THE Catholic Church are to prepare a dossier of sectarian songs allegedly sung by Rangers fans at the League Cup final.
They plan to comb through a DVD of the game and report the offending chants to the Scottish government.
The Scottish Catholic Church said yesterday the game was "marred by
sustained anti-Catholic chanting in spite of renewed pleas for an end to
bigoted behaviour".
Peter Kearney, their media director, said: "We've received a lot of
comments of concern from people who were at the match about the nature
of the singing.
"People shouldn't be intimidated because of their religion.
"If it is a case of malicious songs or violent behaviour, we leave
it to the police. But if we can determine there is any anti-Catholic
singing then there is the possibility of raising it with the Scottish
government.
"We will go back and listen to the recording of what is being sung."
Kearney said fans were concerned justice minister Kenny MacAskill
and Strathclyde chief constable Stephen House were so "glowing" in their
praise of behaviour at the game.
He said: "We've been told that what they're saying simply wasn't the
case. Many fans have been in touch to say they found the singing
extremely offensive and inappropriate."
Asked what his reaction to anti-Protestant songs being sung would
be, Kearney replied: "Our position here is to act in the interest of
Catholics.
"If people were to sing anti-semetic songs, I'd expect the Jewish community to step forward.
"It's not our place to step forward for other religions. If there
were anti-Protestant songs, I'd expect our friends at the Church of
Scotland to step forward."
After the match MacAskill claimed the game, which was played after
the recent government summit on sectarianism, had been a "showpiece
final."
He said: "This was the final everyone wanted to see and it was a great advert for Scottish football.
"Players, management and fans contributed to a memorable occasion
and I urge their positive example inside the ground is replicated
outside it."
Kearney called for figures to be released on anti-Catholic attacks
in Scotland, after recent figures showed they were five times more
likely to be attacked than other religions. He also said that
organisations like Nil by Mouth, who received a share of £500,000 in
funding at the recent antisectarian summit, were taking the wrong
approach to sectarianism.
He said: "The current approach to sectarianism by giving funding to
Nil by Mouth and others is like putting the cart before the horse. We
need to analyse the data first and then use that analysis to develop
solutions.
"Right now we have it the other way around. Anti-sectarianism
funding has to be informed by the Crown Office statistics so we can move
away from a 'one-size-fits-all' approach."
This week's edition of the Scottish Catholic Observer claims Rangers fans sang the infamous Famine Song at the game.
It said: "In spite of church leaders' pleas, Rangers fans were heard
singing sectarian songs throughout Sunday's game, including the
notorious Famine Song."
Former MP George Galloway said he had been appalled at the chanting from the Rangers support.
He said: "The Famine Song, just one of the hate anthems that
assaulted us from the TV, has been ruled as racist by an eminent judge.
"The police, who praised the fans and the comparatively low number
of arrests, clearly stood back and allowed the sectarian and racist
abuse."