A stricter approach needed on sectarianism in football
OOTBALL often takes the lion’s share of the blame for sectarianism in Scotland. It is also tempting to assume – because there has been some progress in promoting greater awareness and tolerance – that the football stadium is the last redoubt of religious bigotry. Solve the problem in football, the thinking goes, and Scotland will be well on the way to leaving sectarianism behind.
The truth is that sectarianism extends way beyond the national game to Scottish society as a whole, including the suburbs and polite society. Where there is a problem is in how to tackle the remnants of sectarianism that do exist in football. The Independent Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism said in its report in 2015 that there was a reluctance to act against sectarianism in the game and, two years on, the group appears to believe there has been little change. In fact, the group seems thoroughly exasperated by the lack of progress on the problem of sectarianism.
At one point, the Scottish Government claimed it had the answer to the problem with its 2012 law aimed at ending sectarianism in football. But from the start the legislation was confusing for fans, the police and the courts. The woeful conviction rate has also underlined the fact that the law is not what the game needs.
According to the advisory group, what is needed instead is a strict liability rule in football that means when fans misbehave their club will be held responsible. Indeed, strict liability is the norm in European football and has also been implemented by the FA in England. What makes Scottish football clubs think they should be different?
If the football authorities want to avoid strict liability being introduced in Scotland, then there is still time for them to come up with their own plan to demonstrate they are determined to tackle the problem of sectarianism.
However, with no sign of any serious alternatives, and the advisory group suggesting that there has been little meaningful progress on tackling sectarianism in the game, it looks increasingly like the time has come for a strict liability rule in Scotland too.