The amazing country of Glasgow

First of all, Glasgow is a team. . It's just that this team is called Glasgow Rangers. In fact, they are not going to be homeless as you think. Here is some information for you to take a look at: Celtic fans are all Catholics, and Rangers fans are all Protestants, but the religious backgrounds of the players from the two clubs may not be so clear-cut. The Celtics used many Protestant players, such as the famous "Peacock" Bertie Pickko. But this is anything but the case with Wanderers.

There once was a slightly famous "punk" band in Glasgow who wrote a song called "Why Rangers Never Use Catholic Players". The Rangers Club's answer was quite sincere. : "We have our own traditions, and traditions cannot be abandoned."

Nick Peel has a clear memory of Johnston. Peel himself is currently the club's managing director of market development - a hereditary and distinguished seat on the Rangers board.

Perhaps because he is only 37 years old, perhaps because he studied for a doctorate in business in the United States, Nick does not fully agree that the antagonism between fans of "old brands" is related to their respective strong religious tendencies. He said that the strange behavior of some fans was even more difficult for him to understand.

"I remember a lot of fans had this attitude at the time," Nick recalled. "Suppose Johnston scored in the game and Rangers led 1-0, many fans would think that the goal No matter, the game is still 0-0. There will be a fight about whether to cheer for Johnston at home games. The strange thing is that if the home team fans don't boo him, Johnston's performance will be even worse. Oops." Johnston never became a true "bum."

As soon as Johnston left, another Rangers player was embroiled in religious suspicion: forward Mark Hatley. Hatley is a power forward who has been famous in England for a long time. He has played for AC Milan and Monaco coached by Wangers. He suffered a serious injury in Monaco and took two seasons off before joining Rangers. There were many rumors circulating in Glasgow at the time that he was actually a Catholic. So when the Rangers played, many fans would cheer: "Go forward, Queen's Ten Warriors!" - they didn't use "Eleven Warriors!" because they were still rejecting or suspicious of Hatley's religious background. At the same time, from this slogan, we can also see the difference in the political stance of the two religious sects: the historical background of the Protestants is mostly native Scots. They identify with their "British" identity, are loyal to the Queen, and loyal to the Queen. British Empire; Catholics are mostly immigrants from Ireland and southern Europe. They are only loyal to the Pope of Rome and have vague concepts about the country and the queen. They may even become anti-queen and anti-queen when their hostile relations with Protestants intensify. British mood.

Previously, the famous Rangers star Travo Francis was suspected because there were rumors that Francis sent his children to a Catholic school. Marc Falcao also could not gain the trust of fans. He claimed that He was a Protestant, but he had a weird Catholic habit of crossing himself. Terry Butcher, the famous defender of the England national team in the 1990 World Cup, was also suspected when he was playing for Rangers. In the end, Butcher held a famous press conference to clarify the facts in public, showing that he was not a Catholic.

Hatley's situation is better than Johnston's. At least no one can be sure that he is a Catholic. However, as long as Hatley fails to seize scoring opportunities in the game, some people will say: "Humph, he is a Fenian after all!" (Fenian, the Fenian organization was a famous anti-British rule organization in Ireland in the mid-19th century. Ireland is a traditional Roman Catholic country). Assuming that Hatley fails to score in 3 to 4 consecutive games, many Rangers fans will think that "this is the Catholic nature at work." All of this speculation about Hatley's Catholic background is just because someone "thought" Hatley's wife was a Catholic.

A German sociologist named Max Weber once carefully observed the differences between the habits and social norms of Protestants and Catholics. He found that in Glasgow, some Protestants and Catholics mixed In the district, Protestants tended to be wealthier. It is also the case in Edinburgh and other English cities such as Liverpool, where there are mixed Protestant and Catholic communities, but Rangers fans now stress that they are just as poor as Celtic fans.

Judging from the club’s economic situation, the Rangers have always been a wealthy club with better marketing and business operations. The Celtics have always been less wealthy than their opponents. Among all the "time-honored brands" During the game, Rangers fans could be heard singing "You Paupers".

The Celtic club is controlled by the Kelly and White families. Their club management policies are more relaxed and casual, and the money they make is naturally not as good as that of the Rangers. Therefore, Rangers commercial director Nick Peel will use a He said in a semi-ridiculous tone: "I personally think that from a business expansion perspective, the Celtics have huge room for development - because they are still blank in many places."

Another player named Ke Lin Glass, a Rangers fan who now lives in the United States, also finds it incomprehensible to the Rangers' religious overtones. "I became a Rangers fan not for religious reasons," Glass said. "I just like the colors of the Rangers jerseys and naturally support the Rangers. However, the Rangers have become a completely religious club amid the media hype. You know the story when Johnston joined Rangers? According to the Scottish newspaper, thousands of Rangers fans returned their season tickets. I lived next to Ibrox at the time and I know what happened. , only one season ticket was actually returned to the club!”

From the perspective of Scottish social tradition and football history, Rangers has always been a strong club; in Scotland, especially in the West of Scotland, the media has Celtic bias exists. Just like in Northern Ireland, Catholicism is a religion that is discriminated against.

"But Catholics never forget that they are discriminated against," Nick Peel said to me, with a hint of resentment in his tone. "I admit that there is discrimination against Catholics in this society, but Scotland The degree of discrimination in the media is not high. Catholics do suffer some disadvantages when it comes to employment issues in Scotland, but they have formed a collective consciousness and constantly emphasize that they are a vulnerable group and always demand respect from society. In a football game, even if the referee's decision is completely fair, as long as the decision is not good for them, Celtic fans will make a fuss. I believe you walk into a Catholic church every Sunday and the priest will. Instigating his followers to resist social discrimination. If this social phenomenon is repeatedly emphasized for a long time, the result will only be an exaggeration of the reality and deformed consequences. ”

Things were not going well for Catholics in Glasgow, at least when it came to employment. On the Glasgow stock exchange market, the operating gestures of Franciscans (Protestant sect) can be seen everywhere, but there are no Catholic brokers. The Glasgow Police Department is also completely dominated by Protestants. Even at a high-level meeting of the Glasgow Police Department in 2001, such a joke could still be circulated. According to the "Daily Mirror" report, the then Senior Inspector of Glasgow, Barry Ferguson said: "I always promoted two Catholic patrol officers, and later found out that one of them was not bad!"

If a man named Patrick O'leary (Patrick O'leary) If a person wants to get a white-collar job in Glasgow, he must have encountered much more hardships than others, because "Patrick O'Leary" is a standard Irish Catholic name. The famous former Leeds United young coach and current Aston Villa head coach O'Leary is from Ireland. Just look at his name and you will know that he is a Catholic.

Names such as Bridget Teresa are bound to draw the eyes of Protestants in Glasgow because they have too strong a Catholic connotation.

Even though people of both religious backgrounds speak Scots English with a Glaswegian accent, Catholics and Protestants have different pronunciations. For example, the word "stair" is pronounced by Protestants with a standard Scottish accent: "steer", while Catholics definitely have an Irish accent - "stayer". One of the differences between today's American English and British English in pronunciation is that American English has flatter pronunciation and more retroflex and uvular sounds. These reasons are all due to the large number of Irish immigrants in the early days of the founding of the United States - such as The Kennedy family brought over English pronunciation habits from Ireland.

If Catholics really want to complain about the fact that they are being discriminated against, they can only hate Martin Luther who launched the religious reform movement in the Germanic regions of the European continent more than 400 years ago. De used modern media methods to subvert the spiritual rule of the Roman Pope over European society. However, in Glasgow, the political power of Catholics is still quite strong. For example, the Labor Party in Glasgow is entirely a Catholic party.

What kind of game is the "time-honored" derby?

"The worst club football game in the world." Just about every Celtic fan will tell you. But how will the players who actually participate in such a game feel? Swedish forward Larsson will say: "This is the most exciting game in the world. Football players are fighters, and there is no game that requires more fighter spirit than the derby between Celtic and Rangers."

There is a well-known dentist in Glasgow named Jim Craig. He was once a right back for Celtic. When he played for Celtic in the 1960s, he caused trouble in an "old" derby game. Dragon, is still the object of ridicule among Rangers fans. "Butcher" Butcher also had a similar experience at Celtic. When Butcher scored a header in the "time-honored" Derby and scored a goal, Craig called Butcher specifically: "Thank you for letting Celtic fans Talk about me again, but I'm a better Celtic than you are."

No Glaswegian wants the 'old' derby to become more subdued and calm each season. Being able to have four opportunities to walk into the stadium that you love or hate and vent your endless anger against your century-old enemy has become an inseparable part of every Glaswegian's life. In the 1970s, because football violence was too violent, there were "time-honored" games that did not sell tickets to the public. As a result, fans from both sides stood outside the stadium and roared at each other. Many players from the two major clubs have become kings or enemies because of their performance in the "time-honored" derby.

Swedish forward Larsson will undoubtedly become a Celtic legend. As a foreigner, his loyalty to Celtic fans is deeply felt. In the summer of 2001, Larsson went to Ulster, Ireland for a brief vacation. He suddenly received an urgent notice from the club, hoping that he would visit a local Celtic fan who was terminally ill and in critical condition. Larson bought some small gifts to visit the fan. Two months after the start of the new season, he met the patient's son in Glasgow. The son told Larson that his father's life "extended for five weeks" because of his visit. , in these 5 weeks, what the dying father could not forget was that a Celtic player came to visit him.

"Professional players complain every day, maybe because of the tense relationship with the head coach, maybe because of physical injuries, maybe because they can't play the main team, but imagining this dying Celtics fan, I can always It feels like football is a great game, a sport that Scots can never leave," said Larsson.

The greatest Celtic team in history was the "Lisbon Lions" led by the famous coach Stann in 1967. That year, the Celtics lost 2-2 in the European Champions Cup final in Lisbon. 1 defeated Inter Milan under the famous coach Herrera and became the first British team to win the European Champions Cup.

Three years later, Celtic reached the European Champions Cup final again, but this time they lost to Feyenoord of the Netherlands.

Stann is considered a person who improved the status of Catholics in Scottish society. He also served as the head coach of the Scottish national team and was the mentor of Alex Ferguson.

In the more than thirty years after the Celtics dominated Europe, many changes have taken place in Glasgow’s social system. More and more Catholic lawyers and doctors have appeared. A former doctor like Craig It would have been unthinkable 40 years ago that a Celtic player could become a well-known dentist in Glasgow by studying at university after retiring. After Rangers dominated the Scottish League in the 1990s, Celtic gradually regained their vitality. In the summer of 2003, they reached the UEFA Cup final, eliminating two Premier League teams, Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool, along the way. This was considered to be the direction of Scottish football. Signs of revival. Many onlookers also believe that the advancement of Rangers and Celtic is the result of the gradual easing of the feud between the "time-honored brands" and the dilution of the influence of religion on football by public opinion. However, only Glaswegians know that the huge gap will remain forever. They savor the strange influence of religion on football every day. They have an irreducible hatred for each other, and this hatred is a strange bond that allows them to survive each other.

The "Time-honored Derby" divides Scots and Irish people all over the world into two groups, whether they are Irish descendants in the United States, Scottish immigrants in South Africa or Irish in Australia, there are no exceptions. In Ireland, almost all Catholics are Celtic fans. Manchester United captain Roy Keane said to me in September 2003:

"My father and two My brothers are both fans of Manchester United, but they are also fans of Celtic. They love Manchester United because of their greatness on the football field, but they support Celtic entirely because we are Catholics. My father instilled in me the concept of Glasgow Celtic. There is no need for a reason to support Celtic. For my family, supporting Celtic is a mission from God, while supporting Manchester United has many worldly reasons. Reason. "

In the fall of 1997, when Keane was recovering from a torn cruciate ligament, he wore a baseball cap and rushed to Glasgow to watch a Celtics game with a few friends. ; However, his disguise was immediately discovered. Keane remembers a Scottish buddy saying to him:

"Hey, aren't you fucking Keane?"

Keane thought he was in trouble.

Unexpectedly, the fan was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "Fool, when will you join the best club in the world?"

Keane's friend laughed and said: "He Playing for the best club in the world."

The Celtic fan was also happy: "No, I mean Celtic! The best club in the world!"

Keane later recorded this interesting conversation in his controversial autobiography; he knew that for Celtic fans and Irish fans, the greatest pride in life is to be able to wear Celtic shirts vs Rangers.

The most representative of this "time-honored brand complex" is the ULSTER region of Northern Ireland. This is just a small town. The mayor, Brewster, is a Rangers fan and has an obvious scar under his left eye. “That’s my memory of Glasgow,” Brewster laughed. “We were a mixed bag of Rangers fans and Celtic fans, and the hostility was even greater than in Glasgow. So every few months, If we can go to Glasgow and vent all our anger within 90 minutes of watching the game live, it will be a great enjoyment of life."

In Brewster's view, Glasgow's "old and established" hostile fans. It's relatively quiet. In Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, Rangers fans and Celtic fans have been able to coexist peacefully, but their remaining principle is: "Don't say anything, no one should speak."

"Because once you open your mouth, you will definitely get into trouble, and may even cause unreasonable disasters. Belfast people, perhaps because they have lived under the terrifying shadow of religious conflicts for a long time, have become extremely cautious and will not pay attention to religious issues and religious issues under any circumstances. Political ideas cannot express any clear views, so Scotland's "time-honored" football stadium has become the only choice for them to express their feelings.

Belfast also had a Celtic team in 1891. Founded in 1949 as an offshoot of the Glasgow Celtic team, the matches between this team and the Protestant teams were always full of violence. In 1949, during a game against the Belfast Celtic team, several players were beaten. A fan rushed into the stadium and broke the leg of a rival Protestant player, so Belfast Celtic was banned. The club that had dominated Northern Ireland football for nearly 20 years disappeared.