Once again we see the sham that is Sporting Integrity in Scottish football. Just days after admitting his guilt to singing racist songs about refugees, Leigh Griffiths of Celtic is awarded Premiership Player of the Month.
One constant frustration to anyone who follows Rangers is the polarised difference between the words and the actions of Celtic FC and Scottish football’s governing body over the treatment of their players guilty of racism. Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon stated that anyone found guilty of racism at Celtic would be sacked.
At this time of heightened tensions and concerns of the refugee issue it seems the only people not making headlines are Griffiths and Celtic. Once again the SMSM are giving Celtic a get out of jail free card over another player being found guilty of using racist language.
One is left wondering why a club like Celtic says one thing yet does another. The hypocrisy at Celtic between talk and action is sewn into the fabric of the club.
We all know that good governance is easy to talk about but much harder to do. When the conflict between the business and the football side collide hypocrisy is almost inevitable and Celtic are masters at paying lip service when found wanting in the Sporting Integrity field.
Celtic has gone out of its way to portray itself as the club open to all and has never shied away from playing the victim card. Even at Pittodrie in the league against Aberdeen the Celtic support were giving Shay Logan verbal abuse while holding up a banner welcoming refugees, Logan, of course, was also racially abused by Celtic player Tonev.
Only a true optimist would state that football clubs can be completely sincere in their attempt to rid the game of racists. Players are paid too much money and clubs stand to lose too much if they let a player go every time one of them misbehaves. No one seriously believes Celtic will sack one of their star players. Apart from not having the money they also don’t have the personnel to replace Griffiths if they did keep their word and sack him.
That is where the importance of the role of the SFA comes into the debate. Integrity is important if what we say is what we mean.
Griffiths is the latest in a long line of players to face charges of racism. Chelsea captain John Terry was banned for four matches and fined £220,000 for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand by the FA, and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was given an eight-match ban when an FA disciplinary panel found him guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra last season. The panel stated at that time that simply using racist language was enough to constitute a breach of FA rules.
Griffiths was admonished in the courts this time after pleading guilty to using racist language, it took nearly two years to come to trial. It is now over to the SFA to deal with Griffiths and to show that the SFA really has given racism the red card. The wait is over, time for action.
https://rangersthefallandrise.wordpress.com/
Follow me on Twitter @Cyberted72
http://www.rangersfirst.org/
https://www.therst.co.uk/buy-rangers/
rangersthefallandrise 