RACISM/SECTARIAN CHANTS AT ROCK CALLED OUT BY JOURNALIST

By Bill Heaney

Journalist Hugh Jordan, who lived in Helensburgh and Clydebank and once owned a public house in Dumbarton High Street, bit the racist/sectarian bullet after the Dumbarton v Rangers Scottish Cup tie at the Rock on Saturday.

Hugh, an award-winning reporter who covered The Troubles in Northern Ireland, sent a picture to social media of former Celtic manager Neil Lennon’s 18 year-old son Gallagher.

He wrote: “He is a professional footballer with St. Mirren and he is currently on loan to Dumbarton. Last night, he was an unused substitute in a Scottish Cup match against Rangers. With Gallagher on the subs bench, a substantial section of the Rangers support sang, ‘Hang Neil Lennon, Hang Him High’.

“The vile sectarian song was clearly aimed at the young footballer who wasn’t even on the pitch. When will the SFA and Police Scotland finally do something about this kind of appalling and criminal behaviour?

“Tonight, racism in English football made the national TV news, but not a word in Scotland about what happened in Dumbarton.”

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There was an outpouring of responses to Hugh Jordan’s post including this one from Ken Murray: “Can somebody report Rangers to UEFA and FIFA?”

Michael McDaid wrote: “Hugh there’s people in the SFA that would applaud that type of behaviour before they’d condemn it.”

Harry Stewart asked: “What you surprised about Hugh?”

Denis Murray, the now retired BBC Northern Ireland correspondent, said: “[This] should be taken as seriously as the racism accusations in the news in England and Italy.”

Hugh Jordan said the offensive remarks “can clearly be heard” on the broadcast media from the match which Rangers won 1-4.

Andy Gibson asked: “Hugh Jordan can you get it out to the media?”

Jim Conway suggested the culprits were cowards: ” I wonder how many of them would be brave enough to come to Lurgan and try singing that a few of our lads have the answer.”

Helen Coard condemned it: “Absolutely disgusting abuse. . We can do without this sort of behaviour . Dinosaurs.”

And Terry Mc Cafferty wrote: “I don’t follow football much, (lapsed Leeds supporter) but have to agree, after reading your post, totally disgusting behaviour and should be dealt with immediately! I’m sure there is enough evidence re video/audio etc to follow up on!”

Hugh Jordan summed it up: “It needs called out wherever it arises.”

Shortly after Milan had scored to take a 1-0 lead and Milan were about to take a goal kick, Maignan signalled to his teammates to stop, walked to the referee and then walked to the side-line.

Following the game, he called for tough sanctions for those responsible. “They made monkey noises and it’s not the first time it’s happened to me,” the 28-year-old Maignan said. “They must hand out very strong sanctions, because talking no longer does anything.

“We have to say that what they are doing is wrong. It is not the whole crowd, most fans want to cheer on their team and jeer you, that’s normal, but not this.”

Teammates attempted to console Maignan on the side-line, but the France international took his gloves off and walked down the tunnel leading off the field.

Maignan, who is black, had also told the referee about racist monkey chants earlier during the match, prompting an announcement in the stadium asking fans to stop.

The Serie A game resumed about five minutes after the suspension when Maignan and teammates came back out. Milan won 3-2.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino showed his solidarity with Maignan and called for measures to be taken in cases of racism. He said: “The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield Wednesday are totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable. There is no place for racism or any form of discrimination, either in football or in society. The players affected by Saturday’s events have my full support,” he said in a statement.

“In addition to the three-step process (match stopped, match stopped again and match abandoned), we need to enforce automatic defeat for the team whose fans committed racism and caused the match to be abandoned, as well as worldwide stadium bans and criminal charges for racists,” he added.

Media reports said Coventry midfielder Kasey Palmer accused Sheffield Wednesday fans of racist chants during their English Championship clash, which his team won 2-1.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Milan said: “There is absolutely no place in our game for racism: we are appalled. We are with you, Mike. Lega Serie A condemns any form of racism,” the official Serie A account posted on X.”

Udinese will likely be hit with a partial stadium closure for its next home match.

Udinese said in a statement on Sunday: “We reaffirm our aversion to any form of discrimination and express our profound solidarity with the AC Milan player Mike Maignan in light of Saturday’s deplorable incident at our stadium.”.

Top picture: Dumbarton playing against Rangers in the Scottish Cup at the Rock on Saturday.