Sectarianism has always been in Scottish society never mind Scottish football with anti-Catholic and anti-Protestant slurs very frequent more so in the mid 19th century when a potato famine in the island of Ireland brought a mass influx of Irish migrants to Scotland to escape starvation and poverty. From Ireland brought the Protestant Irish from Ulster and the Catholic Irish mostly from Southern Ireland. These migrants were fairly poor already in their native land but the potato famine when it struck Ireland was the last straw for the people of Ireland. Scotland was chosen for a better life for a number of reasons such as the close distance between the two nations and the poor Irish could afford the cheap fare to travel with their families. These travelling Irish tended to settle in the large industrial towns and cities in Scotland such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee as there were some low skilled jobs available to them. 

There was however quite a gulf in difference between the two types of Irish who traveled to Scotland. The Catholic Irish were mostly un-skilled and poor and the Protestant counter part was usually the skilled person who in Scotland worked in high paid jobs such as boiler makers in Scotland. The Protestant Irish assimilated in Scotland fairly well compared to their Catholic counter-parts for a number of reasons such as they shared the same religion as most Scots and had the same family names. The Protestant Irish were advertised in newspapers to travel to Scotland as they would have a job and accommodation which suited them. The Catholic Irish were different as in that they traveled to Scotland and most did not have jobs ready for them. The Catholic Irish stayed in the more poorer areas of the Industrial cities such as The Gorbals in Glasgow. The Catholic Irish were blamed for social ills such as overcrowding and were stereotyped seen as drunks. The inter-religion fighting which went on in Ireland continued in Scotland with fights a regular occurrence between the two Irish.
 
Unfortunately this level of sectarian bigotry still is present in Scotland and the politicians are aware and had been for years trying to sort it out and rid it from not only Scottish football but Scottish society. The re-elected political party the SNP now have an overall majority in Parliament and could now pass bills in parliament without the support of other parties. One of these bills passed by the new majority government was an anti-sectarian law which means that the police would get tougher on Scottish people who (in their opinion) make sectarian comments or provoke sectarian hate in and outside the football ground, though what is deemed sectarian by this new bill has never truly been outed and it seemed that whatever the police officer deemed sectarian could provoke arrest. 
 
There was backfire from this new bill from most fans in Scotland with various visual protests such as banners in football stadiums and protests in places such as George Square in Glasgow held by Celtic fans. These Celtic fans were not happy at this new bill for a number of reasons such as discriminating against them for support for the IRA in song which in their opinion was against the right to costless speech. The IRA itself was not a sectarian organisation and never had a sectarian agenda and this was a good argument for these Celtic fans. What also angered Celtic fans was when an SNP politician said that the bill was a way of 'leveling it up' referring to the idea that Rangers fans were being discriminated more than Celtic fans for the chants that Rangers fans sing at football matches. Rangers fans also staged protests of their own as it would also make the police tougher on them as well and banners were seen in Ibrox stadium in protest. 
 
Since the new bill has been introduced there has been few arrests by the police mostly due to comments made such as comments made by Rangers fans towards Celtic manager Neil Lennon. Arrests have also been made in stadiums for chants such as "ooh ah up the ra!" made by a Celtic fan in a game against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. A Rangers fan has also been arrested at an away game for a chants deemmed sectarian by police. In stadiums across Scotland a new branch of police service has been on the beat to tackle these sectarian chants at football called the 'Anti-Sectarian Initiative' who arrest people for deemed sectarian chanting and also film the crowd to use as evidence and to pick people from the crowd. This is also met with heated reaction from fans. The chanting of 'sectarian' slurs have been evidently lowered according to the politicians who made the new sectarian bill but say it is far from perfect and will take time to make it correct. However there are still traces of sectarian which is still rife in Scottish society which needs to be addressed first before looking at the footballing aspect of it.
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About the author
Connor Gordon
Hi, I am from Glasgow, Scotland and at university studying Multimedia Journalism. I have a fondness for French club, Stade Rennais. I try to convey the way I see the game of football into my articles. I hope you enjoy! Contact me on Twitter: @ConnorGordonnn Email: [email protected]