TÁL FANZINE

LET THE PEOPLE SING

Issue 41£2 / €3

Inside This IssueEditorial - We’re Back

Team Talk

Jungle Memories

Let The People Sing

PLC Watch

Famine, Faith and Football

Green Brigade

The Connolly Column

Frank Ryan

Fighters Juve Roma

Athletic Bilbao

Bohemians Prague

Celtic Soccer Crew

Reviews

TÁL Team: Talman, Fidel, Karl, Marxman,

MacIlhatton, Bertibhoy, Holloway Gael, GCSC

With thanks to: Giuseppe, Volkovv & John O.TIOC

FAID

H ÁR

LÁ

ISSUE 41 - JANUARY 2007

We’re Back!It’s 15 years since the first issue of TÁL appeared at the New Year match against rangers in January 1992. After a two-year break we decided to raise TÁL from its grave as a result of a combination of popular demand for it to be revived and out of necessity due to renewed attacks upon the culture and identity of the supporters by the PLC. It appears that once again Celtic PLC has set its sights on a section of our supporters that it perceives to be ‘troublesome’ and ‘outdated’ to its corporate visions for ‘New Celtic’… a make-believe world where the PLC hopes for a full but largely silent stadium; where the fans only sing when prompted by a deafening sound system playing bland pop songs amended to fit the occasional reference to a football team in. Where ‘family atmosphere’ means families gathering at the ground to eat their PLC pizzas, washed down with PLC Cola, dribbling on their PLC scarves, tucked into their PLC ‘fashion wear’ (no more FC for them) all bought specially for that day’s game from the PLC Superstore. George Orwell’s vision of Big Brother died with the fall of communism only to rise again at a football stadium near you.

Is this really what our beloved Celtic has become? Just another bland football club playing in a bland football league where executives care only about profit margins and talk about customers and clients rather than supporters and fans? Welcome to the Brave New World of Celtic Park in the 21st Century.But some folk have refused to be brainwashed. Some men and women refuse to become simply another number printed on an automated season ticket ‘card’… Some people still remember what it was like to be enthusiastic when watching OUR team winning… Some people can even remember when the supporters sang for most of the time that the ball was kicked around the pitch. Others recall the colour and spectacle of watching Celtic at every home match, the constant noise that came from the terraces. Some can even remember the flags, the banners, the scarves, and the vast repertoire of songs that recounted the history of the club and its support. Some still refuse to be absorbed into the bland new world of the Celtic Corporation…And TÁL is here to support them and to give them a voice once again.

The Celtic Rebels are back and we’re here to stay.

Write to:TAL BOOKSBM BOX 266

LONDONWC1N 3XX

WEBSITEwww.talfanzine.com

FORUMtalfanzine.galacforums.com

EMAILtalfanzine@googlemail.com

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With half a season still remaining all looks well for the bhoys, at least in terms of league position and European competition. It would however be foolish to believe that there is no room for improvement at Celtic Park. Far from it.

The signing of Steven Pressley (a player with the unfortunate distinction of playing for both the Glesga and Embra Huns) whilst not universally approved by the supporters, may actually turn out to be a shrewd bit of business considering the injuries and lack of cover in our fragile central defence. The emergence of Darren O’Dea in the same area has been a breath of fresh air to add to Pressley’s steely determination at the back. With Mark Wilson out for the long term and the long awaited return of John Kennedy still only talked about, it will be Pressley’s presence that may well become the most important factor in the second half of the season. And at least Kenny Miller will have a pal now! It’s like signing two players from the same nation (as in the case of Boruc and Zurawski) to keep them from getting lonely.. maybe that’s what’s happening with these two ex-rangers players? Who knows… only Wee Gordon Strachan, and he’s no’ tellin’!

Elsewhere defensively, even when Bobo didn’t have a broken leg he was looking shakier than Paul Le Guen’s jaiket on the

proverbial shaky peg at The Reichstag, so central defensive cover was essential either way. Caldwell and McManus, before injury intervened, had started to look formidable in domestic games and anything but in Europe. Paul Telfer, however, has gone from mediocre to bad to worse and back again – sometimes in the same game! At least one signing at the full-back is an absolute necessity now and the news, as we go to press, that Doumbe was on trial at Parkhead is most welcome. Lee Naylor, on the other hand, was largely unknown and prompted much cynicism in us when his name was mentioned in relation to Celtic, but the former Wolves stalwart has been an absolute revelation since signing and looks to be the bargain signing of the season so far.

The captain’s tantrums seems to have gotten even worse this season; the legs look tired now and at times Neil seems disinterested. Even worse is his apparent effect upon Evander Sno, who from looking like an exciting forward thinking midfielder with an eye to spraying the ball about, has become crab-like in the image of the captain, making the shortest of short passes, usually in a sideways or backwards direction. At times it’s almost as if Lennon is talking him through games urging him not to think about the extraordinary that he might be capable of and to play safe. Jiri Jarosik looks capable enough as a bit part player and has been used to good effect as a substitute, coming late into games when throwing him forward

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Team Talk

from the midfield has been successful for us. Gravesen still looks at times to be toiling but and he has yet to show the form for Celtic that took him from Everton to Real Madrid. Solid enough but not quite as special as we had expected. Perhaps the holding role is more suited to him and a position from which he can shine, but Neil Lennon would need to move on for that to come to fruition.

Nakamura is still our most valuable asset and has shown in Europe alone that he has the class to perform at the highest level. The ‘Japanese Beckham’ stunned Man United in both games but none of his performances this season have been so important as the match at Celtic Park when that sublime free kick put us into the last 16 of the Champions League. Absolutely stunning. What a night that was. It has to be said that without John Hartson leading the line this season our forwards have been extremely inconsistent. Kenny Miller’s goal drought is now seriously posing questions about whether he is actually a centre forward at all. He tends to drift wide in a lot of games and it may be that using his talents as a provider rather than goalscorer might be the way to go. He has the accolade of providing most assists in the SPL so far and perhaps this is the strongest part of his game. For the goal against rangers he will be remembered, but it takes more than a goal against them to make a legend.Jan Venegoor of Hesselink looks to be everything that Hartson was a maybe a wee bit more, but he is worryingly injury prone and with WGS already looking to sign

experienced journeyman Geoff Horsfield from Sheffield United, you start to wonder whether letting Hartson go last summer was a good decision. Now we have two players where we previously had one. Aiden McGeady still has all the trickery and has added a bit of better finishing also to his game, but he also lacks consistency. Zurawski has little pace but is still deadly in front of goal and it’s my opinion that the main competition to partner whichever big fella plays up front is currently is between the Polish international and Derek Riordan, who finally appears to be getting the chance to show why we signed him from Hibs. Wee Shaun is crocked so until we see him back again there’s not a lot to say about him this season, except SIGN THE CONTRACT PLEASE!

Rumours still abound about the Hibs midfield duo of Thomson and Brown, with Paul Hartley of Hertz also still an outside possibility. Were we to sign any two of these three I could almost forgive WGS and the PLC for failing to secure the talents of

Anthony Stokes and Dumutri Copil.Celtic PLC might yet rue the loss of these two even if only from a business point of view when they see their value increase tenfold.

See you in Milan!

Ciao Ragazzi! 5

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I hail from the days of the Jungle and from 1981 to around 92 I never missed a home game if I could help it. Me and my mates would stand opposite the players tunnel in the top half right below the TV gantry. To say I loved it in there would be a massive understatement.

Some brilliant memories of the eighties too... Juve at home winning 1-0, Notts Forest, Rapid Vienna, Ajax... too many.

So many Hun games and wins, New years day 86 2-0 and the chant of "Ally cannae take it" as Sooper Sal lost the head. Same day my future wife to be was so drunk she collapsed and had to be taken round the track on a stretcher. I got to carry one pole of the thing. As we passed the goal at the huns end they were singing “what a way to die” to her, so I get my scarf and kiss it with my free hand. Don't mind saying I near kacked myself when the whole 20,00 or so seemed to surge forward in a hate filled roar.

We got to the first aid room and she got taken in, but I had to wait outside and face all these huns coming in with "injuries" asking if I still wanted to kiss my scarf. It’s funny now, but not so much at the time.

Even a smile when Davy Cooper used to warm up in front of us doing the side stepping hop thing and each time giving us the vicky as he brought up his arms. At the time we were howling but now it makes me smile as now with all the cameras he would be well caught out. Much more fun then.

I stopped going around 92-93 as a combination of my son being born and getting paid off made it impossible. Not long after they put seats in the Jungle and then rebuilt the stadium, and it never was the same again. Still isn't. Nowadays I can't believe how quiet we are sometimes, even against the huns, and how we occasionally let the huns out-sing us. In the Jungle days we would never let "them" beat us in the singing, even if we were losing on the park. I have had my ears ringing with the sound of the crowd hours after the game it was so loud.

I wish we could lobby to bring back some limited terracing then you would get real atmosphere. Preferably the bottom section of the North Stand

Terracing was not dangerous. The English set out their terraces differently to us. I remember being at Nottingham Forest for 0-0 game down there and they had fences running down the

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terrace and at the bottom instead of large expanse of space like CP, Hampden etc. Theirs were smaller "pens". This meant that if too many people got into a particular pen the crowd could not disperse to the sides.

I had that lifting feeling that was described many times in the Jungle but the secret wasn't to fight it but relax with the flow.

Towards the end of the Jungle days they put a fence up to stop you going from the Celtic End into the jungle and this cut down the numbers who could get in as they closed the gates after a certain number were in. It didn't really cut the atmosphere but it did lose some intensity.

I didn't like watching from the Celtic end. To me you were too far away from the pitch, but I know a lot of people who wouldn't go in the Jungle and prided themselves on being Celtic End folk. It wasn't rivalry as such but we used to chant for them to sing and they would do the

same to us. One old guy who went on our bus would always go to the rangers end next to the police control room as he said it was the best view. They put up a fence to segregate the fans in the 80's so he couldn't stand there anymore.

In the old Celtic End down the front there used to be a lady holding a Teddy. She was there every week without fail, same spot same teddy. I always wanted to say hello to her but thought it would be a bit lame. I often wonder if she still goes and where she sits now.

I have a million memories of those days and its funny how some say that they regret being born too late to have been there. I always felt that about the 60's and 70’s teams that I missed.

I suppose as the surroundings change the love of Celtic doesn't. It’s not about religion or hating the other side to me, it has always about being a part of something bigger and feeling welcome no matter who or what you are.

Article by D.

Remembering the JungleI remember travelling along the Gallowgate

where Janefield Street and the merchandise sellers met,

I could hear the fans singing a mile awayall at Parkhead to watch the Celtic play.

In through the boys gate, pay at the turnstile

past the pylon that stood between the Celtic End and the JungleIt was under the TV gantry where I most times stood;

Cheering on Davie Hay, Paul Wilson and Harry Hood.

’Get Yir Macaroon bars and spearmint chewing gum’,

came the shout every Saturday afternoonand we’d stand with pride, scarf’s around our necks;would Dalglish put the ball into the back of the net?

Standing in the Jungle became a lessonlearning songs not approved

by our mother’s at home, and our scarf’s

hung heavy by our fortune in badges; enamel pictures of Ireland

and Celtic patches.

At the age of sixteen, we would imitate our old manlike the days when he stood with a beer can in his hand, and we cursed every player

who never wore a green & white shirt, and celebrate together

when the ball hit the back of the net.

How I remember the Jungle when I was young

passing down the memories, the atmosphere, the songs,

but the pride of Celtic continues to playas I watch from Toronto,

so many miles away.

© Daniel McDonagh

‘FOOTBALL WITHOUT FANS IS NOTHING’ - Jock Stein

In recent weeks and months Celtic plc, its stewards and Strathclyde Police have stepped up their campaign of intimidation and harassment against us, the Celtic support. Fans, be the expressing their Irish identity, attempting to create an atmosphere or have come under attack, been ejected and even banned.

ROCK STEADY – AYE READYWhile Protectevent, the pension fund of George Douglas, former cop and Head of Security at Celtic Park, is well-known for its repressive and over-the-top stewarding, Celtic have recently drafted in Rock Steady, regular stewards at Ibrox and Tynecastle, to do their bidding. The very same stewards who stand and listen to bigotry and racism at those grounds every second week have now been charged with cracking down on ‘trouble area’s within the Celtic support.

Both companies continue to enforce petty, irrelevant rules with a zeal only those with high-visibility jackets and earpieces can – with fans being ejected for a host of reasons already this season, including standing, shouting, swearing and for various other trumped-up petty ‘offences’. As the plc strives for a sanitised Celtic Park, banter with opposition fans is now no longer tolerated and fans singing ‘Oh, the Rangers are shite’ were given a final warning for ‘profanity’!

OFFENSIVE SONGS?The plc has created its very own Gestapo among our support, spying on Celtic fans and reporting them for alleged ‘offensive’ songs and behaviour. Seventeen fans were identified as guilty of offensive conduct at a recent away game at Easter Road with a further eight at East End Park, despite the Club showing no

willingness to engage in any debate over what is construed as offensive behaviour. The Club must engage with the ordinary supporters on this issue instead of pandering to bigots. Instead they are employing these very bigots, aided by an assortment of jobsworths, to enforce this campaign of harassment.

OUR SONGS, OUR FLAGS, OUR IDENTITY

Singing the Irish national anthem, the Soldiers Song, has been stated by one of Celtic Park’s most senior stewards as being the reason for five Celtic supporters being ejected at the recent CIS cup match with Falkirk. Our sources indicate that Rock Steady consider the Soldiers Song as ‘sectarian’. This same company enforces a Tricolour ban at Tynecastle and confiscated a Tricolour at the Dundee Utd match on the spurious grounds that it wasn’t fireproof. This followed on from the previous game against Falkirk, when two supporters were ejected and banned for flying the Starry Plough, the standard of James Connolly’s Citizen Army which was captured by the British at Easter Week and now takes pride of place in the National Museum of Ireland. Two fans from the same supporters club were banned on the word of two stewards for allegedly taking pictures of the match on their mobile phones.

These incidents are just the tip of the iceberg and this campaign of intimidation and harassment will continue unless we make a stand and reclaim Celtic Park and make it a place to be proud of once again.

What actions are you prepared to take and what do you think of the issues raised?

Contact us on letthepeoplesing@yahoo.ie and let us know your thoughts.

www.freewebs.com/letthepeoplesing/

Football Without Fans is Nothing

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For those who are in loveThere's a song that's warm and tender.

For those who are oppressedIn song you can protest.So liberate your minds

And give your soul expression.Open up your hearts,

I'll sing for you this song.Chorus

Let the people sing their stories and their songsAnd the music of their native land

Their lullabies and battle cries and songs of hope and joySo join us hand in hand

All across this ancient landThroughout the test of time

It was music that kept their spirits freeThose songs of yours and of mine

It was back in ancient times,The bard would tell his stories

Of the heroes, of the villain,Of the chieftains in the glen.

Through Elizabethan timeAnd Cromwellian war and fury

Put our pipers to the sword,Killed our harpers and our bards.

Chorus

Ireland, land of song,Your music lives forever

In its valleys, in its mountains,In its hills and in its glens.

Our music did surviveThrough famine and oppression.

To the generations gone,I'll sing for you this song.

Chorus

LET THE PEOPLE SING

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PLC Watch will be an ongoing examination of the corporation currently entrusted to manage the people’s team.

Our club began almost 120 years ago with the stared purpose of, “being to alleviate poverty in Glasgow's East End parishes.” Football is unarguably a big business today, but whatever business group has the privilege to shepherd Celtic at any time must be held to a higher standard and never forget how and why our club started. The PLC must be critical about the business partnerships it establishes both in the businesses they engage in and the corporations they align our club with. As Celtic Supporters it is our duty and obligation to watch the PLC and express our displeasure when they forget Celtic is more than a football club and much more than a business.

The MBNA Celtic Credit Card Issuing branded consumer credit cards (The MBNA Celtic Credit Card) is not a surprising move by the PLC, it is however in my opinion a poor one. MBNA is an inappropriate partner for Celtic, issuing consumer credit is an activity our club should be involved with, and finally it is short-sided and may actually cost the club income.

MBNA is owned by Bank of America, the third largest corporation in the world (Forbes 2006). When Bank of America purchased MBNA in 2005 it joined two of the largest consumer credit companies in the world. Both had poor records of customer service and histories of predatory lending and

exploitative practices. I will not outline the full history of MBNA’s practices but consumer watchdog site Consumer Affairs.com provides an excellent overview (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/mbnbofa.html).

If you visit Celtic’s Website and click through to information on the card you cannot read full terms before you apply for the card. From my research, the stated introductory interest rate it is in the upper 25% of quoted rates for new cards in the UK. MBNA also has a long history of employing tactics that allow them to raise interest rates on established credit lines. From the information I can obtain about the Celtic Card, again full details of the card are not available until AFTER you apply and receive the card, interest rates can rise to 30% or more. I also strongly suspect that like other MBNA/Bank of America products there are a full slate of penalty fees (most likely set to legal limits of the particular country) associated with the card. MBNA/Bank of America is a poor company for Celtic to partner with; the club started by Brother Walfrid should not associate with a company that uses every loophole and legal trick to exploit Celtic Supporters.

MBNA is a poor partner but why should Celtic be involved in consumer credit at all? Simply because it is a source of revenue is not acceptable to me. Because other clubs do the same thing is not acceptable to me either, again we must hold the PLC to a higher standard. Consumer credit is by its very nature is a dirty business based on giving people money up-front so you can take much

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PLC WATCH

more from them in the long term. Why should our club be involved in this type of business, there is no justifiable reason in my mind.

Even if you argue Celtic needs all the revenue it can get as an excuse to why we should be involved in consumer credit it is ultimately a poor and flawed argument. If Celtic’s branded MBNA card is like other similar arrangements Celtic receives a nominal fee (~ £1 - £5), when a new card is issued. In all likelihood MBNA makes this money back immediately by selling your contact information to other companies for use in highly targeted marketing lists. After getting a card expect calls and mailings about other Celtic and football products, trips to Ireland, betting shops, etc. Celtic then probably receives 0.5% to 1.0% of the purchases you make with the card. If a cardholder makes a £1,000 of purchases Celtic receives at the most £10. If the cardholder pays the balance off over the course of a year (making 12 equal payments), receives no penalties, and the interest rates does not rise the cardholder will pay almost £90 in interest charges. With penalties, interest rate increases, and balances held for longer periods these charges can rise to hundreds and even thousands of pounds a year. So what? We are all responsible for ourselves and what we spend – true, but what have these fees COST Celtic. Celtic supporters spend a considerable amount of their free money (‘disposable income’) on things related to Celtic. The more money Celtic Supporters pay to MBNA in interest and fees the less

they have to spend on Celtic. Using the above example Celtic has given up at least £90 in revenue for at the most £15 up-front. Does that make good ‘business’ sense to anyone? It is possible to argue cardholders would simply use another card and ‘give’ those interest fees and other charges to another company with no benefit to Celtic. I again think this is a flawed argument. Celtic Supporters use the Celtic Credit Card to buy Celtic related items and services. In Scotland and England in general how many places would consumers feel comfortable using a product that clearly identifies their loyalties to Celtic? My guess is very few.

* MBNA/Bank of America is a poor partner for our club. * Celtic from a philosophical standpoint should not be involved in consumer credit. * Celtic issuing branded credit cards is simply bad business and in the end costs the club money.

Celtic is more than a football club and far more than a business. For all of our current senior and youth players, our stadium and planned training ground, and all the silver in Paradises’ trophy cases the greatest asset of the club is not something that shows up on any balance sheet, it is people in the stands and in the pubs week after week bleeding green and white and we are something the PLC will never own.

Disagree? Want to share information on the PLC? Want a business relationship of Celtic PLC’s investigated? Please email talfanize_plcwatch@gmail.com.

Article by CTC in the USA

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PLC WATCH

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For a number of years now the revisionists within Celtic Park have been attempting to re-write the history of the club, or at the very least to airbrush out those aspects of it which do not tie in with the corporate image of Celtic PLC in 2007. Nowhere is this more evident than in the ‘Social Mission Statement’ which appears in all of the clubs various media forums.

Whilst the statement recognises the role played by Brother Walfrid of the Marist Order in the formation of Celtic, it makes no mention of the many other individuals whose belief in and support for the project was instrumental in its success. Undoubtedly this is because of the strong political and religious convictions of the majority of those involved. They included Fenian activist Pat Welsh who for many years was on the run from the British authorities, William McKillop and John Quillan who were both leading lights of the Irish National Land League in Glasgow, JM Nellis and Joseph O’Shaughnessy who

founded the St Aloysious Society, as well as prominent Catholic businessmen in the city such as John Glass, who was hugely influential throughout the whole process of establishing ‘The Celtic Football Club’. And when the Club made the short move from its first home to its current location in 1892 it was Irish Revolutionary and Land Reformer Michael Davitt who was asked to lay the first sod of turf at the new Celtic Park.

Neither does the statement put into context the political or historical events that allowed such abject poverty and destitution to exist at that time, and which necessitated the intervention of Walfrid and others to attempt to alleviate the terrible suffering of the immigrant Irish population in the East end of Glasgow. The events were of course the Irish potato famine or ‘An Gorta Mor’ (The Great Hunger) and the deadly hand played by the British Empire in maximising the catastrophic effect it had in Ireland. The famine caused the deaths of

hundreds of thousands of men, women and children and resulted in economic migration on a scale never before witnessed anywhere in the world. Furthermore, it is an indication of the shameful disregard for the Catholic Irish community who settled in the west of Scotland that some forty years after An Gorta Mor, people, and in particular infants, were still dying of hunger and neglect.

And so the Celtic Football Club came into being. Needless to say the Irish Nationalism and Catholic devotion which was prevalent in both founders and beneficiaries alike quickly manifested itself into support for the football team. The identity of Celtic FC was very much Irish and Catholic and it is one of which its followers were fiercely proud of and has been inherited in story and in song by subsequent generations of Celtic supporters ever since. However, Celtic was then, and always will be, an inclusive institution which welcomes people from all backgrounds irrespective of creed,

FAMINE, FAITH

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colour or race. Without that inclusiveness it could never have succeeded in scaling the heights it did and to which it still aspires.

Nonetheless it seems the PLC are determined to roll over to a bigoted conspiracy of media misrepresentation, a partial governing body and political pressure, all of which is intended to see that identity banished to the east end slum tenements of late nineteenth century Glasgow from where it originated. Of course such a conspiracy conveniently fits the clubs corporate agenda very nicely thank you very much and in the meantime the PLC hides behind the threat of UEFA sanctions against the club if what the Board deem ‘bigoted and offensive chanting’ continues. Witness the ongoing crackdown by stewards on fans who engage in any kind of public display in support of the Clubs undeniable Irish heritage, including the singing of songs which aspire to the ideal of Irish unity and freedom from foreign oppression, however

subtle any references to those ideals might be.

It is nothing short of disgraceful that the Clubs patrons have embarked upon such a course of action. Celtic Football Club is one of the great sporting institutions and its history is both unique and laudable. Wherever the Irish have gone in the world their presence and contribution to society in their adopted homes has been justifiably recognised. But in Scotland a football club that was formed by the Irish, primarily for the immigrant Irish, and which went on to become European Champions, the pinnacle of club competition in this continent, is prohibited from celebrating its origins and traditions.

Celtic Park and the Celtic Football Club is a living, breathing monument to An Gorta Mor. It is a shrine that provides us with a link to the past and the terrible suffering of our ancestors, and it is a beacon of light which represents the will of the people and their triumph over adversity. Most of all it is the one place

anywhere in the world that Irish people can truly call their own.

Celtic supporters recently chose to remember the man widely recognised with giving birth to the Club by commissioning and financing a statue in his honour, Brother Walfrid now stands proudly outside the main entrance to Celtic Park welcoming one and all. Perhaps the time has come for those same supporters to lobby Irish Famine Commemorative Organisations, as well as Irish political, Governmental and representative groups in order to have Celtic Park itself declared an Official Famine Heritage Site. In doing so it would rightly discredit the efforts of the current Board of Directors to revise the history of Celtic in the interests of corporate branding, and enable the supporters to celebrate the ideals on which the club was founded, and the objectives of those who were responsible for its formation, free from intimidation and persecution.

Holloway Gael.

AND FOOTBALL

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The Green Brigade are a Celtic supporters group who adopt the “Ultra” mentality of support. This style of support is made up by the use of colourful displays such as banners and flags, and also giving the team vocal backing. While the term “Ultra” can often be confused with hooliganism, the Green Brigade doesn’t promote violence. There’s also a stereotypical view of ultras as being right wing/Nazis. The Green Brigade stands against any forms of racism, sectarianism and prejudice. The seeds for the formation of this group were sown last April. Most of the founding members had been part of another supporters group that had made some ultra-style displays in the stadium. However, there had been several disagreements over the direction of this group and eventually the differences became irreconcilable. Those who went on to form the Green Brigade decided the time had come to move on. The ’rebels’ decided that rather than become part of the ever growing section of the support who’s idea of supporting the club is turning up at 3pm, eating overpriced food from the catering kiosks in the stadium, sitting in silence and leaving with ten minutes to go, they should form their own group. After some initial meetings, it was decided to go ahead with this group and work began on the first Green Brigade group banner. Its 30 x 4 foot in size. Part of the Ultra mentality is that the idea of the group banner is that its present as often as possible when the team is playing. The banner has been seen all around Scotland and Europe when Celtic have been playing and has even made an appearance at a Helsingborg match and at the Estadio National in Lisbon. Work also began soon after on a large, surfer banner in tribute to the Lisbon Lions which made its debut at the away Benfica match. This was soon followed by the infamous ‘Man Who?’ banner which made its debut as Celtic claimed their spot in the Last 16 of the Champions League v Man United and received an amusing reaction from the travelling United fans. This was soon followed by the biggest project yet -

the 20 x 30 foot “Evolution” banner. The banner shows the Evolution of man, starting as a rangers fan, developing into a monkey and finally into a Celtic fan. This banner was shown for the first time at Ibrox recently to a outraged response from the rangers fans in the stadium and on a certain notorious rangers internet forum. There are several plans for new banners and projects this year. The group’s policy on political songs and slogans has been a hot topic in some internet forums and has recently been gaining a reaction from the club itself. The group have openly said that they refused to back the club’s anti-republican stance like many supporters groups have done. Some groups were of the belief that no republican songs should be sang in stadiums but the Green Brigade are of the belief that political expression is not a crime. Recently Celtic PLC have attempted to target the Green Brigade in section 111 by sending stewards to attempt to remove banners and members from the stadium and resulting in a fan being assaulted by a steward. Celtic fans in this section have shown unity with the Green Brigade members in defending the fans against the heavy handed stewarding of Protectevent and Rocksteady. Another example of this was at the CIS Cup match at home to Falkirk when 5 Green Brigade members were ejected from the stadium for singing the Irish National anthem. The stewards claimed that the song was sectarian, yet when fans who had witnessed the incident emailed the club to complain - they were told the incident had never happened! You can find more information on the Green Brigade from our website, which also features photos of the group in action and of our banners. You can also find out details there on how to get involved with the Green Brigade, whether it be as an active member, giving feedback or contributing ideas to the group or by making a donation towards funding new banners and displays.

www.greenbrigade.proboards77.com/index.cgi

Viva La Quince Brigada(Christy Moore)

Ten years before I saw the light of morningA comradeship of heroes was laid.

From every corner of the world came sailingThe Fifteenth International Brigade.

They came to stand beside the Spanish people.To try and stem the rising Fascist tide

Franco's allies were the powerful and wealthy,Frank Ryan's men came from the other side.

Even the olives were bleedingAs the battle for Madrid it thundered on.Truth and love against the force of evil,Brotherhood against the Fascist clan.

Viva La Quince Brigada!"No Pasaran" the pledge that made them fight.

"Adelante" was the cry around the hillside.Let us all remember them tonight.

Bob Hilliard was a Church of Ireland pastor;From Killarney across the Pyrenees he came.

From Derry came a brave young Christian Brother.Side by side they fought and died in Spain.

Tommy Woods, aged seventeen, died in Cordoba.With Na Fianna he learned to hold his gun.

From Dublin to the Villa Del RioWhere he fought and died beneath the Spanish sun.

Many Irishmen heard the call of Franco.Joined Hitler and Mussolini too.

Propaganda from the pulpit and newspapersHelped O'Duffy to enlist his crew.

The word came from Maynooth: 'Support the Nazis.'The men of cloth failed yet again

When the bishops blessed the blueshirts down in GalwayAs they sailed beneath the swastika to Spain.

This song is a tribute to Frank Ryan.Kit Conway and Dinny Coady too.

Peter Daly, Charlie Regan and Hugh Bonar.Though many died I can but name a few.

Danny Doyle, Blaser-Brown and Charlie Donnelly.Liam Tumilson and Jim Straney from Short Strand.

Jack Nalty, Tommy Patton and Frank Conroy,Jim Foley, Tony Fox and Dick O'Neill.

Last July marked the 70th anniversary of the Fascist uprising against the democratically-elected Spanish government. The Fascists had military support from Germany and Italy whilst the Spanish Republic relied on the Soviet Union and Mexico for arms and advisers. Most other Western governments refused to get involved and signed a non-intervention pact.

Many on the left felt that these were the opening shots of a second world war against Hitler, Mussolini and Spain’s rebel General, Franco. Idealistic young men and women from all over the world volunteered to come to the aid of the Spanish Republic in the face of indifference and hostility of their own governments. From Germany came the Thaelmann battalion, from Italy the Garabaldis, from Canada the Mackenzie-Papineaus, from the USA, the Abraham Lincoln battalion, from Scotland, Wales and England, the British Battalion, and from Ireland the Connolly column. All Anglophone fighters were organized under the XVth International Brigade. In total the International Brigades numbered 45,000 men and played a major role in fighting the fascist forces.

In Ireland, support for the beleaguered Republic was organized by Frank Ryan, a Republican Socialist, veteran of the Limerick IRA flying columns, Gaelic scholar and former editor of An Phoblacht. Ryan was driven by an intense dislike of Eoin O’Duffy, former Garda Commissioner, Blueshirts’ leader and first Fine Gael president, who had already with the support of Cardinal McRory, The Independent newspaper and capitalist W.L Murphy, organized an Irish Brigade to help Franco’s side in the war.

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O’Duffy had promised 5000 men to Franco and at their peak in 1934 the Blueshirt movement had 50,000 members. This movement had come out of the Treatyite Army Comrades Association which represented the large farm owners and capitalists but also the rural poor who lived under an almost feudal relationship with the church.

In the end though O’Duffy only managed to dupe 670 men, mostly rural-based from Cork and Kerry to follow his crusade to Spain believing that the catholic religion was under attack. In some areas of Catalonia churches had been burned and some atrocities carried out but were highly exaggerated by the church hierarchy:

“Spain has always been a catholic country like Ireland. We are for religion and we don’t want the Reds to conquer Spain.” said O’Duffy

In many cases churches were used as storage dumps for fascist arms, personally witnessed by Frank Ryan and there were reports of individual fascist priests firing on civilians from church towers, again bullet holes on houses opposite churches provided the evidence. What O’Duffy failed to tell his men was that Franco was actually using Moorish Muslim troops in his front line from colonized Morocco and were themselves persecuting the catholic Basques who had gained autonomy under the leftist government.

On the 18th December 1936 480 men sailed on the SS Urundi from Galway flying the German Swastika to form the Irish Brigade of the XVth Bandera el Tercio, an elite battalion based on O’Duffy’s claims that the men were there to die as Christian martyrs. As the battle for Jarama was in full swing the Irish Brigade arrived late in the proceedings and were caught up in a friendly fire incident and withdrew without orders. All in all they lost 6 men and were involved again only briefly. In fact their drunken behaviour at camp and poor performance on the battlefield (mainly down to bad leadership) led to the Irish Brigade being sent home in disgrace. A split also had the effect of denying them any sizeable parade on their return to Dublin.

In stark contrast the Irish section of the International Brigades, 200 strong, were drawn from some of the poorest urban sections of Irish society (66% from Dublin and Belfast), mainly communists and IRA men from the Republican Congress who had a visceral hatred of O’Duffy and the bosses. Some of these men saw the chance to fight in Spain has a way of avenging the result of the Civil War and many blamed O’Duffy for the Ballyseedy atrocity in particular.

Ryan is quoted at the quayside on leaving for Spain:

“The Republican contingent, besides being a very efficient fighting force – every member of it having been in action – is also a demonstration of the sympathy of revolutionary Ireland with the Spanish people in their fight against International Fascism. It is also a reply to the intervention of Irish Fascism in the war against the Spanish Republic, which, if unchallenged would remain a disgrace on our people. We want to show that there is a close bond between the democracies of Ireland and Spain. Our fight is the fight of the Spanish people, as it is of all people who are victims of tyranny”

Desmond Ryan (no relation) made this appeal:

“Why do you fight by the side of the upholders of a land system as crushing and as terrible as that which your own grandfathers fought against in the days of the Land League. The answer is easy; cynical politicians and thoughtless bigots have isled you.”

Bob Doyle said:

“O’Duffy and his Blueshirts intended following in the footsteps of the Nazis...I thought there was a danger Ireland would go Fascist and that was one of the motivating factors in making up my mind to go. I didn’t know much about Spain, but my thoughts on the way to Spain were that every bullet I fired would be a bullet against the Dublin landlords and capitalists”

Tommy Patton said:

“the bullet that will get me won’t get a Spanish worker”

Two volunteers whose enthusiasm was not wanting and whose republican credentials were well-known to Ryan, presented themselves for enlistment but Ryan curtly dismissed them; Brendan Behan and Cathal Goulding were barely 14 years old!

The Irish and British battalion was organized with military efficiency by the Comintern and volunteers were vetted by the CPI and the CPGB in London before traveling onwardsthrough France to the I.Bers base at Albacete.Volunteers were asked to travel in discrete (and discreet!) groups and only to speak when spoken to by members of bourgeois authority. The party travelling with Frank Ryan disdained to behave in such an anti-social manner and on one channel crossing around forty men occupied the bar giving out a stirring repertoire of rebel songs and impressing on their fellow passengers their strong distaste for fascism and Franco.

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The first party of Irishmen to arrive was soon pressed into action after only a couple of days training at Lopera on the Cordoba front at Christmas 1936. Kit Conway was in charge of this company. 8 Irishmen were killed including Tommy Woods aged 17.

Meanwhile more Irish began to arrive at camp and found they were to be part of the British Battalion and not a separate Irish section. Frank Ryan explained that the English working class were their allies against fascism and they should work together. However tensions rose when it was discovered one of the British Officers, a Captain Nathan, had been part of a Dublin Castle murder gang responsible for the deaths in Limerick of the mayor and ex-mayor. A meeting was called and a majority of the Irish present decided they wanted to move to the Lincoln battalion.

As more Irish arrived the IB leadership refused to allow any more to move to the Lincolns and that they must serve with the British which most agreed to do remembering their enemy was imperialism and fascism. Nathan was demoted and moved from the area.

In February 1937 Franco was making a major push to encircle Madrid and the apex of the battle to stop him was the Jarama valley. The fighting done by the International Brigades here is the stuff of legend and rightly so. On the 12th February Kit Conway led troops across olive fields

straight into fascist fire capturing enemy positions and halting the advance, Conway himself being fatally wounded. Franco’s troops, veterans of the Moroccon war, had never been stopped so effectively in open countryside. Ryan called out with a loudhailer in case the Irish fascists were in the enemy trenches:

“Irishmen go home! Your fathers would turn in their graves if they knew that you’d come to fight for imperialism. This is the real Republican army, the real, real men of Ireland.”

On the 13th some defensive positions were lost after a British commander withdrew without orders and the defensive line fell back slightly however on the 14th when

all seemed lost the men were ready to be routed in the face of overwhelming numbers including tanks, the fascists failed to pursue them possibly tiring themselves. Frank Ryan and Scots-Irishman Jock Cunningham turned around the bedraggled remains of the batallion singing the Internationale and led 140 men back towards the enemy. The fascists erroneously believed fresh units had arrived and fled. The machine gun positions were re-captured Ryan was wounded in the arm and went back to Ireland for a period of recuperation. Nearby on the battlefield the 40 Irish with the Lincolns attacked Pingarron Hill and lost over 100 men including the UCD scholar and poet Charlie Donnelly who coined the phrase “even the olives were bleeding”. The battle was over and Franco’s army looked to other fronts to win the war.

Jarama was the Connolly Column’s finest hour but they went on to fight at Brunete, Guadalajara, Belchite and finally at Gandesa where in March 1938 Frank Ryan and hundreds more were surrounded and captured by Italian Black Arrows. Most were eventually released but Ryan was passed over to German intelligence, the Abwehr and spent the rest of his days in Berlin, finally dying in Dresdenin 1944.

The International Brigades were wound down in November 1938 with a parade in Barcelona just months before Franco came into control of the entire country and a long dark period of repression would begin.However Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria, gave the farewelladdress at the parade which finished with these words:“We shall not forget you; and, when the olive tree of peace is in flower, entwined with the victory laurels of the Republic of Spain --- return!

Return to our side for here you will find a homeland --- those who have no country or friends, who must live deprived of friendship --- all, all will have the affection and gratitude of the Spanish people who today and tomorrow will shout with enthusiasm ---

Long live the heroes of the International Brigades!”

Article By Fidelista

Sources:In Red and Green: The Lives of Frank Ryan – Adrian HoarThe Irish and the Spanish Civil War – Robert StradlingThe Spanish Civil War – Hugh ThomasThe Connolly Column – Michael O’Riordan

Further Reading:

www.connollycolumn.orgwww.international-brigades.org.uk

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We believe only in the results on the pitchJuventus champions of Italy

Everyone will have heard of the great match-fixing scandal that befell Italian foootball at the end of last season when club’s were docked points, and especially the situation of

the relegation of the champions Juventus - the alleged villains of the affair - from Serie A to Serie B. Juventus forfeited the Scudetti championship trophy and their place in the Champions League on their way down. TÁL fanzine’s editor Talman recently interviewed Alessandro and Giuseppe, two of the lleaders of the Juventus Ultras group based in Rome - Fighters Juve Roma (FJR) and heard a very different version of events, one that portrays Juve as the victim of a major conspiracy that goes to very the top of Italian football.

Please explain what happened at the end of last season and how the massive success of Juve on the pitch was turned by the Italian football and legal authorities into defeat, relegation and humiliation for the club? Giuseppe: It is difficult to explain in a few words. Basically we can say that a conspiracy to destroy the best Italian team ever (8 players in the world cup final: Buffon, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Camoranesi, Del Piero, Thuram, Viera, Trezeguet…and the other three players were Nedved, Ibrahimovic and Emerson!) was orchestrated by Inter Milan with the collaboration of Telecom Italia (owned by Mr. Tronchetti Provera, one of the most important shareholder

and a member of the board of Inter Milan) and the Mass-Media (most of them owned by Mr. Silvio Berlusconi). Without any (even small) amount of evidence our Team (the most important team in the history of Italian football) was relegated in Serie B. But the Italian football federation (led by an ex member of the Inter Milan board, Prof. Guido Rossi who is now the new President of Telecom Italia! Sic!) was not satisfied: it took our last two championships too! People from abroad should know that the so-called “scandal” was related only to the 2004/2005 championship and not to the last one. Moreover I think it’s well known that the last championship was completely dominated by Juventus with a team that smashed many records.

Alessandro: What happened is simply unbelievable! The most glorious Italian football team ever was condemned on the basis of illegal and manipulated (by Telecom Italia according to Inter Milan’s instructions!) wiretaps, without any concrete evidence. They forged short-lived proofs to try to demonstrate that Juventus regularly bought matches. In truth, according to Mr. Paolo Bergamo (the referees’ boss), all the clubs used to call him to know the grid of the referees’ able to be decided by draw. A.S. Roma, Inter Milan, A.C. Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and many more called Mr. Bergamo regularly, but for the reactionary media Juventus was the team that organized this kind of “system”. But it has been proven that no match was bought, no money was found in any bank. Finally we can say it was a “crusade” to destroy an invincible team.

Why do you believe that there is aconspiracy against Juventus and who doyou think is responsible for thisconspiracy?

Crediamo solo al risultato del campo - Juventus campione d'Italia

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Alessandro: The shining evidence of the plot against Juventus “arrived” recently when the judges discovered that the wiretaps were completely illegal. More deeply they discovered that it was Mr. Massimo Moratti and Mr. Tronchetti Provera who “ordered” Telecom Italia to do the “job”.

Giuseppe: We also believe that when the Government started to understand that “something” was completely wrong, they asked publicly that Juventus should not go in front of the ordinary judges because their decision could determine the collapse of the entire Italian football “system”. Sad to say, but Juventus accepted their fate as the sacrifical victim.

If it is proven that the conspiracy against Juventus exists, what action do you believe needs to be taken to properly clean up the game of football in Italy?

Giuseppe: Unfortunately it’s impossible, in my opinion, to clean up our “system”. Football is no more a sport, it’s been turned into an industry. Wherever there’s capitalism there will be corruption. Personally I care only about how my team plays and I’m involved in football because I think it’s a good way to build up new friendships and meet new people. Ordinary people like me who I share some common interests with.

Alessandro: It’s true. Cleaning Italian football is an impossible task, especially if you consider that the “cleaning” would be guided by the same dubious people that work for Clubs who in the past were involved in real scandals and were never punished by the sport authorities. I’m referring to A.S. Roma that gave 38 Rolex watches to referees as a Christmas present, used false passports for some players (like Cafu and Bartelt), and presented false bank guarantees to join the Serie A, infringing all national rules. I’m referring also to Inter Milan involved in the false passports scandal too, but – over all – a living example of the clash of interests in the Italian game.

What has been the effect on the players, management and hierarchy of Juventus?

Alessandro: Juventus decided to turn over a new leaf. The former bosses – Moggi, Giraudo and Bettega – were fired and a completely new board (formed by “new” people extraneous to football) has taken over.

Giuseppe: we have to emphasise that Juventus decided to use a moderate defence strategy in the process organized by the sport authorities. In hindsight we would say that this was a terrible mistake on the part of the club. We were and we are the victims!

Which players remained loyal and whydo you think they stayed supportive ofthe club?

Giuseppe: Regarding the players, we must admit that half of our best players have gone. We understand that they are professionals, but we prefer people that have heart too. Our great captain, Alessando Del Piero, is the highest Juventus scorer ever and has become our symbol. We have to thank men like Gianluigi Buffon – who has opted to remain to play in Turin instead of going to A.C. Milan. He has the respect of all the fans – and Pavel Nedved, who is simply a hero!

Alessandro: Some of the more mercenary players have left the club, but we would applaud men like Camoranesi and Trezeguet who, despite numerous “offers”, wanted to play for Juventus again to re-establish the Club to the stages that it deserves: Serie A and the Champions League.

What has been the response of the Juvefans to all of this, demonstrations andother manifestations?

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Alessandro: 15 million Italian Juventus fans organized hundreds of demonstrations, started new campaigns on websites, involving even politicians and famous people to show everyone the pride that it means to be bianconero inside. In my opinion we could do much more like organizing riots in the streets…but we are not A.S. Roma or Napoli supporters, the “Juventus style” is different!

Giuseppe: There is a big daily newspaper called Tuttosport that gives voice to our supporters every day. But the biggest ultras group – Drughi – only thinks to scream against the board instead of organizing a campaign for the truth.

Are Juventus fans more united as a result of the relegation fiasco and scandal that surrounded the club?

Alessandro: Juventus’ biggest ultras group seem to be only interested in fighting together for money. They don’t seem to care about the conspiracy and the real culprits…

Giuseppe: Our ultras group is independent. We were formerly part of the Black & White Fighters, but now we have no connection with the other bigger groups. We are simply FJR (Fighters Juve Roma) or “Gruppo Roma” and our “identity” is well known everywhere around Europe. We are a mixed non-political group. Among us there are both left and right wing people. We aren’t a political group, although most of us support the Irish republican struggle, but we just follow our team. However, we are strongly against racism and sectarianism because we think they are fucking wrong and stupid: Football Unites, Racism Divides!

How are things going in Serie B this season and long do you think it will take for Juve to get back to Serie A and to re-establish themselves once again at the top of Italian and European football?

Giuseppe: We have a very good team. I believe that we can go directly to serie A in one season even if with the penalty of minus17 points. Our team is very united, and our manager - Didier Deschamps – is bianconero in his heart. Out of the ashes of the conspiracy will arise a new stronger Juventus.

Alessandro: After this bleeding of so many great players we should be conscious of the obstacles that we might face. We have to believe in the young players, the same as Arsenal did, and buy only players that can help our cause without thinking only about their fucking wallet. At the end of the day Juventus will still be Juventus. We know only one word: victory.

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Fighters Juve Roma visit Celtic for the match against rangers

TAL shows solidarity with the victims of Heysel

Gruppo Roma with Irish Tricolour

Celtic Soccer Crew by John O’KanePennant Books

£10.99This book may not be everyone’s idea of a light read and to be honest much of it is certainly not light, but it is one of the most refreshing and honest accounts of football hooliganism that I have read in a long time and bucks the trend of the genre for simply repeating exaggerated tales of derring-do. I strongly recommend it to TAL’s readers.John O’Kane provides some background as to why he eventually became a football hooligan. He spent a fair part of his childhood after the age of 11 in children’s homes, where he learned to look after himself as best he knew how. His progression from local gang member to football hooligan was a natural one because it combined two of his favourite pastimes - fighting and football.

The book tells the story of the CSC’s beginnings as the Roman Catholic Casuals (RCC), a name that was dropped very quickly in favour of Celtic Soccer Crew when it became apparent that a number of the members of the RCC were not actually Catholics!

The embryonic CSC started more than 20 years ago with a group of teenagers who hung around the city centre coming into contact with casuals from Aberdeen who were passing through town that day on their way to Parkhead for the match. From this first skirmish began O’Kane’s chase for the same ‘buzz’ week after week.. The stories are tooi many to recount but suffice to say that

O’Kane tells it like it is rather than how he wishes it might have been. The CSC didn’t win every fight and John O’Kane did not emerge from the battles unscathed. There are countless visits to hospital and time spent in police cells and prison as a result of what he calls his addiction to soccer hooliganism. Over the years he has accumulated 33 convictions for violence. There are confessions about the seriously low points in personal relationships and family life gone into in detail. There’s not many who would go into this kind of detail about themselves, so fair play to him for facing up to some of his own mistakes and shortcomings in the pages of this book.

One of the funnier moments from the book is recounted when O’Kane is lifted during the battles that took place around the Birmingham City v Celtic pre-season ‘friendly’ in 1995. This was one of the CSC’s finest hours in terms of battle honours; knowing in advance that hooligans from various parts of the Midlands were intent upon attacking Celtic supporters as they drank in the pubs in the city’s Irish district of Digbeth. Sure

enough hundreds of Celtic and Birmingham fans became embroiled in running battles with the CSC in the frontline. O’Kane was arrested and held in Winson Green Prison where the sight of a couple of Scottish lads who’d been involved in the battles in Brum caused a bit of tension among the other cons. Having faced down some growlers already, O’Kane was naturally cautious:

“Later on that night I went out for recreation where again I was involved in a confrontation. I had put my name down for pool and was waiting for my game. Shortly afterwards , some mouthy English con shouted over to me, ‘Oi Jock, you’re on.’

“I immediately went on the defensive. Having lived in London, I found the most annoying thing about the English was the way that they called every Scotsman Jock. I said, ‘Who are you calling Jock, Nigel?’

“He looked very confused, pointing to the list of names on the blackboard. To my embarrassment, it was then that I realised he was merely calling out what I had written, which of course was my initials: JOK.”

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CELTIC SOCCER CREW

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Who are the Green Brigade?Celtic fans have come under fire from sections of the media and the club for the songs being sung by our fans under the common misconception that these songs are 'sectarian.'

Recently a group of Celtic fans have joined together to give the supporters who disagree with this, a chance to stand up against it and make themselves heard. These fans formed the Green BrigadeWhat and who are the Green Brigade?The Green Brigade are Celtic ultras. We are lifelong supporters saddened at the passive nature of our modern home support and angered at the way we are treated as consumers by the PLC. In the style of European fans we want to bring colour, style, fun, originality and atmosphere back to Celtic games by backing our team for 90 minutes, on our own terms, and in our own way.Are ultras hooligans?Absolutely not. Ultras are fervent football fans who wish to add colour and vibrancy to encourage their team and do not look for trouble from other fans ultras.What makes you different from other Celtic fans groups?Firstly we welcome any attempts to improve the atmosphere inside Celtic Park from whatever quarter it comes. What makes the Green Brigade different are our politics. We are anti-racist, anti-sectarian, anti-fascist and left-wing and

proud of that fact and similar to comrades from St Pauli, Livorno and Athletic Bilbao etc, believe that we should be allowed to show our support for political causes which have always gone hand in hand with being a Celtic supporter.

What have politics got to do with Celtic?Politics is life. Politics has always been part of football and it’s disingenuous to claim otherwise. In the 1909 Scottish Cup Final Celtic and Rangers fans rioted together against the authorities for various reasons including the widespread belief that both clubs had engineered a replay which the fans could

ill afford. You cannot suspend reality when you enter a football stadium. Some of the recent decisions of Celtic plc are in our opinion highly contentious and could be regarded as political. For example the shameful decision to tarnish Jimmy Johnstone’s memory by having adverts for right-wing paper The S*n plastered on commemorative posters. Sponsors such as Nike, Coca-Cola and Coors are highly controversial companies criticised by watchdogs for operating sweatshops, having links to anti-union Columbian death squads and being generally anti-trade union, etc. We feel these sponsorships

are outwith the spirit of the Social Charter and all that Celtic stood for. Would Michael Davitt, Land Leaguer, the man who laid the centre spot be proud of what has become of this club? To be successful does not mean sacrificing all your principles on the altar of competitiveness. Barcelona for instance do not require their shirt to be sponsored by any corporation with a questionable character and are involved in human rights initiatives. We encourage Celtic’s board and shareholders to take a serious look at a more ethical fair-trade sponsorship policy more in keeping with the club’s socially concerned traditions.Celtic are also unique in that they were set up by Irish immigrants and the whole history surrounding that does not need to be repeated by us, it is well-known to most Celtic fans. We are of the Scottish and Irish people, a Celtic, Gaelic-speaking people divided in recent history by religion and we support efforts to reunite the people and efforts to revive the Gaeilge/Gaidhlig languages.Do the Green Brigade just want to sing republican songs?A common question and understandable given the media misconceptions and confusion between sectarianism and politics. The Green Brigade is a broad front of anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-sectarian Celtic supporters of many faiths and backgrounds and does not endorse ANY political party or group in either Scotland or Ireland. All members support a 32-county Irish Socialist Republic and an Independent Scottish Socialist Republic in principle and the achievement of these ends

using peaceful means of struggle. On the issue of songs we feel that if a song does not have sectarian lyrics then it shouldn't be offensive to anyone. Irish rebel songs go back to the 1798 Rebellion and the United Irishmen which was started by Presbyterians like Wolfe Tone and Samuel Neilson. These songs have been passed down through the ages and are political but not sectarian. Songs of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 like the The News Fae Moidart, Roses of Prince Charlie and Will ye' no come back again are sung by the Tartan Army on away trips as well as songs commemorating the Wallace and the Bruce however no-one seems to be pressuring the Tartan Army to stop singing those. Similarly we feel that the problem with Rangers singing pro-British songs is they are politically opposed to our pro-independence and republican stance and the other causes we believe in. But we respect their right to express those views in a non-sectarian manner.In the final analysis, the Green Brigade are fanatical Celtic supporters and will not try to be cheerleaders for the crowd. We will join in with whatever the fans choose to sing as long as it is not racist or sectarian whilst keeping the atmosphere going when the crowd are quiet.How can other Celts get involved?The Green Brigade are broadly left-wing in our political outlook and encourage any like-minded anti-racist, anti-fascist Celtic fans to get involved by making yourself known to other Green Brigade members. You will be warmly welcomed to help in future displays and have a say in how we can make supporting Celtic an enjoyable experience.

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In mid-January 2007, the Athletic Bilbao anti-fascist supporters group Herri Norte Taldea (HNT) celebrates its 25th Birthday with a party that includes a slap-up meal for hundreds of people, a concert featuring punk bands from 4 different countries and an all-day booze-up that culminates with a visit to the stadium to watch Athletic take on Villareal. The HNT party will be attended by a delegation from TAL Fanzine and we will carry a report and pictures from the events in our next issue.

In the meantime, here is a flavour of the atmosphere that can be expected for those who choose to visit Bilbao and take in a match and a weekend in the company of our friends from HNT.

Around this time last year a group of lads from the Underground CSC took a club trip to Bilbao to see Athletic Bilbao take on Athletico Madrid. They met up with some of the Athletic Bilbao Ultras the Herri Norte Taldea (HNT) who took them to the game and organised a music event for entertainment.

Athletic Bilbao are one of Spain’s most successful clubs and are an institution looked on with pride in the Basque country. The club has won 8 championships since the founding of the Primera División and have won over 40 cups and other trophies. This being quite remarkable due to the La Cantera policy of signing Basque only players. Their success is mirrored by the fact that Athletic are one of only 2 other founding members of the Primera Division that have yet to be relegated. The other clubs being non other than Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The club was formed in 1898 and was called The Athletic Club but it became Athletic Bilbao in 1903 with the merger with The Bilbao football club and. Athletics history is very interesting and has numerous English connections. The Bilbo football club was formed by English miners from the North of England and Dockworkers from Southampton as

many immigrated to the Bilbao region due to it being a largely industrial region. This is claimed to be one of the reasons for the choosing Red and White stripes on their top although numerous other thories exist. The second English origin of the club is that the Athletic Club was that Basque students studying in England brought football back with them and arranged games with English workers in Bilbao and keeping the English spelling of Athletic.

Athletic Bilbao like Celtic are well known for their politics these being the noble causes Basque separatism and militant anti fascism. The Basques have been fighting for the right to self determination for over 150 years and to this day Basque political activists still suffer repression by the Spanish State. The La Cantera policy of signing only Basques reflects the aspiration for Basque self determination. The club are admired for developing home grown Basque players in this day and age when it is a hindrance to them as they are limited to a small pool of potential players. But most Athletic fans would prefer to see this policy maintained even if it makes it difficult for them to compete with other teams.

However the policy does have its fair share of critic as it has been interpreted as discriminatory and xenophobic due to it discriminating on ethnicity. The La Cantera policy is in no way comparable to the discrimination that went on in Rangers until recently for numerous reasons. Firstly in the absence of a FIFA recognised Basque national team it is seen as an alternative and the policy is more akin to the GAA rules of playing for your county. There is a national team that plays in friendly's with other countries but cannot compete in any completions sadly most recently they played Cameroon in December and sadly lost one nil. Furthermore you do not have to be born in the Basque region to be employed by the club. Brazilian born Biurrun played for Bilbao as he grew up in the Basque country and the club has had a host of foreign coaches such as Fred Pentland and the German Jupp Heynecks.

The group of Ultras we met were the HerrI Norte Taldea who were formed in the season 1981/82 and are militantly anti fascist. Although due to the nature

Athletic Bilbao

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of the Basque struggle for self determination you will not find many fascists and if they openly showed their face they would be kicked back to the caves they came from by the HNT. They have roughly 300 members and their name comes from the stand they are in the San Mames stadium or ‘The Cathedral’ as it’s known to locals.

The HNT like other ultra have been involved in bringing banners and flags to games and produce the fanzine ANTIULTRA. The fanzine is not limited to soccer but includes numerous topics such as anti fascist and separatist politics, music reviews and is dedicated to all things Basque. Sadly though due to the political nature of the HNT they have many problems with the authorities as was evident at the game we were at with the Police doing their best to intimidate and antagonise the Basque supporters and this is worse at away games. It is not just Athletic fans that suffer this but all Basques do as exemplified by the Murder of Aitor Zabaleta who was murdered by fascist elements in Athletico Madrid support for simply being a Basque. The HNT had a banner condemning the murders of Aitor at the game.

Their leftist political nature was visible with a banner slamming the ultra nationalistic psudo fascist Athletico player Salva. He has made numerous crude statements in support of Spanish troop’s involvement in the illegal occupation of Iraq. His family are all military and the banner on display was hoping Salva would follow them and take his parochial ultra nationalism with him to Iraq.

The HNT are not just about football they are like sub culture or even a family and have their own bands and organise parties etc. We were lucky enough to be invited to a squat party to watch HNT Oi! Punk bands The Suspenders and The Kobras. This party went on till the early hours of the morning where there was much pogoing by people who at their age should not really be doing this due to the strain on their ageing bodies. At the party we sampled the famous Basque drink Kalimotxo (calymocho) that consists of half red wine (the cheaper the better) and half coke and is surprisingly very nice. Sadly though businessmen are trying to buy up the land and change the area against the wishes of the locals who the HNT have a good relationship with over the house and the parties are organised with consultation the locals.

The group although friendly with most Basque groupings and with Deportivos Riazor Blues and

other left leaning groups they do have their enemies. The two big rivalries being Real Madrid’s Ultras Sur and Frente Atletico of Atletico Madrid. These generally being that they have large fascist elements with in these groupings and due to the trouble Basques have had when travelling to away games especially in Madrid.

The HNT like Athletic have a colourful and interesting history and will hopefully go from strength to strength in coming years. The passion for their club and the efforts they make to improve the atmosphere in the stadium and the events they organise outside the stadium is something the Jungle Bhoys can aspire to achieve. Aupa Athletic!

* We met up with the HNT lads in one of the Herriko bars near San Mames stadium. These bars raise funds for Basque Prisoners of War. Outside the bar the area was packed with lots drinking Kalimotxo in 2 litre plastic bottles with a cracking atmosphere with folk singing and bangers getting let off. It was kind of similar to the Gallowgate with all the bars being football and political in nature with many Ikurriña’s on display.

* In the ground the despised Beltzas who are elite anti-disturb Basque police who are dressed in black, that's why people know them as beltza (black in the Basque). Many had their faces covered under their helmets due to fear of being seen as the stigma being attached to the Beltzas is one like a scab or a traitor. They were generally harassing the crowd trying to remove banners that they didn’t like mainly anti fascist ones letting s know where the Beltzas politics lie. Although the crowd stood up for themselves and the Beltzas backed off. But after the game they came back trying to antagonise celebrating fans that remained in the ground after the breathtaking equaliser for Athletic Bilbao in the 95 minute making the game 1-1.

Article by Karl M27

Please give some information about your club; history, the league it plays in, and the type of supporters.1905 - establishment/foundation of the club 1927 – as the diplomats and representatives of Czech Republic the clubs departs with name AFK BOHEMIANS for the legendary Australian tournament. The players bring back a kangaroo, who becomes the club’s mascot 1932 – the opening of the Danner stadium in „DOLÍÈEK“. This has been the club’s home for 74 years. 1951 – The name changes to „ŽELEZNIÈÁØI STALINGRAD“ (RAILWAYMEN STALINGRAD) within the framework of the chaos and reorganization during the 50’s 1982 – In the semifinal of the UEFA cup BOHEMKA gets beaten by the future winner RSC ANDRLECHT 1983 – only one title - champions of Czech Republic 2005 – due to debt the club’s existence nearly come to end. The club’s fans put together a fund and form DFB (group of BOHEMIANS fans) and save their beloved club.

2/ When and why did your Ultras group start?In 2004, after the trip to the ANTIRA tournament in HAMBURG, we started our group because we wanted to liven up the ULTRAS scene and the activities at BOHEMIANS. Our group is called „BAROVÍ POVALEÈI“ (BAR FLIES) and represents the heart of BOHEMIANS ULTRAS…

3/ How many members do you have? „BAROVÍ POVALEÈI“ = aprox. 30 people (in other words all of us that spend all their free time at the pub..)

ULTRAS - who make the choreography = aprox. 15 People who help during the prezentation = aprox. 30

4/ Is your Ultras group a hooligan group, or just a collective of fans that likes to make big displays at the stadium?At BOHEMIANS there is a group of HOOLIGANS called BERSERK. We don’t look for trouble, but we don’t run.(We don’t go looking for fights but they tend to find us)

5/ What attitude do you have towards football hooligans?We have a good relationship with them. We respect their hobby.

6/ Do you have any political attitudes – left or right? Anti-racist & anti-fascist?Everyone has their own political attitude. That is the reason that no politically oriented things appear at our stadium (choreography, flags, …, …)

7/ Who are your biggest rivals – which other clubs and fans do you most dislike and why?

SPARTA PRAGUE – a city rivalry, the largest hatred HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ – the biggest rival of our friends fromPARDUBICE.BRNO – perhaps the largest group of nazi hooligans in Czech Republic SIGMA OLOMOUC – against SIGMA, against all!!! (Proti SIGMÌ, proti všem!!! – a motto) STØÍŽKOV – This team stole our logo and name (BOHEMIANS PRAGUE) in the auction that was written

out during our financial problems.

and many more ….

8/ Which other fans and Ultras do you have friendships with?

BAR FLIES – SKINHEADS ST.PAULI BERSERK – PARDUBICE - SENCO DOUBRAVKA - DVÙR KRÁLOVÉ nad LABEM - GÓRNIK WALBRZYCH (PL)

A lot of BOHEMIANS fans have a positive attitude towards SLAVIA PRAGUE.

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Bohemians Prague

10/ What have been your worst moments in football?When BOHEMIANS died after it’s 100 year long existence..

11/ What have been your best moments in football?When BOHEMIANS was reborn again thanks to its loyal fans.

12/ What have been the best displays that you have made?This year’s match with STØÍŽKOV…We had best choreography, pyroshow and atmosphere.

13/ Is there anything else that you want to say about your club, your city, country, politics – NOW YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING YOU WANT THAT WE HAVE NOT ASKED?In the Czech Republic we have the best looking girls, the best beer, best music club ÚJEZD, the best city PRAGUE and… the worst politics. BAROVÍ POVALEÈI

Club colours : Green - White

Websites: www.bohemians-ultras.net www.bohemians.cz www.kenguru.cz

BOYCOTTTHE SUN

JUSTICE FOR THE 96http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/

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The BibleCodeSundaysGhosts Of Our Past

Fresh from their recent appearance on RTE’s You’re A Star talent show, The BibleCodeSundays present a stunning debut album that was reminiscent of the equally stunning debut of Goats Don’t Shave a few years back. Rockin’ Reelin’ good tunes with attitude, but commercial enough surely to court a wider audience. The band have a big sound incorporating rock with traditional Irish music that includes fiddle, accordion and whistles... Think Pogues meetsthe Saw Doctors and you’re getting there, but not quite, because every timeyou think you’ve got them pigeon-holed there’s another song that scuppers it.My Town is Neil Young gone punk... All I Ask, Better Man Than Me and Honour of The Gael stand out too as a great ballads among 14 excellent tunes... Get yerself on to the band’s site and snap up this CD at the bargainprice of £10 including p&p

www.biblecodesundays.co.uk

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Conflict of Interest?The stewards who have been set on our supporters recently and who appear to be carrying out their duties with particular relish. Is it any coincidence that the company in question have their headquarters at Broomloan House, Ibrox and use as their corporate logo a graphic of orange silhouettes? I think we should be told.

Irish Catholic Bhoy - SeanchaiThis CD kicks straight into gear with its Clash-esque title track and itsinstantly catchy chorus: “Liberation Theology, if one of us suffers, none of us arefree...” then on to the ska rhythms of Gypo, followed immediately by thecalypso beat of Ernesto Guevara Lynch... Getting the political message yet?Don;t worry cos there’s another 8 politically relevant songs coming on topof those 3 to persuade you of the Seanchai message. Seanchai as always isexperimenting with various musical styles and the political pop of “We’reGonna Get There” utilises to great effect the wonderful voice of RachelFitzgerald. More songs of migration and struggle reflect the republicanpolitical experience of the New York Irish. The most interesting song, bothpolitically and for the craic, is one based on a real phone call made by ChrisByrne to a radio show with Jerry Springer where Chris demolishes Springer’shuman zoo as the ritual humiliation of the poor dressed up as entertainment.It’s called Pope John Paul II, Jerry Springer & Me. Brilliant!

www.seanchai.comBelow: Livorno fans give a very special welcome to

their visitors from Glasgow

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Quadrofenians & Win That Shook The Barley T-shirts

Green Brigade

Ultras