More exposed to bigotry working in the media than I was as a player
In the second of our extracts from a new book, the SFA chief executive tells 
of his playing experiences at Rangers
Gordon Smith

There was no tradition in my family of supporting Rangers. My grandfather 
had been a Kilmarnock player so my family were all Killie fans. In fact, I 
had the impression that my dad didn't like Rangers. When you consider my 
background was Boys Brigade and Church of Scotland, you would think he would 
have been more inclined to lean towards Rangers, but that wasn't the case at 
all. In fact, I thought he was more comfortable with Celtic than he was with 
Rangers.

Maybe it was because Rangers were seen as the establishment team and we were 
a socialist family, with my dad a Labour councillor. Certainly, my parents 
were very clear about the whole bigotry issue. The message that I was 
getting all the time when I was growing up was that there was no difference 
between Catholics and Protestants.

I became a Rangers fan when I saw Jim Baxter play against Killie at Rugby 
Park. I wanted to be like him and even decided to be a left-footed player 
like him. My close pal Davie Paterson, who ended up signing a schoolboy form 
for Rangers, knew I was a Rangers fan but I kept it very quiet. I was 
worried in case it got back to my dad and the rest of my family. To most 
strangers, when asked, I was a Kilmarnock fan.

I had no problems with Celtic as I was growing up. I remember sitting with 
my family in 1967 and watching Celtic in the European Cup final and we were 
all cheering them on, me included. I was delighted that Rangers came in for 
me but if it had been Celtic then I would have signed for them, no problem 
at all.

When I signed for Rangers in 1977, I never thought anything much about the 
religious side of things. I didn't think, "It's ridiculous that we haven't 
got Catholics", it was just the way it had been for decades. Did I think 
Rangers would one day sign a Catholic when I played for them? No, I probably 
didn't but, surprising as it may seem today, there was no big fuss about it 
then. The issues of discrimination didn't really come through until the 
1980s.

I didn't know the words of The Sash or anything like that. I didn't do party 
songs and I still say that these days when I'm invited to supporters' 
functions. I have never sung any of those songs because I grew up in a 
different environment.

While a Rangers player you would get the odd comment from Celtic fans but it 
wasn't a problem. In fact, I got more stick from Celtic fans when I was a 
pundit than I got as a Rangers player. We went about Glasgow a lot more than 
Rangers players do these days. Bobby Russell, Davie Cooper, Derek Parlane 
and I would go into town for lunch and there was seldom any bother.

Wee Doddy [Alex MacDonald] got more stick: he was the Neil Lennon-type 
figure of those days, although obviously a Rangers player. I wasn't a hate 
figure as such and so I never really got much hassle. Most of the time 
Celtic fans were complimentary. Rangers had a reputation as hammer throwers 
and hard tacklers but I wasn't that type of player. So some Celtic fans 
would say I should have been playing for them instead of Rangers.

Today many football fans have a big problem determining the difference 
between neutrality and objectivity. They think you should be neutral, which 
means you have never supported any team. But if you haven't supported any 
team, how can you have anything to offer? Consequently, there are very few 
people in the media - like myself when I was involved - who will say, "yes, 
I'm a Rangers fan" and that's a sad thing. It would be quite easy for me to 
go down the line of saying that I'm a Kilmarnock fan but I choose to be 
honest about it.

I was more exposed to bigotry working in the media than I was as a player. I 
found that people disliked me just because of my Rangers background. People 
e-mailed the BBC about me being biased and I was called an Orange bastard a 
few times, but that doesn't bother me and it doesn't demean me, it demeans 
them. I always try to be objective and the most frustrating thing is that 
people can't see that, they see what they want to see.

The season that Celtic got to the Uefa Cup final in Seville, someone wrote 
into a newspaper saying he could tell by my face that I was gutted. But I 
was delighted that they got through. I'm right behind Celtic and every other 
Scottish team in Europe. So that is what you are up against. I have also had 
stick from Rangers fans. During the Dick Advocaat era I was quite critical, 
saying that he wasn't as good as everyone thought, and Rangers fans would 
have a go at me for that.

I was at Ibrox one afternoon and was asked if I would draw the raffle at 
half-time. Even after three years as a Rangers player, being sold for a 
record fee and still a supporter of the club, I got roundly booed. Some 
people said I changed after that but I didn't; there just happened to be 
issues surrounding Rangers that I backed them on.

I don't hide it - playing for Rangers was fantastic. Playing for the club 
gave me what I wanted out of my football career. It was the best set of 
players I ever played with, a great bunch of guys. I was playing for the 
team I supported, at the highest level, and winning trophies - the same as 
my grandfather had done for Kilmarnock. That's all I wanted from life and 
that's why my feelings for Rangers are still strong.

Rangers are going through a hard time with Uefa, and to a certain degree 
there is an agenda against them. It is not a media bias, it is just that 
some people are trying to portray Rangers as the only club that has bigots.

I don't have anything against those Rangers fans who see certain songs as 
part of their tradition. Celtic make a point of extolling their background 
and tradition. They are quite happy to say that they have a tradition of 
Irish Catholicism, that they are a club founded by Brother Walfrid and 
immigrants to this country, and I'm very comfortable with that.

But why is there a problem when Rangers come out with [similar] things? Why 
is it a problem when Rangers say that they were set up by people from a 
Church of Scotland upbringing and that they have a Unionist background?

We need a definitive list of what is offensive. Everyone should be offended 
about "being up to our knees in Fenian blood" and hearing IRA songs. If 
those sorts of songs are sung, action needs to be taken, but just to say 
that everything is offensive is a dangerous route.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/scotland/article2720010.ece?Submitted=true