tackle sectarianism in Scottish football. Instead this very quickly turned into another attack by the media on Rangers football fans.

Stewart Regan apparently was not at Hampden for the match in question and reportedly states that he would not recognise the sectarian chants alluded to by your reporter. Neither would the majority of non-Scots watching the match - in fact probably a lot of Scots would be pushed to identify these songs.

Equally the "political" songs sung by hardline Celtic fans supporting the IRA would not be recognised by a majority of people. Yet they are sung at every Old Firm game and nothing is mentioned by the "unbiased Scottish media" Mr English would have us believe exists.

Stewart Regan says where do you draw the line between sectarian and political as they are both wrong and antagonistic, and is not sure where to start. Back comes Mr English with "some would say he has no chance with the Old Firm," but instead of leaving it there he has to stick the knife in again, "or Rangers, to name the chief culprits in this affair".

Stewart Regan seems genuine in his attempts to rid Scottish football of this cancer. I wish him the best of luck, because by continually pointing the spotlight at one side, the Scottish media are fanning the flames of the problem.

Alan Stewart, via e-mail

TOM English's article on the Old Firm is spot on with regards to sectarian singing. For too long now Rangers have hidden behind the "they are just as bad as each other" statement when in fact the vast majority of Rangers songs are infected with sectarian bile.

Yes, Celtic fans still sing offensive IRA chants which need to be stamped out, but Rangers' first step is to accept they have a much bigger problem and then look at ways of addressing it such as more/new songs about Rangers rather than sectarianism, so that young supporters can learn these songs and not be dragged down that old path.

S Paterson, Edinburgh