| The Green Brigade |
More than 90 Mins (magazine) interview with the Green Brigade 2010
The Green Brigade formed in 2006 and since then has grown from a handful of supporters embracing the European Ultra mentality to be a respected and well known group, not only in the UK but in Europe. More than 90 minutes featured the group a couple of years ago. Two of the founder members, Tony and Berti, took time out to speak to us again and update us on how the Green Brigade has developed since then.
Can you tell us how the Green Brigade was born and what you are all about?
Everyone is aware of how poor the atmosphere had become at Celtic Park, and when the Jungle Bhoys started a few of us joined and tried to get involved with that.
I got involved just a few months before we broke away and formed the Green Brigade, we were concerned with the direction they were taking and the hierarchy within the Jungle Bhoys – we don’t want to dwell on that as it’s all water under the bridge now but we’ve only mentioned it to show that is how we started. We don’t want to slate them as different groups have different ideas on how they want to support the team. It must be great for the players to come out of the tunnel and see some of the displays the Jungle Bhoys have been responsible for; the full stand covered with poly flags.
We had a slightly different approach. Our style of support is to an extent a wee bit more extreme, the members who started the group didn’t just look on YouTube and think ‘oh, we want to be Ultras’. Some of our guys had been to Argentina and watched Boca Juniors and River Plate, some had been to Italy at Livorno or Roma games, some of us had been to Croatia. Personally when I was going on holiday with my girlfriend and family our holiday was being booked around going to see football games. I witnessed Yomus at the Mestalla, I also visited the Nou Camp and the Bernabeu and we were looking at the way they supported their clubs and it was just completely different and alien to what we had here and we were learning from it.
It really kicked in when Celtic played Basel in 2003, everything they did seemed to be choreographed, the full area was packed with a couple of thousand supporting the team in unison and it made us think ‘where did it go wrong with Celtic?’
Without wearing green tinted specs, as the jungle wasn’t always great, it did seem there was a unity and a sense of togetherness back then. But I remember going to Hampden when Celtic Park was being redeveloped and there were about 9000 fans and you could hear players shouting, Partick Thistle were beating us – people say that the downturn in atmosphere is only recent but when we went to Hampden it was a sign of things to come.
So why the European Ultra style?
The Jungle Bhoys could have been a lot more successful but there were issues like toeing the party line and complying with restrictions imposed by those in charge at Celtic Park. We cut our teeth a bit there and then when we formed the Green Brigade we looked at the European Ultra style of support. We wanted to be doing stuff off the terraces as well as on; for us that meant starting an Ultra group – a lot of people think that politics are synonymous with Ultra groups across the world but that isn’t necessarily the case. But for us at Celtic we believed there had to be some sort of political edge because of the way we were formed and the history of our club.
How easy is to join and what are your thoughts on the other smaller groups that have sprung up around the stadium?
If people don’t want to get involved wish us and want to do their own thing that’s entirely up to them, but it’s a long haul; people have said we are a very exclusive group because we are quite difficult to get into.
People say it’s near impossible to get into but that’s not true, we started from a handful of members to the numbers we have now so that shows that’s not true. If we opened the floodgates then we could easily have more than 400 members join overnight but we want to keep the core of the group and retain the Ultra mentality. We try to stress to those joining to learn about the Ultra scene, and of course a love for Celtic and following the team is paramount. The political aspect can be a bit off putting, we’re not saying to people that you’ve got to be red; you don’t have to read Marxism or anything like that. You just have to have an understanding and be comfortable with what the group is about; anti-discrimination, anti-racism, and anti-fascism. And they’ve got to be willing to turn up at the political actions we do.
People talk about how hard we are to get into, to be fair the reason we’ve got to where we are today is because we have been tight and built a friendship over the years. We haven’t just said, ‘oh he’s alright, or he’s a Tim so get him in’. We trust everybody and we know we’re able to work together and make decisions and implement them. The guys within the group are trustworthy and we know that they can be relied on.
Can you give examples of some of the initiatives away from the stadium?
We run an anti-discriminatory football league it’s basically made up of refugees and asylum seekers and a team from the Green Brigade. The reason we started that was we realised there was a void and a lot of young guys who had came to Glasgow as refugees couldn’t play football in the organised leagues because they aren’t covered by insurance. The teams involved are Zimbabwe, Sudan, a team from the ACIC – African communities Integration Centre, the Unity Centre – a charity that supports asylum seekers and their claims. We’ve got a good connection with the Unity Centre and as we all know, football breaks down barriers. We’ve been running the league for two years now and we host an annual six-a-side tournament. Celtic Minded and the Huddleboard forums have teams involved and we had a women’s team; players from Glasgow City Ladies. We also invited teams from the gay community and the Glasgow Asian communities but for one reason or another they’ve turned down our offer.
One of the African teams were playing the girls from Glasgow City and one of their players was saying that they couldn’t play against girls or tackle them, they obviously have their own prejudices so we’re helping to break these too. The girls were getting stuck right in about them and after a couple of minutes the guys started going into tackles, they congratulated the girls after the game so that sort of epitomises what the tournament is all about. Obviously Celtic were formed by Irish migrants coming to an alien and unwelcoming city, so it’s good to welcome these people here and invite them to be part of our society and our culture through football and for them to come and play football with us.
We also have political education classes, we’ve already had Willie Maley talking about his father and his part in the Spanish Civil war and anti-fascism, then we had representatives from the Independent Working Class Association and Antifascist Action who work in the communities and combat racism and fascism and try to build a working class voice. We had someone from the Unity Centre talking about asylum issues and the last one we had was Paddy Hill, who was one of the Birmingham Six and heads MOJO Scotland, the miscarriages of justice organisation. It’s not a lecture it’s more of a question and answer section, the amount of young people we’ve had has been great. It might not be that cool when you’re at school to be interested in this sort of stuff but it’s about broadening their minds and making them think about discrimination.
How is the relationship between the Green Brigade and those in charge at Celtic Park?
We don’t have that much of a relationship with the board or the powers that be at Celtic Park, people probably think that because we have our own section now we’re in there all the time having tea and biscuits with them. From the start we always said there wasn’t a real need to talk to the club and that wasn’t a case of burying our heads in the sand, it was just a case of we’re doing what we we’re doing there’s no real need. And because some of us had come from the Jungle Bhoys we saw what we had happened there.
Overcrowding in section 111 was obviously an issue, people were coming into the section that didn’t have seats there, there were chants that shouldn’t have been shouted, we had no control over what was happening as anybody that fancied a sing-song thought they would take it upon themselves to come into 111. It was causing a lot of friction, some of it was really unnecessary and the reaction of the stewards and police was over the top at times. The best solution was a dedicated section for us, and we are able to bring people in who we can trust.
There did seem to be a lot of friction in 111 last season, what’s your slant on this?
The police seemed to be the hired hands of the stewards, Celtic were putting the stewards in and the club was dictating what was happening. Petty little thinks like when we were putting the group banner up we would be harassed for our tickets, display materials weren’t being allowed in, we don’t really know why but we got a lot of pressure off Celtic. They were using intimidation tactics, not always on people in the group but those in the fringes or in the area, picking on younger guys. They were challenged but every second week there would be another incident. One guy went in with his kids and went to the toilet during the game with his son, was asked for his ticket on the way back and he said it was in his jacket and was told he couldn’t go back up, he told them his daughter was sitting there, the stewards then tried to physically stop him going back to his seat, he pushed his way past and the cops were called to intervene. This was a guy with a 6 –year-old boy with him surrounded by cops and stewards. This sort of petty incident was happening all the time.
So how did the argument with the club for the section in 111 come about?
The section came about when Celtic asked us to meet them on the issue of overcrowding, so we raised the issue of the poor and over zealous stewarding of 111. So we put our points of view across and they asked us how they overcome the overcrowding issues and we told them that they could give us our own section and that way those who wanted to be in the section could be. We never heard anything from them again until after a home game against Kimarnock, at the game there were seven or eight people lifted by the police, there was a German boy over from Dortmund put out and it was general madness. When the German guy was put out a lot of boys from the group tried to block the exits to stop police from lifting him. We went to a meeting after this and we pushed our concerns again, I think a lot of people thought we wanted confrontation but we only wanted to back the team and support in our own style. We again heard nothing until the end of the season and we received an e-mail out of the blue to tell us to go into the ticket office and sort out a section. There were no conditions attached, if there were any then we would have said no and continued what we were doing and tried to get more members relocated into 111 and build numbers that way. We were a bit apprehensive at first.
How do you think it has gone, so far this season?
Visually inside the stadium everyone that’s not involved with the group that we’ve spoken to have said it looks great. We’ve still got the problem of continual ticket searches. We were told we would have the same five stewards on duty in that section of the stadium at every game but that hasn’t happened. To be fair the supervisor has been the same and has been fine but it pisses you off a wee bit, we’re hoping to try and build some sort of relationship with the stewards. As far as the displays have went this season the only thing that’s been a bit controversial was the Neil Lennon banner; onwards to victory. We put out a banner with Neil Lennon in a Vladimir Lenin pose with the theme of going to war with a picture of Ibrox on fire, instead of saying Scotland’s Shame FC it said Hun FC and I think a Scotland’s Shame forum took exception to this and tried to start a campaign, they even contacted Bradford City and asked them what they thought of a banner of a stadium on fire.
It was ludicrous, they went on about the use of the Hun word, even Nil by Mouth came out and declared it wasn’t sectarian – as any right minded person already knew. After that group members were videoed and subjected to increased searches and the like, one police officer actually said we were getting grief because over 100 people died in that Ibrox fire. We pointed out that the only fire at Ibrox was during the 50s and it was during the night and no one was injured. He said that wasn’t his information. That’s the sort of thing we are up against every week, misinformation and misunderstanding from those in authority. The police said Celtic had got in touch with them due to our unacceptable conduct and breaking the SPL fans charter but we got back to Celtic and said we hadn’t broken any rules or acted in a sectarian or racist way.
A couple of our members were arrested at Dundee United a couple of seasons ago and they tried to pin a sectarian charge for singing a song calling Warren Feeney a hun, we brought in our own lawyers and expert witnesses and told the procurator fiscal that we were challenging it and we were prepared to fight our corner and were happy to go to court on it and that way we could finally nail it on the head. The guys were given stadium bans pending the court case and funnily enough the charges were dropped after the end of the season. They missed a few games because of it. Neil Lennon came out and publicly complimented us for the support we gave the team when they arrived at the stadium for the first game of the season.
The Scottish Youth Cup Final was a big talking point among fans last year?
We think the youth cup final at Hampden, the same night at the ‘free’ match at Celtic Park against Alkmaar was a big turning point. I think the crowd at Celtic Park was given as less than 2000, a couple of people I’ve spoken to estimated it at around 800 or 900 which, ironically is the highest estimate of our corteo to Hampden. The corteo was a march from where we were to Hampden – a few miles – it was the first time that anything like this had been attempted, we thought we could get a few hundred but we were shocked by the numbers that turned up and that’s when we realised that we weren’t just attracting kids but a lot of guys our own age – late 20s, early 30s. When we looked at how many people were on the march it was frightening. A lot of people thought we were daft wee boys at first but have realised that that’s not what we are, in terms of growth it’s went beyond our expectations.
The three Scotland’s Shame groups who have a similar style of support (not a similar mentality though) also organised a march to the stadium that night, they only had about 60 people. We filled a full block at Hampden and there were others in the stand. I think that it was planned to alienate us from the rest of the support but we don’t think they expected the numbers that were there, we certainly didn’t. Maybe they knew something we didn’t, the police tried to intimidate us a bit on the march and threatened to arrest one of the guys at the front who was conducting the megaphone but we stood together and refused to be bullied but things didn’t escalate.
Some of the guys who went for a drink when we arrived at the stadium didn’t even manage to get into the same section so were piling over the fence. I don’t know what the club thought after that, I think in the early days they maybe thought we would hang ourselves. A couple of times in those days they took a step back from 111 and probably thought we’d do just that but we played it cute and made sure the cops couldn’t target us for anything. There was no use us going with 10 or 15 people trying to do the things we are able to do now, we played the long game. The last couple of years we have had a major influence on a lot of younger guys, we don’t even know half of the younger guys on the fringes of the group but they all want to be involved. Andy you only have to listen to the away support to hear the repertoire of songs and think of where they have come from over the last few years.
There are many other fans who would now like to relocate to 111 or the sections nearby, what is the possibility of a bigger section or more members?
The group won’t expand overnight; everyone in the block isn’t involved in the group. It may be up to Celtic to increase the size of the block and therein again lies the problem. They would have to move more people from their seats; people have been there since the stadium reopened in 95. We feel a bit bad about that but they were only moved slightly left or right. It was the best area for us as we had a number of members already in there. We’ve no control over that.
Celtic fans have always been renowned for their colour and noise in backing the team, some people see our style of support as foreign but the club was founded by immigrants so we’ve probably always been deemed foreign. The style isn’t too different to what we were used to, the main core visually and verbally backing the team is still there but people can’t just come up and start what songs they like. We’re trying to start chants at the front and get them coming back, it isn’t being aloof it just saves it from becoming a rabble. We try to control it to get the best out of the section; we were threatened by arrest if we brought the megaphones in. There are songs we don’t sing, a mixture of Celtic songs, selected rebel songs and some European style chants so the megaphones can help control what is being sung.
What about those supporters who don’t like your style of support?
People are entitled to their opinions on us, we do what we do. The Celtic support is diverse, if people want to go and sit in hospitality boxes then they are perfectly entitled to do that, of others want to go and sit with their pals and talk about their working week then fair enough, if people want to sit in silence or come in 10 minutes late then no problem. But we support the team the way we want to, the executives are catered for, families, but there hasn’t been a section for people who want to stand and sing. Every other ‘customer’ is catered for so it’s about time that people who want to stand and sing are catered for. Celtic could easily come out tomorrow and clamp down heavily on us and that could be our next battle but we are in a far better position now than we’ve ever been in. We’ve had feedback from a few players and they’ve been really positive about our support for the team.
A growing number of supporters seem to be influenced by the songs and style; it seems The Kids Want Ultra!
We’ve got all these young guys running about Glasgow talking about anti-racism and anti-homophobia.
Other people are now starting other songs that we’ve introduced: We Love You, Mcgeady, Fortune, The Lonesome Boatman, and even the Depeche Mode song ‘I Just Can’t Get Enough’ or The Saturdays song as some of the younger guys say. We started singing that just for a laugh and it really caught on, people think it’s attention seeking, it’s not the kind of song we’re going to sing when we’re a goal down, it won’t rouse the team but when we’re a couple of goals up it’s fun. Someone said that the Green Brigade is determined to have fun in the most serious of ways and to an extent that’s true. For all the seriousness of the politics and the Ultra mentality it’s all about making the football supporting experience fun again. Sometimes it was a chore to go and watch Celtic, if there’s a decent atmosphere then it makes it so much better, why Celtic were so against us for the first four years is beyond us.
The ALERTA! banner is prominent at games, can you explain?
Some of the members who got involved with the group were involved with a group known as the Garngad Zecken who had travelled with Hamburg for several years and took part in an anti-racist tournament; they came on board with us as they had always been interested in the Ultra scene as well. So then the Green Brigade started attending the tournament, ALERTA! Probably hasn’t taken off as well as we would have liked but basically it’s made up of other groups whose politics are to the left and we were trying to create some unity between like minded groups and try and organize ourselves a bit better across Europe. For a lot of people football is synonymous with politics. A lot of Ultra groups are apolitical but there are loads who assign themselves to the left or right. We meet up and decide on some actions and displays and try and co-ordinate them and get a higher profile.
We don’t have an official friendship with any other Ultra group, within the scene a lot of other different groups have an affinity with another group from another country. At the Scotland’s Shame game on October 24, we had a load of guys from the French team Toulon and their group Irreductibles, guys from Babelsburg, Ultras Ternana and Freak Brothers, Ultra Sankt Pauli, Gate 13. We’re one of the biggest clubs in the world and these guys from abroad never thought that we’d have this style because we’ve got the British football culture, and some people might think it’s kind of plastic as you’ve got the American and Japanese scenes that look too regimented. But they’ve saw some of the stuff we’ve done and they’ve been over here before and we’ve earned their respect in four or five years. That’s a huge testament to how we’ve developed and is as important to us as the respect we get from Celtic fans. The Ternana group started in the 80s so it’s good to hear them say we’re doing things right. We really feel we are progressing.
The poppy on the shirt, the walkout and the minute’s silence at Falkirk?
There’s a common misconception that it was members of our group who booed during the minutes silence at Falkirk, even though we issued a statement weeks prior to the game saying that the group would not be attending and there would be no group banner. The singing came from outside the stadium and didn’t sound as if there were that many folk, straight away the papers and the internet forums got tore into the Green Brigade and we took a hell of a lot of flak over it. It wasn’t until the furore died down that people realised it wasn’t us. If we really wanted to disrupt a minutes silence we could easily have got a few hundred tickets and went into the ground and did it. The group doesn’t have a problem with the minute’s silence, if people want to respect or remember the war dead or anyone else in this way, then that’s their prerogative. It’s not our thing though but we would never disrupt the minute’s silence, our issue isn’t with a minute’s silence, we have absolutely no problem with that. Our problem is with the poppy on the shirt, we don’t think there’s any place for it at Celtic given our history, and there were no discussions with the fans it was just forced upon us at the Motherwell game. Celtic haven’t taken into consideration the fact that we are essentially different from every other club in Britain, Liverpool and Manchester United don’t wear a poppy on their shirt, why should we given where a lot of our fan base come from and our history.
There’s been a series of open meetings organised by the Celtic Trust and from that there was a meeting with the club earlier this year, Celtic Trust, ourselves and the Celtic Supporters Association were among those who met with Peter Lawell and he was told that the fan organisations were all opposed to it and we didn’t want the poppy on the shirt. The club may have been under pressure from elsewhere to put it on the shirt but we made it clear that the fan groups never organised anything last year and it was still on the front pages and we were still getting bad press. It’s only going to get worse, the first year we decided to walk out and that received a lot of bad press. Not everybody in the Green Brigade agreed with that idea but it was a short notice thing and we put it to vote, the group’s constantly split on lots of things but we make a decision and we back it. Last season we were away from home, the first year we heard it was only because it was a 90th anniversary event. If Celtic insists on wearing it on the shirt then they are going to have a problem with it every year because the fans just won’t accept it. The two options are they take the flak for taking it off or else they will get continuous bad PR when the fans react to it being on the shirt.
The poppy seems to be a common ground for all of the fan groups as no one seems to be happy that it is there.
We can only speak for the Green Brigade, we don’t proclaim to speak for anyone else. We don’t claim to speak for Celtic fans on this issue but what we will say is that there are many, many people out there who oppose the poppy. We will continue to protest and others will too, we will probably take the flak; our heads are above the parapet. We don’t want to have to be the ones that force the issue but we will stand up for what we believe in.
What do you make of the media’s portrayal to the Green Brigade?
We seem to be getting linked with everything that happens nowadays, we don’t know if it’s because the police or authorities are trying to make us into some sort of bogeyman. There was a confrontation between left wing students and some supporters of the Scottish Defence League when they tried to march in Glasgow, it was reported in national newspapers that the Green Brigade were involved and confronted the SDL. We were told that the information had come from police sources, this was in a quality newspaper; The Scotsman. If we were to refute every allegation made against us and try to counter it then we would never get anything done. Sometimes people misinterpret things and especially when it comes to internet forums, you have to wade through so much ******** to get anything resembling the truth.
We get some bad press related to incidents that are nothing to do with our group, like the incident recently at Albion Rovers – it’s easy to pin stuff on us, obviously it’s because these young guys are being influenced by the style of support but there were only 2 members of our group at Cliftonhill that day and they were merely there to watch the game. Our merchandise is available online so the authorities just think it must be us. If I’m wearing a tae-kwondo t-shirt it doesn’t make me a martial arts expert.
How much work goes into displays and match day actions?
People should realise how much work we put into getting things right for match days, the amount of work and money is unbelievable. At the start of last season we were painting Monday, Tuesday, a game on the Wednesday, painting Thursday, and a meeting Friday, another game on the Saturday then the anti-discrimination football on the Sunday.
We put our membership fees up and are constantly raising cash, when guys visit from other groups we pay for their tickets, as much as we can. We don’t charge anything for the football league and six-s-side tournament.
We’re a lot better organised financially and we raise a lot more cash than we used to but countering that we do bigger and better displays so we go through the money quite quickly. The recent Jock Stein tifo cost over £400 and the green, white and orange streamers at Ibrox last season were shipped from China and cost us nearly £2000, the confetti displays are hundreds and hundreds of hours of labour for everything is hand made, we make all the banners ourselves and it requires the use of halls, paint, material, volunteers.
The Celtic support in the main have been very good to us, when we got news that we were being given a section the manager of the Brazen Head allowed for the applications to be mailed there and let us process them there. People who support Celtic and what we do have managed to let us use halls for paint nights and we are always looking for premises we can paint in. A lot of the pubs have also been good and let us have fund-raising nights. The feedback we get is magic, another thing is the merchandise – when we went to Ibrox last year it seemed as if about 1 person in every 10 had something with the Green Brigade logo on, T-shirts, scarves, hats – we couldn’t do it on our own without the support we have had and we wouldn’t be where we are now.
We have sub-groups that deal with different aspects of our organisation and we try to come up with ideas in groups rather than individuals. We try to let the sub-groups be autonomous to an extent and take a bit of responsibility as it gets ridiculous if you let everyone else vote on everything. For example you could have a vote on a t-shirt design and then once that’s agreed the question could be should they be green or white and then you have to have another vote. By the time everyone votes you can be months down the line and could miss the boat.
What about the future?
Everything is going sweet right now but that could all change tomorrow, Celtic could bring up about ten different things if they want and make them a major issue and that could be our next battle. That’s nothing new to us, from four or five people standing at the back of 111 it’s been, without being melodramatic, a battle just to keep the group going and allow it to grow. It’s not something we will shirk from, we’re not going away. We’re here now and we’re here to stay and we’ll deal with whatever comes our way. There’s nothing that’s a major worry for us right now but we’ll cross bridges when we come to them.
The ‘Green Brigade’, Celtic’s cultural identity, and why Celtic and Scotland’s Shame fans’ IRA stuff is embarrassing
Graham Spiers 26 Sep 2011, The Times
It was quite an amazing scene at Celtic Park on Saturday. This loud, boisterous, sometimes militant group of the club’s support known as the Green Brigade were in full flow. Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, later referred to this chanting, drum-beating mob as “fantastic” and “brilliant”.
You almost forgot they were there because, for the opening 45 minutes, hardly a cheep came out of this singing section. Instead, a series of banners were unfurled, in a carefully-planned ploy that could hardly have been executed better. As each protesting banner was made visible the whole of Celtic Park rose and applauded, causing quite a commotion.
Suddenly, at the beginning of the second half, their singing started again, and what an atmosphere it created. Great, booming, tribal chants were flung from one end of the stadium to the other, as otherwise dormant supporters were roused by the occasion.
It gave the Celtic-Caley Thistle match a theatrical backdrop, prompting Lennon’s later comments.
The Green Brigade were protesting about the proposed new legislation being created for the Offensive Behaviour at Football Bill. Their perception, in many ways correct, is that it will curb their rightful freedom of speech. This is a complicated area, mired as it has become in a trashy Celtic and huns game of moral ping-pong, but it is still worth exploring.
For instance, it is true that the Green Brigade’s songs about Ireland and Irish identity, which are at the core of Celtic’s foundation as a football club, are to be outlawed. One of their banners said: “Police State — Don’t Criminalise Us”. Another said: “Our Songs Are Not Sectarian”. Further points were made about a collection of chants that the Green Brigade enjoy — one of them even being Ireland’s national anthem — but which the Scottish Parliament might be blundering its way towards outlawing.
The most contentious of the chants found among the Celtic support — as well as that of Scotland’s Shame — is about the IRA. This is where it comes right down to the nub, and where, in truth, a zero tolerance policy probably needs to be deployed.
It doesn’t sound very convincing these days to argue that, when Celtic fans chant about the IRA, they are in fact referring to an Irish liberation movement of nearly 100 years ago, rather than the terror group of recent times. This is a semantic we can do without.
The very same line of argument was tried a few years ago by some Scotland’s Shame hardliners over their use of the word “Fenian”. Anyone steeped in west of Scotland society knows that the word is a pejorative term for a Catholic, but some Scotland’s Shame fans tried to get round this, saying: “No, no … in fact we are merely referring to the 19th century political movement in Ireland.”
That argument disintegrated somewhat when thousands of fans at Ibrox would refer to Martin O’Neill, then the Celtic manager, as a “sad Fenian b*****d”, when plainly O’Neill was alive in the here and now, and not in the 19th century.
In fact, on Saturday at Celtic Park, there wasn’t a single IRA chant to be heard from the Green Brigade, despite some of their critics fervently praying that there would be. It is the one refrain in their repertoire they need to junk, however fleeting it might be at Celtic Park. (Some Celtic fans on the road, just like those of Rangers, are a different breed to sort out.) The Green Brigade, like the Blue Order at Ibrox, is to be encouraged. They are loud and brash and they provide Celtic games with a vivid percussion. There is also an argument that, all across the world, many football clubs’ supporters express a cultural or political stance that should not be deemed to be illegal. If these were outlawed then, never mind Celtic, the supporters of Real Madrid and Barcelona would be in deep trouble.
Where most decent people want to draw a line, and be less libertarian, is where it comes to outright prejudice, principally involving race or religion. Where a football crowd starts to hurl bile in either of these spheres, I’m all for supporters being carted off and fined. But over a club’s cultural roots — which many Celtic fans feel strongly — I don’t see how it can be muzzled.
The Scottish Government needs to be very careful as it meanders towards drawing up this Bill. The Green Brigade may have a point: Celtic and Scotland’s Shame fans could face court charges over offences that are laughable. If I were Roseanna Cunningham, the Government’s minister for community safety, I would tred very warily indeed.
TNT Interview with Green Brigade (2011)
http://www.twistsnturns.net/content.php?160-The-Green-Brigade
TnT has been lucky enough to gain an in-depth interview with some of the founding members of the GB and are delighted to bring you a three-part feature on their take on the group’s development to date; a behind the scenes look at their efforts and some musings for the future.
Part One
With the new season well under way and the anti-sectarianism initiative building up a head of steam in parliament, the press and stadia around the country, this could be a telling year for many in football not least the fans themselves. Perhaps this is no more relevant than for groups like The Green Brigade, who have undoubtedly attracted their plaudits and critics in equal measure. With the outcome of their silent protest still reverberating around message boards and the mainstream media, pundits and punters alike have really sat up and took notice of the GB’s latest stance.
The history of this fairly new Ultras group gives a small insight into the commitment and drive that has brought them along an often bumpy path to the success, some may say notoriety, they enjoy today.
Wild Colonial Bhoys
From their beginnings just over five years ago, the group’s founders had one goal in mind, to bring back the spine-tingling atmosphere sadly lacking since the charged atmosphere of European nights, typical of the Martin O’Neil era, that often rocked paradise to its foundations.
As our interviewee explains
“First and foremost we are ardent Celtic fans who eat, sleep and breathe the team. We evolved as a small splinter of the Jungle Bhoys who, like us, were sadly disappointed with the apathy we witnessed at home and away matches. Having travelled the continent, we’d become accustomed to Ultra groups, putting on a show across their terraces and we looked to them with both a sense of admiration and envy.
“As Celtic fans to the core, we are proud of the club’s colourful, vocal and often humorous past, but the atmosphere at games was quite simply flat. While the Jungle Bhoys should be applauded for making some in-roads into changing this, as a group of us knew we wanted to move in the Ultras direction, with tifos and corteos, chants and movements, although we also realised it would be no mean feat.”
On the one road
So, armed with just a few ideas and a less than a dozen willing bodies, this small but ambitious group collectively agreed their driving factors would be based around Celtic, politics and Ultras. Their mindset was that success would only be achieved by their members being on the same page:
“In taking this approach we had to balance the Ultras culture we wanted to adopt and make that relevant to the Celtic support, with the expectations of a modern-day Scottish club with deep and proud Irish roots.
“Our main aim in that first season was to bring a more European flavour to the match day experience but we couldn’t let our ambitions run away with us too soon so we set our sights mainly on away games and developing a group banner. We just wanted to get ourselves heard and hopefully the crowd would join in. We knew we couldn’t run before we walked but even we were surprised by the rate at which many people supported us.
“One of our greatest nights early on was when we organised a corteo to the Youth Cup Final, with 50-60 members at that time we sat in the pub expecting possibly 100 people to turn up. We were stunned when bodies continued to arrive, folk flooding in with the police estimating numbers somewhere between 800-1000. That is when it hit home that there was a significant contingent out there able and willing to get behind us.
“By our third season in, it was clear we had enough backing to make an impact at home matches too, particularly the after the League Cup Final in 2008/2009. We believe this made Celtic sit up and take notice, we were here to stay, culminating in the club allowing us our own section of the ground, with 400 seats, last season and continuing this year.
Something inside so strong
Its not all been plain sailing for the Green Brigade as they freely admit they have made mistakes along the way:
“We realise we have our critics and we respect many of those points of view, some of our errors have made us grow both in terms of maturing as a group and in how we handle certain situations. While we stand by our overarching ethos, we realise why they may have been over interpreted by the media, other Celtic fans and the general public the way they are.
“That said, we have also been blamed for other incidences that were not our doing and that is why we will always look at such situations as a learning experience. It is also one of the reasons why we were pleased to be allocated our own section by Celtic, we felt this was not only a recognition of our efforts but also a real indicator the Club was handing us a serious responsibility to manage the image and actions of those in our area”
Graffiti on the Wall
Despite what the media and football forums lead us to believe, discipline in the section is important to the Green Brigade, as they explain:
“We tightly manage all applications for the section, we believe the Club prefer it this way as it takes an administrative nightmare off their hands while we assume responsibility for our members.
“We generally have a good relationship with the stewards and we welcome measures like ticket checks to prevent overcrowding. Although it is perhaps a measure of our success that fans from other parts of the ground want to come over and join us, we appreciate there is safety aspects to consider too. Although a few people in the section have been ejected for minor incidents, no one has ever been given a permanent ban from the stadium and we are proud of that.
“People are always keen to scrutinise us when something is perceived to go wrong – perhaps some investigative journalist, if any still exist, might like to look at behaviour in our section in comparison to other grounds around the country – we believe they may just get a wake-up call.
“We also feel that every football fan is under attack this season from the current legislation, we recognise the driving factors behind it but it is ill-thought and is being rushed through leading to the potential to victimise innocent fans of a number of clubs. Who wants to go to a football match to be monitored by cops with pocket CCTV? We are sure the police themselves would prefer to be doing something more constructive given their contracting resources!
“We thought long and hard before our silent protest, we want nothing more than to support our team, but when backing your team is all but criminalised we knew we had to make our protest heard. The reaction we had across the stadium and beyond shows the depth of feeling across many quarters that we actually do have a real point on this issue.”
Perhaps just a little tongue in cheek, they add
“We tend to avoid any situation that will cause real controversy for the group, we seem to do a good enough job of that on our own albeit unintentionally.”
Just can’t get enough
There is no doubt the Green Brigade are popular, there is a waiting list to join their section. More than this though is the number of fans, old and young, who welcome the return of colour and choir. And no-one can deny them their triumphs – from elaborate displays at the Scottish Cup Final to ruling the roost in terms of banners and song at ‘Mordor’.
Yet despite their perceived failings and being harangued in the media, the GB are resolute in putting heart and soul behind the team. Our interviewee sums it up:
“We are all about being visual and vocal and we are 100% about getting behind the team. That is why we got on with it on the last day of the season even when we knew the title was going elsewhere. No-one can look at the scenes of a packed Celtic Park on its feet and not feel the hairs on the back of their neck stand-up. That type of atmosphere is why we aim to be around for a long time to come.”
Banners & Banter
Since their inception, the Green Brigade have sought many ways to bring colour and chorus to home and away games through their, often unique, chants and tifos. The organisation that sits behind their efforts is phenomenal and, while the group is often praised, the story behind them has to be heard to be fully appreciated
Our interviewee explains:
“Our banners are a big part of what we do. From general banter to sending a hard hitting message, each one is carefully planned and executed to gain maximum effect.”
As part of their day to day running, the GB uses its member’s talents to their full potential so they can hone in on their expertise – organising merchandise, political awareness, displays for example. This is when ideas are first mooted, when they get together to thrash out their plans, when they get the go ahead to make them happen but once they are given the nod the whole group has a part to play.
He adds:
“It all starts at the drawing board stage, so to speak. Everyone has lots of ideas and quite often strong opinions on them but we only move forward when we reach a general consensus. Sometimes it takes a while for an idea to come to fruition, we kept the Willie Maley one with different players on the back burner for a while and the Scotland’s Shame banner was a year in the planning while we waited for an ideal opportunity to execute it.”
At any one time the group can have a few banners sitting waiting to be used and many more ideas being developed.
“Some of our younger or fringe members suggest off-the-wall ideas. While we applaud their enthusiasm, we have to take care as there is only so far that we can sail close to the wind before bringing untold problems for the group and the club.”
It is clear the bhoys and ghirls behind the banners are a hard working lot as they design and deliver all displays by themselves, giving them a real sense of ownership and pride over the finished article. Once they reach agreement on a banner, they will cost it out and purchase the materials. This usually starts about a week before the game concerned and often involves a lot of running around to get the paint etc and then deliver materials to the rest of the group who all muck in to get banners finished.
“We can spend an entire week putting a banner together, fitting it around work and family commitments. As we are quite careful to keep a lid on the details, we have to get them made away from prying eyes. It may sound simple, paint the banners, but for some of the more detailed designs we have to firstly create a master design on acetate and then use this as a guide, all this takes time and money.
“Our very first banner was the group one that our own guys designed, it follows a standard ultras style – a skull that looks similar to a football but with a tricolour scarf to add that Celtic touch.
“We put in a couple of shifts making this banner, not least because the paint didn’t take initially. In typical GB style we were running around, hung-over, trying to find some acrylic paint. But we eventually got it finished and it has been everywhere with us, the Ukraine, Russia, you name it.”
The skull design gets knocked back in some places such as Madrid, Switzerland and Russia so the group have to find ways to get it into those grounds. In their early days before the section they often smuggled banners into matches, but telling how would give the game away.
The displays also define the group’s stance on a particular issue, not least the group banner itself:
“We know people often question or poke fun at us for hanging our banner upside down but we are resolute on this point. The custom actually comes from shipping days and was used as a sign of distress but is now common in the ultras culture. We were only a small group when we first started hanging the banner upside down so it allowed us to engage in a unique way with other fans while getting our point across. We do look forward to hanging it the correct way up in future though.”
Over the years the group’s displays have grown both in terms of their complexity and their execution. A full stand display starts with a blow-up of a seating plan; this alone costs a lot of money and hours of planning.
“The shamrock at last season’s cup final was probably the most intricate we have ever done, it took a full day to set up. This wasn’t our first full stand display but it was more difficult to arrange and we really relied on the crowd participating to make it come together.
“Even a ‘simpler’ display with 250 – 400 flags takes everyone putting in about 15 hours each over the course of a week, not forgetting the guys have to go about their daily lives too.
Bye Bye Rangers
“We’ve had some real hairy moments too with displays, for example we got hit with a four figure customs charge for the streamers we used at Ibrox but hey at least some of us pay our taxes. Such sums for displays are not unusual though as, on average, we will spend thousands for the Broomloan or Hampden.
“We once used 12,000 canes in a flag display at the 2009 Cup Final and it was a logistical nightmare dividing them into batches, getting the batches out to the folk making the flags and then collecting them back in before the match.
“We had good intentions of gathering the canes back in to recycle but were too busy celebrating the 2-0 win that we had to write most of them off.
“Our guys are often knackered before a match, ask some of the old bhoys who set up the last display at Ibrox in less than an hour. But the minute that whistle blows for kick off they seem to find enough energy to get right behind the team – it must be like a football equivalent of Viagra for some of them at their age.
Wearing of the Green
“When we use more than one banner at a time the pressure is really on to get them ready and we generally don’t have enough hours in the day, this was particularly true for the 32 banners used during our silent protest against the draconian sectarianism bill. We put our hearts and souls into this for days on end and weren’t really sure how it would be received but it couldn’t have gone better and we were delighted with the response.
“It isn’t a case of being full of ourselves, it is the fact almost everyone in the stadium to a man, woman and child recognised they are in danger of being arrested simply for supporting their team. We only ever challenge serious issues or where we feel our hand has been forced, as was the case with our poppy protest. This is why we are also lending our full backing to the ‘Fans Against Criminalisation’campaign.
“We’ve had some real highs and lows over the banners and when one of them racks up 5 or 6 pages of permarage on Follow Follow, that’s when we know we are doing our jobs right. We did this with the Lenin/Lennon banner – we picked up on the manager’s quote about ‘going to war’ and took it from there, the play on an iconic image of Lenin certainly made the banner a talking point.”
Big Strong Man
The Green Brigade could be said to have set the standard for ultras groups in the UK and welcome a challenge from other groups to keep them on their toes, so they believe it would be good to have some real competition in Scotland.
“Bring it on we say, the only place where we come near to having serious competitors is at Tynecastle due to the nippy atmosphere. Football is all about rivalry and it’s good to have a battle of the terraces in terms of vocal/display superiority.
“Some of our best displays are our most simple, when we unfurled our ‘busted’ banner after we found out what the Blue Odour had planned it was fantastic. It’s not the only time we have got one over on them but the fact we caught one of them on camera as his jaw hit the floor made it all the better.
“We really were on tenterhooks with this one as we had managed to get the details of their banner through a mole infiltrating their ranks a few weeks prior to the match. Our confetti display had gone fantastic but, with the game sitting at 0-0, there was no sign of their pathetic attempt at a banner.
“Half time arrived and they finally brought it out so we frantically unfurled ours. It was hilarious watching them pull theirs back in and then stands erupted. The noise was still going 10-15 minutes later when Celtic scored and didn’t die down for the rest of the match.
“When we humped Rangers on the park that day and hammered them in the stands through the displays and through singing it was a fantastic feeling, the adrenalin lasted for days afterwards.
Grand Old Team
“Getting a great reaction from our banners gives us a real buzz especially when we try something new or different.
“For example, our Jock Stein silhouette one was the first on a set time or our Graffiti on the Wall banner was rather unique in how we went about it. We could hear the crowd take a sharp intake of breath as we moved a spray can banner across another wall banner underneath to look as though it was writing on it.
“The crowd must have been thinking ‘surely they wouldn’t dare’ as the wor
ds ‘Oh ah…’ appeared. When it finally moved across to reveal ‘up the Celts’ you could sense the relief while hearing the laughter.
Humour plays a big part in how the Green Brigade go about their business, as our interviewee explains:
“Folk have this impression that we are all about being political and take ourselves too seriously but it’s not like that at all, often we want to make a statement but have a laugh at the same time. Our display of the SPL trophy being lowered into a toilet helped us make a point to the Board about how let down we felt by their lack of activity in the transfer market but we still had fun at the same time.
“Getting publicity from our banners helps us make a point that might otherwise not be heard if we tried to speak as a group to individuals, the police, press or even the government. We’ve had so much positive feedback lately, particularly about our stance against the SNP’s ridiculous approach to the sectarianism at football issue.
“Devising and making banners is just one part of the Green Brigade though and it really is a whole team effort. While we are the artistically talented ones we do rely on the old codgers in the group to raise money for displays through merchandising and fundraising – just because they are a bit past it doesn’t mean they don’t have a use.
“Joking aside, it is only through fans buying merch, making donations and participating in our fundraising activities that we can do what we do, so we’d like to thank each and every one of them for their continued support. And watch this space; you never know when we might do something next to raise a few eyebrows or smiles.”
Graham Speirs (The Times, 21 Nov 2011)
I’m going to stick my brass neck out here and do something that appears to be highly unfashionable these days. I’m going to stick up for that loud, colourful, at times controversial band of Celtic supporters known as the Green Brigade.
And this is from someone, before my cyberspace friends start foaming at the mouth, who utterly deplores all IRA chanting inside football grounds.
If you believe some contemporary accounts of the Green Brigade — in the main supplied by those who scarcely know them or see them — they congregate on that north stand at Celtic Park and boom out pro-IRA chants from start to finish.
There is presently a fad among Rangers supporters, at times whipped up into a frenzied outrage on Twitter and elsewhere, to have the Green Brigade endlessly and continuously bawling “Up the Ra” at matches. The fact that these observers are rarely there to see or witness such allegations deters them not in the slightest.
The latest example we’ve had of this fiction was at Inverness on Saturday. By general consent — and we were all ears — in the early minutes of the match a rendition of “Up the RA” whimpered then petered out over a duration of ten seconds among a small section of the visiting Celtic support. But how was this being portrayed later by those who now spend their lives with agonised ears pinned to their radios?
Why, it was a festival of pro-IRA chanting in Inverness. It boomed out continuously. I mean, they ask incredulously, how can anyone deny it? This whole “offensive chanting at football” debate has become a wearying charade of fiction, name-calling and points-scoring. And, right now, the group of supporters who are being most traduced by it all are the so-called Green Brigade.
For what it is worth, last week I wrote that this group have certain members among them who can be crass in their chanting. I first wrote about the Celtic support’s “pro-IRA issue” six years ago, and I don’t believe I’ve been alone in so doing. Moreover, I lose little sleep over whether anyone wants to call this type of chanting “political” or “sectarian”.
Who cares for the hermeneutics, if most of us deem it to be offensive? Yet the Green Brigade, far from booming out the sort of chants I would detest, in my experience have done anything but. In at least four or five games I have attended at Celtic Park this season, their contribution to the atmosphere has been terrific: their loud, tribal chants being flung back and forth across the stadium. It is an utter fiction, perpetrated by some who lie awake at night obsessing over such matters, that the Green Brigade is stocked to the gunnels with pro-IRA choristers.
It was fascinating, and at times comical, listening to Neil Lennon on this very subject the other day. Lennon, in the main, evidently thinks that the Green Brigade are fantastic. “The colour, the atmosphere and the joy they bring to our games is brilliant,” the Celtic manager told us on Friday.
Hang on, Neil. You were supposed to be condemning them. Oh, right. In a fit of counter-balance Lennon also sought to condemn “offensive chanting” that the Celtic supporters might produce, arguing that such chants “dragged the club through the mud”, which they do.
Lennon’s position in regard to the Green Brigade is not uncomplicated. Many of them, like him, espouse the world view of Irish Republicanism. Lennon claims that his politics are “private” but they haven’t always been so.
He comes from a social, cultural and political strand of the Irish saga that chimes with many Celtic supporters. It was due to this and much more that, while speaking impressively on Friday on the subject of chanting and the Green Brigade, the Celtic manager could scarcely help himself in expressing his admiration for these supporters.
The Green Brigade, for my part, hardly have a thing in common with me. But what I do know is that their repertoire, while not being impeccable, is not in the slightest way a catalogue of offensive songs inside Celtic Park. To believe this, you really have to have a pre-ordained and fixed view of them, which is one of contempt.
On the odd occasion at Celtic Park, as in Inverness on Saturday, when this group does chime up offensively, it only serves to insult its wider expression and humour. It also allows the Green Brigade to be so grossly misrepresented, as we are presently finding.
Neil Lennon sees red over Celtic’s Green Brigade following offensive banner in Udinese match
In normal circumstances there would have been a bitter-sweet flavour to Celtic’s return from their final European engagement of this season, the 1-1 draw with Udinese in the Stadio Friuli on Thursday night that saw them exit the Europa League but with some distinction, having gone head to head with the Italian league leaders and emerge with their reputation enhanced.
Neil Lennon sees red over Celtic’s Green Brigade following offensive banner in Udinese match
Neil Lennon said of the Green Brigade: “If I was in a room with these guys right now what I would say to them would not be for public consumption” Photo: AP
Roddy Forsyth
By Roddy Forsyth
11:00PM GMT 16 Dec 2011
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On this occasion, however, the prevalent flavour was sour as a consequence of the events that tarnished the name of a club which parades the reputation of its fans whenever the opportunity presents itself.
The Celtic support is not squeaky clean – no sizeable aggregation of followers ever is – but the image cherished within the Celtic Park boardroom is of a gregarious and largely loveable assembly of the faithful, a picture burnished by the accolade of Fifa’s Fair Play Award, presented in 2003 in recognition of the excellent behaviour of the estimated 60,000 fans who travelled to Seville for the Uefa Cup final against Jose Mourinho’s Porto.
Now, though, the club has been forced to face the consequences of the decision by chief executive Peter Lawwell to arrange for the group of supporters who call themselves the Green Brigade to assemble in their own dedicated portion of Celtic Park as a glee club or ginger group, whose task was to animate their more sedate counterparts elsewhere in the arena.
The arrangement has mainly worked to the advantage of the atmosphere and the call and response songs and chants that invariably begin in section 111 undoubtedly rouse the crowd and the players.
Had Lawwell looked at the Green Brigade’s online manifesto, he might have foreseen difficulties – or perhaps he did and felt he could discount them. The introduction of a group whose declared aims include a 32-county Marxist and Gaelic-speaking Republic of Ireland plus a Scottish republic distinguished by the same linguistic and political features, should have rung an alarm bell.
Sure enough, the claque contains an element addicted to singing and chanting in praise of the IRA. Condemnation of this tendency by politicians, police and other fans – including Celtic supporters – has led to a further debate about whether or not any kind of prohibition would constitute a suppression of free speech or comment and, moreover, even a restriction on those who believe they are keepers of the club’s soul.
In a manner drearily familiar to anyone with more than a passing knowledge of Northern Irish factionalism and its equally deformed cousin in the west of Scotland, this debate has splintered in turn.
Lawwell, indeed, was confronted at Trieste airport on Friday by fans who took exception to his attempt to ban pro-IRA songs and in the exchange that followed he said: “You’re a disgrace.”
Lawwell acknowledged his dilemma to the accompanying reporters. “I think there is a recognition that we would like to be able to control the standing section 111 at Celtic Park, but we can’t control all of it,” he said.
“The Green Brigade have had a hard time. That is a group of maybe 300 people, but with them, it is a minority within that minority. Last night we have still to identify which section of Celtic Park these people are from, or indeed if they come to Celtic Park.”
Whatever they call themselves or however they regard themselves – Continuity Green Brigade perhaps? – the hardcore faction dragged Celtic into the gutter in Udine.
Offensive or obscene banners are hardly scarce in football grounds but when, in the same week that the governing body of European football fines Celtic €15,000 (£12,700) for “illicit chants” in praise of the IRA at the home game against Rennes last month, the supposed dissidents unveil a banner bearing the legend “—- Uefa”, in what possible way did they conceivably imagine they did anything but harm the club they profess to support?
They have probably also landed Udinese in trouble, by evading three checkpoints (one of which involved a search of each spectator) by smuggling in their imbecilic flag and the flares they lit to draw attention to it.
And, greatest sin of all for supposed supporters, they swung the spotlight away from an excellent and bold performance by their manager and players.
Certainly Lennon – who takes Celtic to meet St Johnstone in Perth on Sunday afternoon – was incensed.
Asked what he would do were he to be left alone with the culprits he retorted: “If I was in a room with these guys right now what I would say to them would not be for public consumption. That’s how angry I am about it.
“I am very angry because we should be talking about the players today and their efforts. They gave everything last night – every ounce of energy and quality – but today we are talking about a group of people who are just hellbent on damaging the reputation of the club.
“So to say I’m upset about it would be putting it mildly. I can’t understand what they are thinking, I have no idea. Are they even ‘Celtic fans’?
“I would use that term very loosely and be very dubious about calling them that. The club has worked very, very hard to build a reputation in Europe – so have 99 per cent of the fans.
“Because of all that hard work we are welcome everywhere in Europe but now we have a few people who are trying to undermine all that and tarnish the reputation of the club. We don’t want them here.
“We are talking about a handful of people here. It’s premeditated obviously – I’m just surprised they spelt the words right. So now we have to call on other fans to self-police it. Let’s put an end to this right now.
“I don’t know if we are going to be charged, or if we’ll have to face a disciplinary hearing or not but it’s the last thing the club needed after all that they have done over the last 10 or 20 years.
“The team performance is what we should be talking about – the way they went about the game and the positivity.
“They didn’t sit back and defend all night, they got on the front foot and they created quality chances and but for a bit of luck we could have scored two or three goals. To do that against Udinese is very, very pleasing.”
Feb 2013
(statement/leaflet handed out by the The Green Brigade following repeated alleged harrassment by authorities & police)
The Green Brigade: Celtic gave us enough rope to hang ourselves
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13136449.green-brigade-celtic-gave-us-enough-rope-hang/
15th December 2013
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Green Brigade banners featuring Bobby Sands and William Wallace unveiled during the Uefa Champions League match against AC Milan at Celtic Park last month caused the club to be fined â??¬50,000 (Ã?£42,000)Photograph: Brian St
Green Brigade banners featuring Bobby Sands and William Wallace unveiled during the Uefa Champions League match against AC Milan at Celtic Park last month caused the club to be fined â??¬50,000 (Ã?£42,000)Photograph: Brian St
‘CELTIC have basically said here’s your rope – and we’ve allowed ourselves and others to hang us.” That statement amounts to an admission of assisted suicide from Scotland’s most controversial group of football fans.
Fêted by Rod Stewart and lauded by England manager Roy Hodgson, the Green Brigade – Celtic’s group of “self-styled ultras” or hardcore fans – appears to have lost its war with the club and the goodwill of fellow supporters.
In the last month, the Green Brigade’s love/hate relationship with Celtic’s hierarchy has become one of just hate. One of its politically charged banners landed the club with another fine from European football’s governing body last week, and its association with the damage at Motherwell’s Fir Park stadium caused by setting off pyrotechnic flares and the breaking of seats is likely to see the club’s place in the experiment of Friday night football pulled.
As a result, more than 120 of the Green Brigade’s members and associates are suspended from Celtic Park, and its notorious Section 111 within the ground has been broken up.
In the popular imagination, they have had their status as Scottish football’s bête noir confirmed, shifting from a noisy, colourful, provocative and politically confrontational group to essentially hooligans with a fondness for Irish Republican paramilitaries.
Police Scotland, determined to make the contentious Offensive Behaviour at Football Act work, and whose officers have had regular brushes with the Green Brigade, could not have wished for better headlines.
It all seems a long way from their pivotal role in making nights like last season’s win over Barcelona among the best in living memory.
“Celtic have done what the police couldn’t do and that’s put the game beyond repair for us,” one member of the Green Brigade told the Sunday Herald.
“Will it end the group? Well, it could go either way, limping on and people could then chuck it. The moment might have gone. Lots of things are mounting up. The harassment from the cops and Celtic takes its toll.
“But when we got this thing going we were underground. We were raw. But we lost that. We went from one end of the spectrum to being in Rod Stewart’s book. The kids have ripped it up in the last weeks. I think we all have.”
The Green Brigade has a core of around 80 members, a decision-making inner circle of around 30 and a wider associated circle in its section within Celtic Park of around 350 people. Its successful underground merchandising operation would give the impression of a much larger group, however.
Police Scotland admits the group are not “casuals”. It has dismissed links with illegal groups in Northern Ireland, but expressed concern about the group’s use of pyrotechnics, the “vulnerability” of younger members and breaching the Offensive Behaviour Act via songs the force sees as falling foul of the legislation.
Since the introduction of the legislation, many of the Green Brigade’s members and associates have been arrested and brought to court for a breach of the act.
The Green Brigade was formed by no more than half a dozen members of a previous singing section, the Jungle Bhoys, who became disillusioned with that group around 2005 and wanted something more political which spoke to the Ultras scene of clubs such as Germany’s St Pauli or Livorno in Italy.
Soon they were active at anti-racism and STUC events, but still numbered only around a dozen marching behind their own banners. But when Celtic gave over a section of its ground to the burgeoning group, numbers started to snowball.
“By the time it’s 2010, the group gets Section 111 and we realise we’ve a movement on our hands.
“How do you get in? Well, you’ve got to turn up for games for starters. Then there’s paint nights, helping out with banners, setting up before big games in the ground. It’s almost like having another job and a lot of work goes into it away.
“To get in – it’s almost like an interview with people who are in your wider company. The group’s looking for people with different opinions, but on the three main topics.”
But controversy was never far away. A Remembrance Day banner demanding “No bloodstained poppy on our Hoops” brought widespread condemnation, and a Uefa fine for “illicit chanting” following the singing of songs referring to the IRA during the team’s Europa League run in 2011 was met with the notorious “F**k Uefa” banner at a subsequent game.
But for all his condemnation, Celtic’s chief executive, Peter Lawwell, kept the group on board, an acknowledgement of its input to the atmosphere at an otherwise moribund Celtic Park. Manager Neil Lennon also made a point of singling them out for praise when presented with the League trophy.
The Green Brigade member the Sunday Herald spoke to stands by their banners, including the ones linking IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands to William Wallace. However, several members of the Green Brigade have faced criminal action for singing the anthem Roll Of Honour, which commemorates the hunger strikes through the line “England you’re a monster”. They argue that Flower Of Scotland carries the same sentiment. He said: “The group was becoming part of the Celtic Park experience, part of the day trip; the section isn’t as hardcore as many think.
“But the banners over the last few years haven’t been about pushing the boat out and trying to annoy the club. Every single one of the banners had a deeply held belief and a point behind it.
“Like the Bobby Sands and William Wallace banner. A lot of people were scratching their heads. Even other Celtic fans were asking what this was about. But we knew. Anyone affected by the Offensive Behaviour Act knew. And if your audience is based around people getting arrested at the football, what better audience to make your point in front of?
“Forums and fanzines have had their day. It gets to the point where things build up a head of steam. The Offensive Behaviour Act came in and while people had reservations how it would affect them, it was not until it came in that we knew just how.
“And that’s not just the group. It’s those who were in our wider area and wider social circle. Away games is where the arrests are. Cops picking up easy targets, daft drunk kids who don’t realise the consequences of their actions and whose lives can be ruined for singing a song with their mates.
“And we get the label we do because people in Scotland aren’t willing, even now, to accept Irish Republican views as an acceptable political ideology. Back in the days of the Jungle, no-one was really picking up on this, but the last few years have thrown up a generation of tut-tutters who sang much much worse [songs] than we do now.”
If the knock-out blow was the Motherwell game, then the Green Brigade admit they “took their eye off the ball”. The emergence of a group of affiliated young Turks in the last year, the Style Mile Vandals (SMV) brought the edge of drunkenness and hooliganism to Celtic away fixtures. So who are the SMV?
“Well, they’re kind of the naughty wee brother who got kind of carried away. They’ve been on the go about a year, are younger kids and into graffiti and stuff. These are the guys out late at night putting up stickers and spray painting.
“The Union Bears [Rangers’ ‘ultras’] have something similar. But there’s a huge difference between the SMV and the Green Brigade, even if there’s an overlap of a few members.
“The Green Brigade kind of don’t want the notoriety as individuals; the SMV want to be the big boys. They see themselves as a group within a group and the Green Brigade are annoyed they’ve been pursuing their notoriety.
“My view? The recent pyro stuff hasn’t just been the SMV and the kids around the group. It’s easy enough to find online and it’s also cheap enough to find online and it’s also cheap enough for anyone to buy. However, a lot people need a bogeyman to blame.”
Brigadistas in Paradise – The Green Brigade and left wing football fan culture
Date: Sat, 2015-05-02 16:13
http://www.wsm.ie/c/brigadistas-paradise-green-brigade-and-left-wing-football-fan-culture
The following is an abridged summary of a qualitative study undertaken as part of the Masters in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. The thesis drew upon theories of culture, subculture, social movements, radical pedagogy, ethnographies and studies of ultras, gender and football research, as well as studies of the Irish immigrant experience in Scotland, and specifically the role of Celtic FC as an expression of Irish identity.
The Green Brigade of Glasgow Celtic Football Club were founded in 2006 as an explicitly anti-sectarian, anti-racist and anti-fascist group of ultras, who would celebrate Irish Republicanism, oppose the commercialisation of football, and act as an alternative to apolitical fans groups who were perceived as being too close to the management of the club.
Football has long provided a space for dissident politics to be expressed, and the link between football and radical politics is well established (Kuhn, 2011). In Scotland, football is an important forum where issues of ethnic, religious and political identity are played out, with Celtic being an important conduit for expressions of Irish immigrant identities, particularly support for Irish Republicanism, anti-imperialist struggles, and broadly left-wing politics.
As ultras, the Green Brigade support their team in a passionate, colourful, loud and coordinated way, making use of banners, pyrotechnics, songs and chants, and other expressions of die-hard support. The term ‘ultra’, for many, has become synonymous with right-wing football groups, particularly in Italy, where fascist ultras groups are extremely prevalent. While it is true that right-wing, fascist ultra groups are extremely prominent throughout Europe, ultra is a subcultural scene which has been adopted by both right and left-wing football fans and activists. Comparable examples of subcultures being spaces of direct contestation between fascist and anti-fascist activists would be the skinhead and punk scenes, where the venues and identities of the scenes are often literal battlegrounds between ideologically opposed sides who recognise the political importance of predominantly youth subcultures (Vysotsky, 2013).
In recent insurrections in Egypt and Turkey, ultras groups have played extremely prominent roles, experienced as they are in resisting the police, bringing large, organised groups of people onto the streets, and drawing upon a culture of open hostility and opposition to the state. In Turkey, ultras from Istanbul clubs Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, usually bitter rivals, united in clashes against police, bringing to the barricades their invaluable experience of street fighting with the police, and a willingness to engage in direct and violent clashes with the state (Istanbul Uprising, 2014). While such insurrectionary moments are rare in Scotland, it is valuable to explore how the Green Brigade maintain, and recreate, a sense of ‘rebel’ politics within the particular community of Celtic Football Club and the immigrant Irish in Scotland.
Though there are members from other parts of Scotland and Ireland, and several women members, the majority of members are young men from the west of Scotland, in particular Glasgow. Members are predominantly of Irish descent, but there are also members from Arab, African and Muslim backgrounds. Aside from the ‘core’ of around 70 members, the group draws several hundred to section 111, their home in Celtic Park. Alongside face to face meetings, either on match days or other events, much of the discussion and decision making occurs on the group’s online forum, greenbrigade.proboards.com. Alongside practical organising, the forum provides a space for the discussion of football, politics, books and culture. While decisions are generally taken by consensus, votes are sometimes taken. Although there is no formal hierarchy within the group, like other ultras groups there is a core of people who are more influential, usually due to being founding members, particularly active, or more politically involved than others.
Visible activities
The most visible aspects of the Green Brigade’s activities occur within or immediately around the football match. The group have become famous for their spectacular, highly coordinated tifos, displays of banners, ticker tape, flares etc. The most contentious of these have been displays which have addressed anti-Irish racism in Scotland, British imperialism, solidarity with Palestine, and Scottish Government legislation which has criminalised expressions of a politicised Irish immigrant
Outside of the football stadia, the group organise around a number of issues within their communities, most noticeably in the historically Irish, and impoverished, east end of Glasgow. The highlight of the Green Brigade’s calendar is a free anti-discrimination football tournament, which has featured teams from the Basque, Nigerian, Cameroonian, Pakistani, Irish, refugee and asylum seeker, and LGBTQ communities, as well as teams from Celtic Supporters Clubs (CSCs), and even the odd Rangers supporters side. As one member explains, the task of challenging discrimination is not taken lightly, though there has been an overwhelmingly positive response from participants, in a city where ethnic and religious groups do not often mix socially.
[…] this is our sixth year now doing the tournament, if you’re only hitting one person a year, it’s still changing someone in Glasgow, and the East End of Glasgow isn’t somewhere you’re going to change a lot of people’s opinions.
Aside from football, the group regularly organises food drives for food banks in Glasgow as a response to the effects of austerity, collecting essential food items at games and social events and fundraisers. The most recent food drive, conducted with other Celtic supporters groups, raised close to £9,000 and over 7.5 tons of food, which is claimed as the largest single collection of food for a food bank in the UK.
The political culture of the Green Brigade
The political culture of the Green Brigade is too complicated to sum up succinctly, though I will attempt to give a taste of how political activism and discussion are approached. There is no set ideological or political manifesto of the group, but instead a broad umbrella of principles, namely support for Celtic, a love of the ultra way of life, and a general ‘soundness’ of left-wing, progressive politics. Irish Republican politics have been a formative part of the politicisation of most members, with the influence of Republican politics being seen as an important foundation for the discussion of other political struggles and ideas, amongst group members but also in terms of outreach. Members spoke of varying influences in their own processes of politicisation, in particular the invasion and occupation of Iraq, experiences of loyalist violence, immigrant family histories, the South African anti-apartheid movement, the Palestinian struggle, and exposure to anarchism, amongst other movements.
In terms of shades of green, red and black, individual members’ politics can vary greatly, from supporters of Sinn Féin, éirígí, republican socialists, members of the Scottish Socialist Party, communists, trade unionists, anarchists, to members who prioritise support for Celtic above politics. Debate is lively, on and offline, with the forum providing a glimpse of the breadth and tone of discussion. Individual activities and initiatives, such as support for a particular campaign, are often ‘pushed’ by individual members based on their own personal interests and politics. The groups increasingly active support and solidarity with the Palestinian struggle is a clear example of the evolution not only of members’ politics, but of the collective focus and politics of the group. It is now unthinkable that Celtic could ever play an Israeli team in Glasgow without significant pro-Palestinian and pro-BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) action from the Green Brigade and other Celtic fans. Support for the Palestinian struggle has even extended to a blog being written by a group member while they were volunteering in Palestine.
There are international links and friendships with other anti-fascist ultras groups throughout Europe, such as Toulon, Marseilles, Standard Liege, Athletic Bilbao, Livorno, and the red and black Bohemians (Bohs) of Dublin’s Northside. A central feature of the Green Brigade, like other ultras groups, is the importance of friendship, with members considering the group as a family which provides emotional support and care.
Many members have spoken of the way in which involvement with the Green Brigade deepened and expanded their political education, taking an often superficial awareness of ‘rebel’ politics, and in particular Irish Republicanism, and drawing links and comparisons with anti-fascism, anti-homophobia and anti-sexism, and struggles in the Basque Country, Chiapas and Palestine to name but a few. The scope of themes discussed, in person and online, is impressive, as the online forum indicates. The Politics page of the forum alone contains more than 200 pages, over 8,000 separate threads. Examples of themes covered are racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-fascism, Palestine, Irish Republicanism, asylum seeker and refugee solidarity; music; films; Policing; Austerity; and literally thousands of others. There is also a 12 page thread with reading suggestions covering similar topics, as well as fiction. It is considered a ‘working document’, and there is a lengthy discussion and suggestions of books which members and forum users have found influential.
Perhaps the most formalised way that learning functions within the group is through political education nights, covering a wide range of topics including anti-fascism, women in the Irish struggle, miscarriages of justice, legal rights, Irish Republican prisoners, refugee and asylum seeker rights, and Palestine. Members who organised political education nights spoke of the importance of making politics accessible, of not having people ‘dwarfed by big words’, and of creating ‘a laid back environment to discuss politics’.
Repression and resistance
In 2012 the Scottish Government introduced the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communication Act, ostensibly to tackle ‘sectarianism’ in Scotland in the wake of of the attempted posting of a bomb and bullets, to then Celtic manager Neil Lennon, a Catholic from Lurgan in County Armagh, as well as several physical attacks and death threats. However, rather than addressing the pervasiveness of anti-Irish racism in Scotland, the legislation has primarily targeted politicised expressions of Irish identity in Scotland, and in particular any banners, songs, chants or other expressions of opposition to British imperialism in Ireland. The Green Brigade have borne the brunt of the legislation, with regular harassment and repression which would be considered scandalous by polite society, were it not meted out to working class football fans, and proudly anti-establishment ones at that.
Examples of police attempts to disrupt the group’s activities have included: constant and overt surveillance of the group at, and travelling to and from football matches; stop and searches; dawn raids on members’ homes for controversial banners; police blocking of taxi applications; attempts by Special Branch to recruit informers; covert surveillance of members, in Scotland and abroad, down to detailing specific meals eaten; use of Anti-Terrorism legislation to detain and question members travelling between Scotland and the north of Ireland; dozens of arrests; imprisonment on remand; the completely ironic deployment of police horses, riot vans and baton charges on members protesting police harassment; and a dedicated unit tasked with monitoring the group.
Such repression has taken its toll on the Green Brigade, with members citing it as the single biggest difficulty faced by the group. As well as the psychological, financial and social cost of arrests, intimidation and harassment, the state’s tactics have also forced the group into a more defensive role. Activities both inside the stadium and outside in the community have to varying degrees suffered or been forced to adapt to counter the effects of police repression. Banners that otherwise would celebrate Celtic and radical struggles have often focussed on highlighting repressive government legislation and police actions; education nights which could discuss radical history have had to adapt by discussing the legal rights of young fans who are stopped and searched by police, whether on match days or not.
This is not the vanguard you’re looking for
While there is much to celebrate in the vibrancy of the Green Brigade, and the very real successes they have had in creating and developing spaces to celebrate and act out progressive, radical politics, all members I spoke with were insistent on the need to view the group in a down to earth and unglamorous way, to the point of at times downplaying the more political nature of the group. Without Celtic, the Green Brigade would have no reason to exist, so support of Celtic is the focus of the group. However, Celtic has provided a space for left-wing and Irish Republican politics from the moment the Fenian Michael Davitt laid the first sod of turf (imported from Donegal) at Celtic Park in 1892, and so it is not a surprise that an ultra group within Celtic has an explicitly left-wing identity.
“I think it’s always important to understand the context of where the group’s coming … what the group is, you know. It’s not a political revolutionary front, you know what I mean. We’re not the vanguard of the working class. I’ve had good, activist pals of mine who did talk about how ‘the Green Brigade are going to be the vanguard of the revolution’, be at the forefront of the storming of the Scottish Parliament, and yer like that, ‘mate, shut the **** up.” (Participant 1: 28)
Such reference to ‘the vanguard of the working class’ is a thinly veiled dig at elements of the Scottish left. There is a perception among many in the Green Brigade of sections of the Scottish left as patronising, middle class, out of touch with the realities of the lives of many members, and also deeply uncomfortable with notions of Irishness which celebrate armed struggle against Britain. Members of the group have at times been mistaken for fascists by ‘black bloc’ anti-fascists, with the suggestion once being made that they should swap their Adidas trainers for Converse, and that they should not dress in smart casual clothing. Relations with non-member activists is often done on the basis of friendships and informal relations, and most large organisations are viewed with suspicion at best. Alongside this wariness of the ‘middle class’ left,
There are obvious contradictions and tensions within the group, but much of this is the nature of a group which has no formal policies, which has a broad membership, and which is located within the overwhelmingly masculine environment of Scottish football. The most obvious tension is the fact that, although explicitly committed to challenging all forms of discrimination, the group is still overwhelmingly male, and attempts to more proactively challenge sexism and hegemonic masculinity did not seem central to the members I spoke with. Although members were conscious of the need address issues of gender, some spoke of a fear of appearing ‘tokenistic’, of issues of gender and anti-sexism being put on the back burner due to police repression and its challenges, and also the difficulty of challenging ingrained patriarchal attitudes within the wider Celtic support.
In deindustrialised societies football stadia are one of the few places where large groups of people regularly gather and socialise, and many football clubs are far more than just sporting organisations. Celtic in particular provides a way for the Irish immigrant community in Scotland to express a contested, marginalised and often silenced sense of identity which celebrates struggles against colonialism and imperialism and the fight for a better world. Overwhelmingly working class, young and male, and most contentiously in a Scotland where anti-Irish racism is deeply ingrained, the Green Brigade are clearly viewed by the establishment as a threat to the status quo and a challenge to a notion of Scotland as being a progressive country. To paraphrase a friend, there is a big green elephant in the room, and it is doing **** on the tartan carpet.
This has been far too brief a glimpse into the Green Brigade, their activities, politics and the context they are situated in, but I hope it has gone someway to demystifying an often demonised group, and has highlighted the importance that football can have as a space for the expression of contentious identities. The success of the Green Brigade is in large part due to their position within an already politicised parent culture of Celtic and left-wing elements of the Irish community in Scotland, and it is not for the left to try to ‘colonise’ or co-opt such spaces in an attempt to grow organisations.
The experiences of left-wing ultras groups, whether in Cairo, Istanbul, Livorno or Glasgow, offer important lessons on the importance of sport, and in particular football, to the maintenance and development of wider cultures of resistance, which not only resist neoliberalism within football stadia, but seek to challenge other forms of oppression in communities.
WORDS: Eoin O’Ceallaigh
Eoin is an activist, writer and support worker currently based in Scotland, though has lived and worked in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Mexico and Ireland.
Unsafe Behaviour Forces 2-Match Closure of ‘Green Brigade’ Section
Celticfc.net By: Newsroom Staff on 21 Jul, 2017 16:45
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CELTIC FC is to close the ‘Green Brigade’ section of the stadium for the next two matches after serious incidents of unsafe behaviour at the last two competitive matches at Celtic Park.The Club is writing to the 900 season-ticket holders affected to explain the Club’s position and next steps.The decision, which has been taken amid serious safety concerns and after discussion with the police, follows events at the matches against Hearts in May and Linfield on Wednesday night.The safe standing area of the stadium had been working very well until the final game of last season against Hearts, when large numbers of flares were smuggled into and set off under banners within the Green Brigade section. It was an incredibly irresponsible and co-ordinated action which could have had tragic consequences.The Club understands that consideration was given to halting this crucial game because of the thick smoke, which was blowing across the stadium and into other sections of the support and posed a serious safety risk to all those in the stadium. The fire alarm was activated, resulting in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service responding to the stadium.The Safety Advisory Group of Glasgow City Council, which licenses Celtic Park and comprises representatives from the Council, police, fire and rescue, the ambulance service and other statutory authorities, had an emergency meeting after that game and communicated their serious concerns to the Club, which presented a risk to the renewal of the safety certificate necessary for the operation of the stadium and the capacity of the safe standing area.The Club has been working with the Safety Advisory Group towards a solution for this season, but the events at the match on Wednesday night, where there were further serious safety issues within the Green Brigade section, require the Club to take immediate action to comply with its responsibilities under the applicable legislation.Safety of all supporters at Celtic Park is of paramount importance to the Club. The safe operation of the safe standing area at Celtic Park requires effective communication and engagement with the supporters in that area. Unfortunately, due to the events at the Hearts and Linfield matches, the Club is not satisfied that the Green Brigade section can be operated safely at this time.The Club will continue to investigate the events at the matches in question and to address the issues that arose. The Club will seek to engage with the supporters in the Green Brigade section to re-establish the necessary communication and engagement to permit supporters to be readmitted to the section and for it to be operated safely, in consultation with the Safety Advisory Group. If that cannot be achieved, then the Club will require to examine other options.Club Chief Executive Peter Lawwell said: “The behaviour of fans in the Green Brigade section of the ground at the matches against Hearts and Linfield was a serious safety risk, which has left us with no choice but to take decisive action to ensure safety within the stadium.“There is no room for debate. The safety authorities and the football authorities make the rules. They also enforce the rules. If the rules are broken, Celtic will be punished again and again. There is no hiding place from these realities. Anyone who has Celtic’s interests at heart must surely recognise them and behave accordingly.“Every club which visits here says the atmosphere is incredible and that is something that we have worked very hard to support and encourage. We cannot understand why supporters who are capable of contributing so much that is positive to the club can be so reckless in doing it damage. In addition to the serious safety concerns, we face further UEFA disciplinary action.“This is not a decision we have taken lightly, but the behaviour of fans in this section is posing a direct risk to the safe operation of the stadium and is also seriously tarnishing the club’s hard-won reputation.“Dialogue, engagement and communication with the Green Brigade have evidently failed at this time, given the behaviour experienced at these matches, and we are therefore left with no choice but to take action to ensure safety at the stadium.“We hope that the action we are taking prompts recognition by those fans of the damage being done to the Club and that we can resume meaningful engagement with them which would ensure a safe environment within that part of Celtic Park.”Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said: “It’s really disappointing that we are talking about stadium safety and paramilitary banners rather than our progress into the next round of Europe.“The fans have a responsibility to behave in the stadium and I would urge everyone involved to see the damage this is causing to the club. Hopefully this is a wake-up call.“The players thrive on the cauldron that the fans create at Celtic Park but there are clearly boundaries that you can’t step over. Everyone knows that pyrotechnics, unacceptable banners and ignoring stewards who are enforcing basic stadium safety measures are simply not on. I really hope that the fans take this on board. It would be a real shame if they forced the club to take more permanent action to ensure safety and protect the Club’s standing in European football, which is what we should all be aiming to promote.”
Green Brigade Response
Following the club statement on Friday, we take this opportunity to accept full responsibility for both the pyrotechnics display to celebrate the achievements of the Lisbon Lions at the Hearts match in May and our ‘Brendan’s Undefeated Army’ tifo during the match against Linfield on Wednesday evening. While we are disappointed to hear of the impending two match ban that we face, we know that in the sanitised world of Scottish football the actions of an Ultra group like ours may have consequences for our members. We do however completely oppose collective punishment and a blanket ban on all fans in our block is disproportionate and unjust therefore we call on the board to revise this decision.
As a group we are defined by our style of support and our politics, both of which the club are happy to benefit from when it suits their agenda. Almost a year ago, after much immediate criticism, we brought worldwide adulation on the club for our show of solidarity with the people of Palestine and the subsequent charity fundraising which was endorsed by the Celtic support. What isn’t common knowledge is if it had not been for this incredible response, we would have faced the same punishment as we currently face. In light of this, and of the condemnation of banners and songs from Wednesday, we refuse to allow a discredited and corrupt organisation like UEFA or a board which has welcomed war criminals and Tory Lords to dictate our moral compass.
Our decision to mark the achievements of 1967 by using pyrotechnics was not taken lightly. We took the required steps to ensure that this was carried out as safely as possible and in the knowledge that we as a group may face potential consequences as a result of it. We believe the scenes that day and the response from the Celtic support proved it to be worthwhile. We have engaged in regular dialogue with the club over this matter throughout the summer and believed to be reaching an amicable outcome, however it seems as if events outside of our control on Wednesday have impacted upon the decision which has now been reached.
The Green Brigade exists to support Celtic in a positive manner and we believe that this current confrontation is unnecessary and avoidable. We welcome Peter Lawwell’s call for dialogue as we have been waiting on his availability for some time. One of our first talking points will be the unnecessary and unsafe policing operation carried out during Wednesday night’s match, which we believe must be the source of one of UEFA’s charges (blocked stairwells) and could only have been designed to antagonise fans in the area. As the evidence below proves, it is bizarre and shameful that the club have not only blamed the fans for this charge but have cited it as a reason for the ban.
Other pertinent issues to be addressed are the club’s response to the biggest cheating scandal to shame Scottish sport; the insulting of the Celtic support over the Linfield away debacle and negligence of the safety of those they knew would travel; and the silence over the racial and sectarian hatred directed at our player of the year and manager. Typically, the club are quick to bite the hand that feeds them yet reluctant to unite against common detractions.
We have built a positive relationship with the Celtic SLO however we are concerned that his position is nearly untenable due to the manner in which he is continually undermined by Celtic security staff. The SLO is required to ”collaborate with the security officer on safety and security-related matters” however has been deliberately excluded from discussions of this nature which is in breach of the UEFA SLO Guidelines, as per article 35. His exclusion is a deliberate tactic adopted by the police and Celtic security to facilitate the targeting of our members.
For over 10 years now the Green Brigade has withstood attacks from Police Scotland and sadly this will always continue. This also will not be our first ban or forced absence from Celtic Park. The Green Brigade has not only survived through the years but we have thrived – we are currently as large and strong as we have ever been. We can assure all that we will be back in Celtic Park soon enough and that we will never allow our style nor our politics to ever be diluted.
Green Brigade
Until The Last Rebel
Brendan Rodgers tells Green Brigade: Leave politics out of Celtic Park
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers. Picture: John Devlin Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.
By ANGUS WRIGHT
Tuesday 25 July 2017
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/brendan-rodgers-tells-green-brigade-leave-politics-out-of-celtic-park-1-4513608
Brendan Rodgers has called for the Green Brigade to leave politics out of Celtic Park.
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The Parkhead club announced they will close the section of their stadium housing the ultras-style fans group for the next two matches after ‘’serious incidents of unsafe behaviour’’ at their previous two home games.
Celtic were hit with UEFA disciplinary charges over an alleged ‘’illicit banner’’ – a paramilitary figure – and ‘’blocked stairways’’ during their Champions League victory over Linfield last Wednesday.
Ahead of the Champions League qualifying clash with Rosenborg at Parkhead on Wednesday night, Rodgers said: “I have always been aware of Celtic’s heritage, charitable work and football work.
“That’s what it was in 1888 and is to this day.
“Celtic is not a political arena for any supporters to come into and display any sort of political element.”
Rodgers, who confirmed striker Moussa Dembele and defender Eric Sviatchenko were doubts for the first leg against the Norwegian club, added: “I was saddened by what I (have) seen.
“I want to defend the guys at some time.
“I have been fortunate enough to be around some of the top football clubs in Britain and I can categorically say the atmosphere inside Celtic Park, not just by that section, by the 60,000 supporters is the best you will witness.
“The guys in the corner add the energy and youthfulness which is absolutely amazing.
“The club have worked tirelessly over the years, the first club in Britain to put in a (safe) standing section and 99.9 per cent of the time they along with the rest of the fans give us this incredible support. But the political element is not acceptable.
“There are forums, platform for that outside of football. Take that somewhere else.
“It is not for inside Celtic Park. It is not what the values are, the ethos is and it is certainly not what I’m about as a manager.
“I have huge admiration for the support they give but my honest feelings is that I’m not with it, I am very much aligned with the thinking of the board and the people that run the club, the people that have to pay the fines. That is my answer to it.”
The Northern Irishman stressed the safety aspect of the club’s decision.
He said: “I don’t think there is a need for it. Some supporters might say there is a political element to football and a basis to tell a story.
“There might be other countries where this ultras factor go beyond football. But the governance here in Britain is different and one of the big points for me is the safety element.
“If you are putting flares up in aground you are open then to things that can happen. You might say that they never happen but they can happen.
“My message is, stick to football, stick to supporting the team that you love.
“We are very much one club, we are in a great moment in our history and hopefully we have an exciting period moving forward and we want all Celtic supporters to be in on that. But when there is a safety risk at a football game, the board have to look at it.”
Why the Celtic support were right to send a particular message to Lazio
Joel Sked
Email
Published: 15:55 Friday 25 October 2019
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/why-the-celtic-support-were-right-to-send-a-particular-message-to-lazio-1-5033242?fbclid=IwAR1h_EzmdaqPMxUEJ8R4hy-IzItHWBw1ZQK5828F10GMB7ZQfu7sFJoVKPY
Walking down London Road more than an hour before Celtic and Lazio kicked off under the lights at Parkhead there was the sense that it was a big occasion.
Every fan seemed to be moving that little bit quicker as if someone had accidentally sat on the remote and hit fast forward. Motorists turned into driving experts, calculating angles, weighing up distances, manoeuvring into spaces you would normally leave alone; between trees, on pavements or corners. Any other day it would suggest the car had been abandoned.
The Green Brigade, dressed in their distinguishable green, banners and drum in tow, moved in unison towards the luminous stadium, towering incongruously over the nearby buildings, as if an otherworldly craft had chosen the East End of Glasgow as the place in which to decamp.
Turning left, a battalion of police officers and their protected vans lined the street across from a packed Turnstiles Bar with prescient music setting the scene for a night of celebration.
A couple of young supporters were in the back of the police vans, while outside officers huddled around as one told of a scuffle between the two sets of supporters by a burger van. Their voices and the music were soon drowned out by the barking of police dogs, demanding they be freed from their captivity and allowed to roam the streets, sweeping up the atmosphere for themselves.
It’s these sights and sounds, before even setting foot into the ground, which makes football such a joyously addictive spectacle. Friends and families discussing, analysing and predicting what is about to unfold, some breaking into song, others just trying to make sure they get one foot in front of another having plied themselves with whatever is their tipple, or whatever they can get their hands on.
It is even more stimulating for evening matches; under the street lights, under the floodlights. The placid nature of a weekend fixture is swapped for a buzz, like beasties transfixed by light.
It was at stark contrast odds to the Lazio fans. Or more accurately the club’s ultras.
Roman Salute
Fascist figures festooned in black; faces covered, arms raised out in front, in the middle of the day, advancing through the centre of Glasgow. Cretinous creatures, revealing their ideology of hate so brazenly out in the open. If leaders of countries can do similar, as well as lie and obfuscate, then why can’t they.
The club had previously pleaded with the support to not give fascist salutes having been punished with a partial stadium closure for the upcoming game with Celtic in Rome after incidents at the Europa League clash with Rennes.
Lazio security manager, Nicolo D’Angelo, said: “Unfortunately, we still have a minority of fans who believe it’s acceptable to give the Roman Salute and to make racist comments.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon is encouraged by the coefficient points whihc have been added to Scotland’s tally. Picture: Ian MacNicol/Getty
“This is unacceptable and no longer tolerable. We want there to be a healthy relationship with the fans, not this relationship, which has been spoiled for so many years.”
It was clearly ignored.
Police were out in numbers to prevent violence in the city and around the ground.
As the match got underway in front of a capacity crowd at Parkhead, all the action was on the pitch as Celtic boss Neil Lennon hoped. There was little to no tension among the two sets of supporters in the ground.
Then not long after the 20th minute, fans in the corner of the Lisbon Lions stand, in the area of the Green Brigade, unfurled a banner which summed up the views of not just Celtic fans but football supporters around the world.
‘Lazio Vaffanculo’.
Some scribblers tried to circumnavigate the treacherous connectivity problems which are a staple of the Celtic Park press box to translate the message, as some may have done in the home ends.
Yet, their answer swiftly followed.
‘F**k off Lazio’ was the chant. It grew louder and louder, reverberating around the ground. The message was clear as it was simple: anti-Lazio, anti-fascism, anti-hate.
Uefa charges
In one slice of the cavernous Celtic Park cake, 1300 or so travelling fans were angered, some of whom would have been among the hordes traipsing through Glasgow who were filmed doing the Roman Salute.
The banner was one of many aimed against the right-wing among the Lazio support.
Already there has been talk of the meaning behind certain banners and of Uefa charges.
“All associations and clubs are liable for the following inappropriate behaviour on the part of their supporters and may be subject to disciplinary measures and directives even if they can prove the absence of any negligence in relation to the organisation of the match,” as per article 16, section 2 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations 2019 states.
Which includes “the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit a provocative message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly provocative messages that are of a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature.”
Certain sections of the Celtic support have had their run ins and disagreements with some decisions taken by the club, whether it is relating to ticket prices or pyrotechnics.
Only on Saturday, in the 6-0 win over Ross County, fans had arranged a protest against their own club over the price of away tickets, having done so on their travels at Hamilton and Hibs – a noble cause.
With regards to the anti-fascist banners on Thursday night it will be interesting how the club take any prospective charge.
But the simple ‘Lazio vaffanculo’ banner is one which wasn’t just a message to fans of the Italian teams, but an obvious one to fans of every club, including their own. Racism and fascism is not acceptable.
It was a message the players helped to deliver on the night, Christopher Jullien heading in a late winner provoking one last rousing chant of ‘f**k off Lazio’.
Who are the Celtic fan group the Green Brigade?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-67284001
Nov 2023
Banners displayed at the Celtic ParkImage source, SNS
Image caption,
Free Palestine banners were displayed at Celtic Park during a match against Kilmarnock
The Green Brigade is a self-styled “ultras” group of Celtic fans known for banner displays and chanting.
The group, which occupies part of the north curve of Celtic Park, organises choreographed displays known as tifos and encourages singing during matches.
In recent years, the Green Brigade has been increasingly vocal on non-football related issues.
Some members have had their season tickets withdrawn by Celtic after a “serious escalation” in unacceptable behaviour.
Who are the Green Brigade?
Green BrigadeImage source, SNS Group
Image caption,
Green Brigade members at a 2021 match between Livingston and Celtic
The Green Brigade is made up of about 1,000 Celtic fans – 250 of whom are officially registered with Celtic as being part of the Green Brigade Supporters’ Club.
This is how Celtic will know which season tickets to suspend during the newly-announced indefinite ban.
The group has season tickets in the Rail Seating Section- essentially a standing area – of the north curve of Celtic Park.
The Green Brigade was formed in 2006 in an attempt to improve the atmosphere during match-days. In addition to the choreographed banner displays in the stands (known as tifos), the group often bring drums, encourage singing and use pyrotechnics.
According to the group’s own website, the Green Brigade is “notoriously difficult for fans to join”.
Members often keep their identities hidden, with their faces being blurred in photos posted online. In the same vein, the group recently said that no members have or will speak to the “mainstream British press” about “the current situation” – referencing the withdrawal of tickets.
They have described the move by Celtic as shaming the club by “attempting to censor and sanction Palestinian solidarity”.
Celtic suspends Green Brigade group from matches
Celtic fans defy club plea over Palestinian flags
Green Brigade says Celtic board ‘shame the club’
The group also describe themselves as anti-fascist and left-wing.
They are often associated with supporting causes such as Irish Republicanism and the Palestinian cause.
Other Scottish football clubs also have their own “ultra” groups.
Rangers have groups such as the Union Bears while in Edinburgh you’ll find the Gorgie Ultras, a group of Hearts’ fans, and Block Seven made up of Hibernian supporters.
Not all Celtic fans, or season ticket holders, share the views of the Green Brigade.
Why have they been banned?
Empty seatsImage source, PA Media
Image caption,
Hundreds of seats were empty in Celtic’s Park’s north curve, the area traditionally occupied by the Green Brigade, for Wednesday’s league match against St Mirren
Some members of the Green Brigade have had their season tickets withdrawn indefinitely, adding to an existing ban on them purchasing tickets for away games, which essentially means they have been banned from attending Celtic matches.
The move follows the Green Brigade recently defying pleas by Celtic not to bring Palestinian flags to matches.
But the club said the indefinite ban had been sparked by a series of incidents at other games over an extended period of time.
These included;
The widespread and unsafe use of pyrotechnics at Feyenoord on 19 September
Rushing turnstiles and forcing open fire exits at Fir Park, Motherwell, on 30 September
Illegally gained access to Celtic Park in advance of the match against Lazio on 4 October to bring in an unauthorised banner
Violent and intimidating behaviour towards stewards at Easter Road, Edinburgh, on 28 October
Previous controversies
Green BrigadeImage source, SNS
This is not the first time the Green Brigade have been banned from Celtic Park.
In 2013, the club temporarily closed Section 111 in the football stadium, which was home to the Green Brigade, after safety warnings were repeatedly ignored.
This ban came around the time Celtic fans caused £10,000 worth of damage to the away end at Fir Park following a match against Motherwell.
A total of 128 members of the Green Brigade who were at the away game were banned from attending matches, while those not in attendance had their seats in Celtic Park relocated, for a total of nine months.
They were welcomed back during the 2014/15 football season after discussions with the club.
In 2010, the group made headlines after protesting against players wearing the poppy.
Members displayed a banner which read: “Your deeds would shame all the devils in Hell. Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan. No bloodstained poppy on our Hoops.”
Celtic issued an apology for any offence caused.
The club was also fined £13,000 by Uefa after fans displayed an offensive anti-monarchy banner following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Many Celtic fans have long had an affiliation with the Palestinian cause, with Uefa fining the club in 2014 after fans waved Palestinian flags during a match against Iceland’s KR Reykjavik.
The Green Brigade chose to display the flag once again during their team’s 2016 Champions League qualifier against Israeli side, Hapoel Beer-Sheva – a move which landed the club a £8,600 fine. Celtic later closed the area of the stadium occupied by the Green Brigade for a 2017 Champions League qualifier against Rosenborg.
Celtic v Rosenborg 2017Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Celtic closed the area occupied by the Green Brigade for a 2017 Champions League qualifier against Rosenborg
Following the Uefa fine, the Green Brigade launched a campaign aiming to “match the fine for Palestine”, and raised a total of £176,000 which was donated to the Medical Aid for Palestine charity and the Lajee Centre in the Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank.
Their relationship with the Aida Refugee Camp continues, with the group helping to fund a football academy within the camp.
Green Brigade members also pride themselves in putting Celtic at the heart of the community in Glasgow’s East End.
For the past 10 years the group, have organised an annual foodbank collection which this year raised £12,293 to be donated to six different foodbanks.