The ban of Michael Stewart regarding Premier Sports and the SFA has certainly set the cat among the pigeons. Ibrox Noise has absolutely no love whatsoever for Michael Stewart. Indeed, we are sure that very few in the football community in Scotland do have much affection for the former Hibs midfielder. However, the SFA’s actions over him have certainly seen an interesting response regarding how the community feels over their choice of action. Stewart recently made some slightly controversial comments about Scottish referees. We say slightly controversial because in reality, they’re nothing that any of the fans haven’t already said. However, the SFA took exception to his criticism and have banned him from entering Hampden for an indefinite period.
SFA Overreach Sparks Debate
On the face of it, hooray, we won’t hear Michael Stewart commentating on matches anymore. But of course, that’s not the case, far from it. Premier Sports dug their heels in, backed their man completely and placed him in a van outside Hampden where they provided a link to his commentary, so it was as normal. The reality is here that the SFA have taken a terrible decision.
Censorship Concerns Raised
Regulars to Ibrox Noise will know that we are against censorship. We did not favour Lennon and Sutton being banned from Ibrox for a period for some criticism of Rangers. Nor did we favour Rangers banning the BBC. We did not favour and do not favour Celtic banning the BBC. Yes, most fans probably don’t know about that one, that Celtic have banned the BBC as well. Consequently, despite the fact that we cannot stand Celtic or Michael Stewart or indeed the SFA or indeed the BBC, we do not and will not ever support censorship of anyone.
Free Speech Versus Authority
Unless someone is eliciting hate speech or racism or extreme xenophobia or any kind of derogatory content, their opinion should not be silenced. The SFA have made a really big error here, and Premier Sports are quite right to back their man. As we say, we cannot stand Michael Stewart, we have criticised him many, many times, and he is pretty much the modern version of a shock jock who says stuff for controversial purposes.
A Slippery Slope
But the great irony also is that censorship is exactly what we do not want. No one wants someone to be silenced unless, of course, they don’t like that person’s views. But then when it actually happens in ban of Michael Stewart and an authority clamps down on a view that they disagree with, suddenly we see the problem. We see the problem of censorship taking place because that’s a slippery slope to a much wider angle.
Past Precedents Highlight Issue
We’ve seen our very own Ally McCoist and indeed former CEO Charles Green hauled up to the SFA on charges. They were taken to Hampden Park way back when in 2013. And no fan was in favour of that. The reality is, you cannot pick and choose when the SFA can and can’t use censorship or discipline.
Conclusion: A Clear Misstep
The reality is that they have got this one completely and utterly wrong. Stewart should be allowed to say what he wants to say. He should get completely ridiculed and called out for those contents – but he should not be silenced for them. The reality is, this was a huge and monumental slip-up by the SFA, and very few Rangers fans, funnily enough, seemed to agree with it.
Only one or two seemed to be quite happy that he won’t be on air, but of course, even they did not get their way, because Premier Sports will still very much use his commentary, albeit as a link. So this is not what the SFA would have wanted on a ban of Michael Stewart. They expected that the Premier Sports would agree with them, and it causes big problems in the end, especially for Premier Sports and their reputation, which, in all fairness, wasn’t all that good in the first place. The SFA really do need to change their mind on this one.