Why the SPFL are not taking action over chants
SPFL chief Neil Doncaster has all
but confirmed Rangers will not be punished for fans’ sectarian chants in Fifa
on Friday night.
While he was rightly unflattering
about the choice of song/lyric, Doncaster
conceded that as long as Rangers had done everything in the Club’s power to
eliminate the malevolent chanting from its fans’ songbook, no action would be
taken.
“It remains the SPFL’s position that if
it can be established that clubs have done everything required in overall
management of the event pre-match, during the game and post-match, then they
have no case to answer.”
Delegate Tom Purdie was justified
in including the chants in his report, but Rangers’ positive steps in
eradicating bigotry in the past 20 years certainly counts in the Club’s favour,
and no punishment is likely to be meted.
It does of course raise the
question of these unacceptable chants which do still prove work needs to be
done to erase them entirely, but further questions remain glaringly unaddressed about the lack of focus on
other clubs’ fans guilty of similarly offensive chanting.