tal ezine 1

8/3/2019 Tal Ezine 1

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But ref there isno such card as an

Orange Card!!Aye, thats whatyou think laddie

CONSPIRACY OR INCOMPETENCE?he dust has now settled after the match against rang-

rs but still the controversy rages on about refereeing

decisions in matches involving the two Glasgow clubs

his season. There is deep unease about the competen-

y and professionalism of referees in Scotland. Celtic

FC made representations to the SFA in advance of the

match asking for clarification on a number of points

with regard to what the club perceives to be unfair ad-

antage given to our opponents not only in matches

gainst Celtic, but also in matches against other SPL

lubs which have seen rangers favoured by poor match

fficials.

As might have been expected the Scottish football press have

allied round the SFA and rangers, but no-one has been able to

xplain away or justify some of the blatantly biased decisions

that have been given against Celtic this season. It is apparent

that something is amiss in Scottish football and that the stand-

ard of refereeing is at the centre of it. As long as we have a foot-

ball hierarchy that is blind to its own bias and a craven press

that indulges their every whim, there will be no change.

It is time now for outside bodies like UEFA and FIFA to thor-

oughly investigate the SFA and the SPL. If nothing else such an

investigation would at least assuage fears among our supporters

of institutionalised bigotry at the SFA and among the refereeing

brethren in particular.Celtic have a right to know whether we are simply the victims of

incompetent refereeing, or of a wider conspiracy against the club.

If it is the former then the training of referees must be overhauled

and in the meantime match officials from outside of Scotland

should officiate at Celtic v rangers matches. If the latter is the case

then Scottish football needs to change, root and branch.(see inside for more)


2/8

The leak to the press in the daysleading up to the recent rangers vCeltic match that Celtic PLC hadmade official representations to

the SFA with regard to the stand-ard of refereeingin the SPL wasenough to resur-rect all the oldaccusations ofCeltic Paranoia from assortedrangers fansworking in theScottish media.Sundays match

against rangersdid nothing toallay our fearsthat at the veryleast the stand-ard of refereeing in Scotland ispoor, if not verging on the cor-rupt. On two occasions in OldFirm matches this season KyleLafferty has been involved in con-troversial incidents; he shouldhave been sent off for a mali-

cious challenge on Andreas Hin-kel in the last OF match, andlast Sunday he conspired to getCeltics captain Scott Brown red-carded. Leaving aside Laffertysinvolvement in these incidents,there is a common theme to all ofthis... It is the good fortune ofrangers over almost every otherteam in the SPL when it comes tothe big refereeing decisions.

A debate on this matter tookplace recently on Real Radio. Theusual accusations of paranoiawere levelled against complain-ing Celtic supporters. Such wasthe scorn poured on it that oneCeltic-supporting listener calledKeithdecided to make his re-search public. Here are some ofhis controversial findings:

Decisions that have gone against Celtic

have cost Celtic 9 points this season.Rangers have gained 6 points fromdodgy decisions and have stayed in theScottish Cup due to a dodgy decision. Apotential 15 point swing based on poorrefereeing decisions.

3 opposing SPL managers make admis-sion to the poor decisions against Celticand a ref admits to error.

8 stonewall penalties denied for Celtic

and 4 valid goals chopped off.

Here are just some exam ples andquotes from media.

10 February 2010 - Motherwell 1Rangers 1

Motherwell denied a goal which was 2yards onside that would have put them2-0 up. Linesman flagged incorrectly foroffside.

Craig Brown was livid after seeing TVevidence showing goal was well onside,TV pundits Hendry and Butcher bothagree goal should have stood. RayStubbs on ESPN said that point couldmake all the difference at end of season.

ONE point gained for Rangers

16 January 2010 - Celtic v Falkirk 3major decisions go against Celtic

1. Hand ball by Falkirk defender -no penalty

2. Fortune pulled down in box - nopenalty

3. Arthur handles ball 17 yardsfrom goal 1 yard inside his boxand a free kick is given toFalkirk 20 yards from goal. Thiscould have given Falkirk thewinning goal

Referee - Alan Muir

Mail on Sunday - 'Falkirk manager EddieMay said: "Overall, I thought it was afair result. But I think they should havehad a penalty."

Daily Mail - 'Alan Muir denied the Park-head club a late penalty claim - when

Brian McLean tangled with Fortune - inthe 1-1 draw with Falkirk on Saturday.Hinkel was also unhappy about Celtickeeper Artur Boruc being penalised forapparently stepping out of his area lateon. "It's not really my thing to say

something about referees but,once again, we had somevery strange decisions," saidHinkel. Not even just the pen-alty - look at the situationwhen Artur had a free-kickgiven against him.

TWO points dropped. Oppos-ing manager admits Celticshould have had penalty.

10 January 2010 -

Hamilton v Rangers

3-2 down and a very verydoubtful penalty given to

Rangers, Hamilton player lying onground while trying to move his handaway hand ball penalty given.

Referee Charlie Richmond

Scotsman - "They needed a touch ofgood fortune to equalise when refereeCharlie Richmond rather harshly penal-ised Hamilton debutant Stuart Elliott forhandball, awarding the spot-kick fromwhich Kenny Miller converted."

A gift given to Rangers by ref to keepthem in the Cup. Its okay saying Rich-mond denied Miller a penalty in the re-play but if it was not for the ludicrousdecision in first game there would havebeen no replay.

3 January 2010 - Celtic v R angers

2 shocking decisions cost Celtic the 3

points (regardless of the poor finishing)Fortune scores a goal - chopped offincorrectly.

Lafferty assaults Hinkel - a red cardoffence but only yellow given.

Referee - Steve Conroy

Scotsman - "Following the controversialdecision by Conroy to disallow whatlooked like a perfectly good Fortunegoal after 19 minutes. Moments later,Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty was per-

haps fortunate only to be booked for alate challenge on Celtic right-back An-dreas Hinkel."

TWO points dropped. ONE point gainedfor Rangers. 2 derbies in a row thatmultiple decisions go against Celtic.

INGLORIOUS CHEATINGBASTARDS


3/8

12 December 2009 - Motherwell vCeltic

Celtic denied TWO stonewall penalties.

Samaras chopped in box in 1st half - Nopenalty.

Hand ball by Motherwell defender - Nopenalty.

Referee - Charlie Richmond

Celtic do get penalty but only after hav-ing 3 claims for a penalty, two of whichwere stonewallers.

Guardian - "Even if Celtic did have alegitimate claim for a penalty when Sa-maras was tripped by Reynolds. Anoth-er two poor decisions from refereeCharlie Richmond denied them penaltiesafter McGeady had equalised. WhenCeltic were finally awarded a penalty forSaunders's foul on Samaras, Robsongave the goalkeeper an easy save with

a weak shot close to his left side."

8 November 2009 - Falkirk v Celtic

At 3-3 in last minute Celtic had a goaldisallowed when TV showed it was ON-SIDE.

Flag goes up for offside when Samarasclearly onside right through on goal.

Referee - Brian Winter

Daily Record - "Celtic fans yelped infrustration - and their mood would not

have improved when television replaysshowed assistant Lawrence Kerriganwas wrong to flag for offside when Sa-maras was played in behind the Bairnsdefence in injury time."

His shot may have been blocked byOlejnik but it dropped to McDonald whopoked the ball into the net only to seethe flag fluttering along his line of vision.To be fair, Celtic players kept their pro-tests to a minimum.

TWO points dropped

4 October 2009 - Rangers v Celtic

Celtic denied TWO stonewall penalties.Maloney booked for diving. Refereelater apologises for getting one penaltydecision rong.

Lafferty assaults Zhing Zhi and Weirrecklessly follows through on McDonald.Neither booked.

Referee - Craig Thomson

STV website and various media - "Old

Firm referee Craig Thomson has admit-ted hes 'disappointed' at getting hisdecision wrong when he decided not toaward Celtic a penalty in the 12thminute. Hugh Dallas said: 'Craig and Ihave had our post match de-brief.

Whilst I would compliment Craig forhisoverall handling of yesterday's en-counter, he is disappointed at his errorof judgement when he decided againstawarding a penalty to the visiting teamin the 12th minute.'"

Motherwell manager Jim Gannon latersaid: "Right now there is a questionmark over the standard of our referee-ing, and it affects the SPL table. Afterthe last Old Firm game Hugh Dallas hadto defend the referee [Craig Thomson].But the result of that match might havebeen different had the ref got the bigdecisions correct.

At the end of the season Celtic couldlook back and say, That result cost usthe title. The fact is, if no one speaksup, then nothing will change.

Assuming the worst Celtic would havegained a draw with 2 or 3 penalties be-

ing awarded.

ONE point dropped. TWO gained byRangers.

26 September 2009 - Rangers vAberdeen

McCulloch elbows Aberdeen player delib-erately. No card and No TV evidencecase by SPL.

Referee - Iain Brines

Daily Record - "Rangers midfielder Lee

McCulloch, however, was fortunate notto pick up a red card from Brines for anelbow on McGuire."

Rangers would have been playing 45mins with 10 men if Brines had done his

job. Next match for Rangers was OldFirm game. McCulloch escapes banwhich could have been a 3 match banfor violent conduct.

21 September 2009 - Celtic vHearts

McGinn chopped in box. Stonewall pen-alty denied with 5 mins to go.

Referee - Dougie McDonald

Daily Record - "The Northern Irish inter-national was brought down inside thebox by Lee Wallace with five minutes togo of Sunday's SPL clash at Parkhead,only for referee Dougie McDonald toaward a corner to the bemusement ofeveryone inside the stadium."

Belfast Telegraph - "Five minutes from

the end of normal time, the Irishmanwas denied what looked a clear-cut pen-alty by referee Dougie McDonald whenhe appeared to be chopped down byJambos' left-back Lee Wallace as heburst into the Hearts penalty area. "

Celtic scored in 93rd minute and got the3 points.

13 September - 2009 - Celtic v Dun-dee Utd

Celtic had a Samaras goal incorrectlychopped off for offside. Also deniedstonewall penalty when Dodds handledball in last minute. Dodds admitted tohand ball. Levein said he was surprised

he never caught it.Referee - Steve Conroy.

Scotland on Sunday - "Levein left thefield quietly at the end and there wasprobably a reason for that. His side ap-peared to come out the right side oftwo highly contentious calls in the sec-ond half; a Georgios Samaras "goal"chalked off and a Celtic penalty claimwaved away by referee Steve Conroy.The "goal" was put away by Samarasjust before the hour mark and only acouple of minutes after he came on forLandry N'Guemo."

Tony Mowbray, in his understated way,challenged us to look at the incident onvideo, the comment of a man who isconvinced that Samaras' effort shouldhave stood. Much later, a couple of min-utes into injury time in fact, an AndreasHinkel cross hit Darren Dodds on thearm and many a spot-kick has beengiven in such circumstances. Askedabout it later, Levein offered a cheekyresponse: "I've spoken to Darren aboutit and he said he was really disappoint-ed he never held it. Dodds said: "Theball hit my head and then hit mythumb." That's that, then. It shouldhave been a penalty."

TWO points dropped.

30 August 2009 - Hibs v Celtic

McGeady sent off for diving 45 yardsfrom goal after riding a few tackles af-ter going on a run.

Referee - Dougie McDonald

24 August 2009 - Hearts v Rangers

Rangers heading for a draw, awardedpenalty in last minute for tackle whichlooked soft and looked outside box.

Referee - Craig Thomson

Daily Mail - "The Tynecastle sidethought the penalty was harsh, arguingthat the foul by Ismael Bouzid on Ste-

ven Naismith was committed outsidethe penalty box, while Rangers consid-ered Thomson unlucky to be red-card-ed."

TWO points gained for Rangers

To be continued ad nauseam...


4/8

Alerta, the antifascist network ofsupporters groups is proclaimingitself to be an anti-fascistmovement. The truth, however,is that Alerta is an anti-nationalist organisationdominated by a politicallydogmatic clique who areinfluenced by the ideas ofanarchism, anti-nationalism (forall but Israel), Zionism and anti-Germanism.

The Anti-Germans are a weird cultamong German leftists who are guilt-ridden with regard to the war crimescommitted by the Nazis in the name ofGermany during World War 2. Theybelieve that in order to atone for theHolocaust the German left (and bydefault the rest of the European left)must support the state of Israel in allthat it does, without criticism.

Those on the left who do choose to criti-cise the Israeli regimes actions in Gazaand in developing new settlements inEast Jerusalem, are denounced as be-ing anti-semites and Hamas support-ers.

The most obvious exponents of the Anti-

German/pro-Zionist position are to befound among some of the AlertaNetworks leadership, who hide theirpro-Israeli politics under the guise ofanti-nationalism. The slogan of thisgroup is laughable - No Nations - NoBorders. Try telling that to the Palestin-ians in Gaza who have been collectivelypunished by Israel for having the audaci-ty to elect a leadership of their choice indemocratic elections. They are nowtrapped in Gaza by the Israeli siege!

Regardless of what you think about thepolitics of Hamas - and you will find no-one at TAL who has much sympathy forthe politics or the religious fundamental-ism of the Hamas Movement- the Pal-estinians exercised their democraticright to elect their own government, as

agreed by the United Nations and all ofthe participating groups and govern-ments in the peace process, includingIsrael.

The Israeli government refused to recog-nise the newly elected Hamas Govern-ment of the Palestinian Authority anddid all that it could to foment civil war inthe West Bank and Gaza by basicallyattempting to punish, starve and bullythe Palestinians into submission. Theiractions in undermining the new govern-

ment did indeed ignite civil conflict with-in the occupied territories, whicheffectively split the West Bank (underFatahs control) from Gaza (under Ha-mas control) . Once suitably divided,weakened and softened up, Israel thenturned its attentions to the people ofGaza, collectively punishing them forexercising their democratic right to vote.Ultimately this led to last years terroristbombardment and invasion of Gaza bythe Israeli Defence Force. 1400 Pales-tinian lives were lost (approximatelyhalf

that number were women and children).

The pro-Israel lobby will propagandisethat this was an eye for an eye andthat they had to strike against Hamas inorder to allay the fears of bombardmentby rockets of its citizens living in south-

ern Israel, but the truth is that, until thatpoint, in the few months before the inva-sion, the rocket count from Gaza to Isra-el had decreased significantly. The

facts are that around 140 Palestinianswere killed for every Israeli citizen thatdied in the months before as a result

of rockets fired from Gaza. This canhardly be viewed as a proportionateresponse by Israel, even if one didagree with the warped logic of the Is-raeli propaganda machine.

Make no mistake, Israel is a roguestate - every bit (and a bit more) dan-gerous to world peace as any of theso-called axis of evil powers whosemilitary capabilities are dwarfed by the

resources and firepower of Israel. Thisis a state that wages ideological war in

words and deeds. The recent hit inDubai of a senior Hamas leader byMosad, is testament to how little impor-tance Israel attaches to negotiatingpeace with the Palestinians. Israelchooses to assassinate its enemies, notto accommodate them or make peacewith them.

But what does any of this have to dowith an alleged anti-fascist movement?

Read on...

The dominant group within Alerta is theUltras Sankt Pauli(USP), who are influ-enced variously by the politics of anar-cho anti-nationalism and an illogicallypro-Zionist element. One of the Ultrasgroups that the USP have gone out oftheir way to develop relations with arethe Ultras Hapoel (The Red Workers)supporters of our recent ChampionsLeague opponents Hapoel Tel Aviv.Both groups proclaim their anti-national-ism and anti-fascism, but are loathe tosay anything with regard to Israel, otherthan to demand support for it on inter-net forums such as the Green Brigades(our own ultras have ill-advisedly cho-sen to join Alerta, despite the fact thatAlerta ideologically opposes those onthe left who support anti-imperialism

Divisive Anti-FascismTAL explores the fundamental political weaknesses, opportunism and dilettantism of the

Alerta network of supporters groups, which proclaims itself to be an anti-fascist movement

THANK YOU MR. HARRIS - NO TEARS FORKRAUTS. As shown above, the lunatic positions ofthe Anti-Germans lead some so-called anti-fas-

cists to carry banners heralding Bomber Harris -the architect of the carpet bombing of Germancities at the end of World War 2 - as a hero. AAAAp-parently some war criminals are better than others...


5/8

and progressive national liberationmovements).

In Issue 42of Tal Fanzine we carriedan interview with the USP, with whichwe fundamentally disagreed politically,but which we printed with only that clari-fication and without reply. It is perhapstime to address ourselves to the exclu-sive politics of the USP...

In the interview the USP stated theirview of nations and nationalism in themost puerile sense, only seeing the na-tion state as harmful rather than havingany ability to make progressive change.If the USP were principled, revolutionarysocialists we could perhaps accept theirposition. However, the USP do not evenstate their politics in left-wing terms. In-stead they talk in airy-fairy, utopian lan-guage about how the idea of nationsclashes with the idea of all humans be-ing equal .

Of course, we at TAL fully endorse theinternationalist politics of James Connol-ly whose ultimate aims became the polit-ical blueprint for for most socialists onthese islands; i.e. that the working classhas no nation and is bound together bycommon class interests which crossnational borders and boundaries. Thisis also a common theme in the work ofother great revolutionaries such as CheGuevara.

However, both Connolly and Che weremen of tactical acumen as well as beingpolitical idealists. Both were prepared toally their revolutionary socialist viewswith the political objectives of what theydefined as progressive national libera-tion movements. Connolly was perhapsthe most scathing of revolutionaries to-wards the politics of nationalism, yet hebecame the military commander of theEaster Rising, an insurrectionary strug-gle to gain Irelands freedom from Brit-ish rule in which nationalists and

socialists fought side by side.

Likewise, Guevaras involvement in anti-colonialist struggles in Africa was a rec-ognition that the politics of national andsocial liberation can combine to makepolitical progress.

It is an irony that the most used andabused symbol of the groups within theAlerta Network is the image of Che, arevolutionary of deep conviction andprinciple who would surely never have

countenanced working with such politi-cal dilettantes.

An honest grouping with their beliefswould cease using the iconic symbol ofChe Guevara on their merchandise ma-terial, because it is clear that the USP

do not stand in the tradition of Chewhen it comes to the issue of nationalliberation and self-determination.

The USP as a group do fight fascists,and they fight them very effectively andphysically when the need arises. Alertais also committed to fighting fascism inwords at least, but some of its constitu-ent groups have no political ideologywhatsoever and define themselves asbeing non-political (i.e. Ultra groups atStandard Liege and Bohemians Prague)

Whenever criticism is levelled at the poli-tics of such groups we usually get a listof the do-gooding but politically futilecharity work that they have carried outamong refugee groups, or the numberof meaningless anti-racist football tour-naments that they have organised.

However, political effectiveness is notmeasured by how muchyou do, rather itshould be measured by what differenceyou make?

The danger represented by the divisivepolitics of the USP is in the detail oftheir ideology: By their own definitionsof nationalism and fascism, they classifyas 'fascist' and 'potentially fascist' nation-al liberation movements and groups thatare clearly not fascist. In other words,

by means of their flawed political ideolo-gy, they place potential allies againstfascism in the opposition camp.

When TAL made links with the St PauliFanladen nearly 20 years ago, it wasrun by people who understood and sup-ported the national liberation move-ments of Ireland, Palestine and Euskadi.1990 is not 2010 and the politics of theFanladen appear to have radically al-tered where elements among its staffand the USP now support the common

middle-class ideology of the German leftthat is a mixture of revisionist academicsociology ('the working class is dead')and anti-Germanism/pro-Zionism.

We have friends at St Pauli, both withinand without the USP, who understand

fully the politics of national liberation,but they are in the minority. Our friendshave asked us to respect the USP, buthow can we show political respect for agroup with whom we disagree profound-ly on the issues raised by this article?The USP's dogmatic ideology meansthat their group can never show solidari-ty with progressive national liberationmovements - because they do not be-

lieve that nationalism can ever have aprogressive element to it. By adoptingthis position Alerta and the USP placethemselves against anti-imperialism.

Anti-nationalism and the 'No Borders'position in the current political epoch isutterly Utopian. Its designed to advancelittle, appeal to no-one and link to noth-ing. It renders the left's activities to littlemore than charity work and their actionsto preserving the political status quo.

* Alerta may know who it wants to fight,but does it (and the groups that sign upto it) know what it is fighting for?

* Apart from a basic liberal anti-racist'charitable' approach, what is Alertaabout?

* Does the USP have any links to work-ing class politics, or do they like most ofthe autonomous German left believethat the working class no longer exists?

* Who do they seek to influence and

what effect do their actions have on thecommunities where they live?

* What difference do the political actionsof the USP and Alerta make?

At the Champions League match againstHapoel Tel Aviv protests in favour of Pal-estine were left to individual Celtic sup-porters and the STUC. The Green Brigadechose not to mount any kind of pro-Pales-tinian display to avoid upsetting theirZionist friends from Ultras Hapoel.

Israeli Defence Force Tanks adorned withthe flags and symbols of Ultras Hapoel


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Brigata Scozzese LivornoQ: You've started a Livorno supportersclub based in Glasgow. Tell us more aboutLivorno and why form a group?

A: A.S Livorno Calcio wereformed in 1915 initially as Un-ione Sportivo Livorno but chang-ing to A.S Livorno slightly later.Their best-ever placement inSerie A was second place in the1942/1943 season pushing thefamous Grande Torino team hardfor the championship. Livorno isa port town in Tuscany not farfrom Pisa who are their mainfootball rivals. It is a ferry termi-nal to Sardinia, Corsica and Elba as well asproviding berth to cruise ships visiting Flor-ence and Tuscany.Livorno spent 55 years in lower leagues un-

til they signed boyhood hero Cristiano Lu-carelli who helped them gain promotion in2003-2004. Livorno were relegated in 2007-2008 but this summer won the Play-offs toreturn to Serie A in 2009-2010.

Over a number of years now I have followedthe fortunes of Livorno as have a few oth-ers from English-speaking countries. Thefirst task was actually just to form the first-ever English-language Livorno Calcio forumso fans who don't understand Italian canlearn more about the club and it's fans. Foryears we had struggled with Italian, Turkish,

French and Scandinavian sites and its goodnow to keep people up to date quicker inEnglish, though I regularly keep in touchwith some of the other boards and constant-ly try to improve my Italian orLivornese to be morecorrect!

Q: Have you travelled over to the citybefore, how did you find the people and

the city?En route to a Milan v Celtic match in 2007 Iwent via Livorno for their match v Inter. Iwas extremely lucky to get into the stadiumbecause all away fans and non-season tick-et holders were banned because of the trou-ble in Sicily that year. But contacts there

helped me get in. I was back again last sum-mer for a few days to help plan ahead forthe match we attended again against Inter.

Three of us travelled andmet folk connected withsupporters forums andultras groups. We alsomet fans from West Bel-fast, Osasuna, Vallecasand Barcelona.

The fans were very wel-coming and allowed us toplace our banner on theplexi-glass in the CurvaNord which was a massive

honour for us. There isn't much Englishspoken here as it isnt a tourist town so youhave to try and learn some Italian so theevening classes are paying off.

In the summer the temperature was 30 degand even last week was 21 deg, and thoughit's a few miles down the Tuscan coast tothe nearest beach you can take a train 45minutes north to Viareggio a lovely seasideresort. Inland there is the town of Luccawhich one day I will need to visit. Florenceisn't far by train either and the EurostarItalia takes you to Rome in 2.5hrs. To getover to Livorno from Scotland or Ireland thebest airport is Pisa which is only 20minutesby train from Livorno.

Q: What are the politics of the Livorno

supporters and Ultras? Is that importantto the B.S.L?It was politics to be honest which got meinto Livorno I guess in a similar way tohow the relationship started betweenCeltic Anti-Fascists and St. Pauli and Ath-

letic Bilbao?

Livorno was the birthplace to the PCI(Italian Communist Party) in 1921 and isstill very left-wing to this day, being a realdockers and fishing port city.

This is reflected on the Curva Nord. Formany years since 1999 the Brigata Auto-nome Livornesi were notorious and had dis-plays of Che Guevara, Cuban, Palestinianand Soviet flags. They make no apologiesfor being mostly marxist-leninist and occa-sionally displaying banners of Joseph Stalin.However there is a strong autonomist cur-

rent among the fans and it is good to seethe various leftist elements working togeth-er.

All we ask is that members of the BSL re-spect the communist traditions of the Livor-nesi and are working class anti-fasciststhemselves. The occasional support of Sta-lin in the Curva Nord may be controversialto some but not to us , we believe that tobe a matter for the Livornesi themselves . Iguess for that we may not be overinundat-ed with applications but thats the way itgoes.

Politics aside, we actually do care aboutthe club and were riveted to the play-offson the Internet, but we were set up beforewe knew whether promotion was on thecards or not.

Q: What are your hopes for the BSL andA.S Livorno this year?A: Firstly for the club to consolidate it'sSerie A position and hopefully push for aEuropa Cup spot in a year or two. It's only acouple of seasons since Lucarelli finishedtop scorer in Serie A and Livorno were play-

ing Espanyol beyond the group stages of theUEFA Cup.

For ourselves growth isn't too important,we'd rather have 4 or 5 lads over there withthe right attitude, and manage anotherhome game before the end of the season .To establish more contacts and make morefriendships with the Livornesi and gain agreater understanding of society there andmaybe giving a donation or two to localcauses.


7/8


8/8

My university was the orphanage,borstal, prison and the concentrationcamp was how Bob Doyle describedhis political education in comparisonto some of those made famous bytheir writings during the Spanish Civil

War.I was interviewing Bob for thenewspaper Red Action and for me, asa relatively young activist engaged inthe fight against fascism on the streetsof Britain, he was enthralling company.

While I was at his home, Bob had givenme a copy of a handwritten documentthat would later form the basis of hisautobiography, Brigadista. I haveit still, twenty years later, a valued

memento from an unconventional yetcommitted revolutionary.

In his memoirs Bob chartered his journey. Born in 1916 into animpoverished Dublin, Bob joined the IRAas a young man, aligning himself withthose on the left of the Republicancause such as Frank Ryan and PeadarODonnell. He also became involved inthe vicious street battles withODuffys fascist Blueshirts, sufferinglifelong damage to one of his eyes.

As his political consciousness grew, Boblearnt that someone he admired greatly- his former flatmate and IRA volunteerKit Conway - had died at the Battle of Jarama in Spain fighting Francosfascist forces. He was determined toavenge him and set out to join theConnolly Column , the Irish section ofthe International Brigades.

Much to his dismay, after finallyreaching Spain (despite Nazi Germanyand fascist Italy sending troops andequipment to aid Franco, westerngovernments were still doingeverything in their powers to preventinternational volunteers from joiningthose fighting for democracy) Bob wassent, not to the front, but to a trainingcamp where the expertise learnt duringhis time in the IRA made him extremelyvaluable as a weapons instructor.

Eventually, Bob had had enough andeffectively deserted, jumping on a trooplorry heading to the front.He saw action at the battle of Belchitein 1937 and was finally captured by

Italian forces in 1938, starting an 11-month stint in one of Francosconcentration camps where he wastortured and interrogated by theinfamous German Gestapo and whereexecution was a daily threat.

Released under an exchangeprogramme Bob headed to London andserved in the merchant navy duringWW2 - he wanted to contribute to thedefeat of fascism but could not, as anIrish republican, join the British army.After the war Bob settled in London andbecame active in the print workersunion SOGAT. Unbeknown to most, hewas also working in support of theunderground resistance movement in

Spain who continued to opposeFrancos rule.

At home Bob continued to opposefascism wherever its raised its head. In1947 he was part of a 2,000 strongcrowd who turned out on the streets ofTottenham, North London, to oppose amarch by Mosleys post-war fascistparty. He was arrested and took thedecision to conduct his own defence. Hetold the magistrate: If it was good

enough for me to be sent during thewar to patrol the Western Atlantic todefeat fascism, it was good enough forme to take a bus from Paddington toTottenham to do the same thing. He

On another occasion he was set-uponby the militant anti-fascist 62 Group who had mistaken him for the enemy.They were horrified when they realisedtheir error and there was apologetic

embraces all round - once they hadhauled him from the ground anddusted him down!

Bob was certainly unconventionalthough. He was never afraid to putnoses out of joint when he thought hewas right - and that included manywithin the International BrigadesAssociation.

While he remained committed to a

united, republican Ireland his earlyexperiences with the nuns, thebishops support of ODuffysvolunteers and Francos fascistcatholic crusade meant he detested the

church.His bible, he told me, was always

Labour, Nationality and Religion andLabour in Irish History by James

Connolly.

He was also a big advocate of thelegalisation of cannabis, which he grewin his greenhouse for his personal useand even starred as an extra in twoMonty Python films during theseventies.

On one occasion he managed to throwRed Action stewards into a momentarypanic after he had ridden his motorbikeat speed towards the doors of a hungerstrike commemoration I had invited him

to. Only when he had pulled up hisbrakes, removed his flying goggles andproduced his trademark mischievousgrin did we realise it was Bob!

Each time I met Bob I enjoyed hiscompany immensely. He was someone Icould identify with, someone who,despite his age had never lost his edge,who was never afraid to run against thegrain, who had always remained true tohis beliefs.

Twenty years ago I had entitled myinterview with Bob Doyle, Portrait ofa R evolutionary . As fitting then as Ihope this short piece is now.

The Celtic Hammer

Tribute To A Revolutionary

tal ezine 1

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