12/21/24
April 20, 2011
Mail Bomb Sent to Celtic Manager: Mail bombs sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two well-known supporters of the Scottish soccer club were intercepted by police. Originally thought to be fake, the devices were "capable of causing significant harm," said John Mitchell of Strathclyde police. From the AP report: "While police didn't discuss the motive behind the mail bombs, sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland and Glasgow are regularly played out between Celtic fans, who are mostly Catholic, and Rangers fans, who are mostly Protestant."
Billy Connolly summed it up nicely a long time ago.
It's a terrible situation, but the notion that it can all be solved by everyone just calming down and growing up is itself infantile. Other things need to happen - not least, Scotland needs to stop allocating schools for children according to their religion.
People in the press also seem to quite often play the "it's only a game" card, when even the most casual observation should suggest that it runs a little deeper than that for most fans of each team. The football is a catalyst, not a cause of the problem.
posted by JJ at 06:22 AM on April 21, 2011
Hard to believe we live in the 21st Century sometimes. Here's The Guardian's take.
Reminds me of the line about two kids fighting in the playground about who has the best imaginary friend.