"Let the others come after us. We welcome the chase. It is healthy for us.
We will never hide from it. Never fear."
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Show Racism the Red Card

Written by: 1972
Wednesday, 27th September 2017

When show racism the Red Card tweeted a picture of Phil Gillivan/White/McGillivan/MacGiollabhain this week after apparently participating in a workshop it was destined to end badly, and, to a certain extent it has.

After a number of Rangers fans contacted SRTRC online with numerous examples of Ill Phil's own bigotry and vile hate filled blogs, they sacrificed him with a couple of platitudes to soften the blow.

In their statement distancing themselves from Gillivan, SRTRC stated that he had been victim of anti Irish Racism, and that Hay had set the meeting up following an encounter in Glasgow on Saturday.

As is the way of these anti Racism and anti sectarian groups in Scotland, integrity is thin on the ground, and they have chosen to protect their volunteer, rather than agree she resign for inviting him.

It seems that the quango is treating this as closure, when frankly, this is not acceptable.

Further to this statement SRTRC also tweeted that no one from SRTRC, including Nicola Hay was aware of his work.

Given that Ms Hay has been following both Ill Phil's official twitter account for some time, while also following an unofficial account of his, one would humbly suggest that statement is bollocks.

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last week, Rangers played Celtic on Saturday, but Ms Hay and Phil managed to catch up for a chat on that very day.

How remarkable.

Are you buying it? I'm not.

Where did they meet? How did they get chatting? How did it escalate to her inviting him in to their office? How did they chat without Ill Phil mentioning his blog or his book or his twitter account that she follows?

Do we really believe she has thrown him under the bus to save her own skin, antagonising all of his associates?

Her position is untenable, and leaves Rangers in a position where they have to act.

We can no longer co-operate with this group while this volunteer is in place, and, given that our club has led on anti Racist policies and initiatives while other clubs were defending their fans throwing bananas or making monkey gestures at our black players, it should not be us walking away.

Hay, a supporter of various SNP candidates over the last year, should do the decent thing and resign, before she compromises even further the integrity of this group.

What she has done is raise awareness levels about the negatives of the group rather than the positives.

This group should be 100% positive and should be a trusted organisation all clubs can engage with and work with.

All of the potential SRTRC has should not be compromised by an individual with an agenda.

Do we really want tabloid hacks looking in to their funding, their relationship with the GMB, or their vetting of volunteers with the chaos that would bring?

That is not a Road this group should be travelling. It should be a force for good, but they have a decision to make.

Does this organisation have the right intent in Scotland to fight racism and hatred in Scottish football? If it does it needs to prove it today, or their organisation becomes untrustworthy and unfit for purpose.


 

by 1972
 
by The Ref

   

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