Was at the game today, thoroughly enjoyed the day, apart from the score.

One thing did occur to me, the behaviour of the self styled greatest fans in the world, who invaded the pitch, fought with stewards, tore out seats and encouraged us to ?join the IRA?, and set off a flare.

I know it is a minority but why do people think they can come to Inverness and behave like this?

The answer to this question is that there is no perceived threat of retaliation from the home support, but today the home and away fans were separated by a walkway, some red/white tape and one steward. If away fans are allowed to continue behaving like this it is only a matter of time before something happens... what would they have done if they had lost today?

I am not saying that all Celtic fans are halfwits, and it was brought to my attention today that they won an award for good behavior after the UEFA cup final although the person who mentioned it to me was unable to tell me who had won prior to Celtic and had there been any winners since.

What a load of hypocritical nonsense , what about the seat broken in section G by 1 of our great fans when celtc scored ? Or the numerous mass pitch invasions at Ayr ?

My post wasn't hypocritical as I don't think it is right to invade the pitch at anytime during play, The seat I saw was being brandished out of a van on stadium road after the game.

I did not want to turn this post into an anti-celtic thread, but about the behavior of away fans, a girl of about 8yo had a bottle of water taken from her yesterday, yet a flare was taken into the game and a seat taken out. Let me make it clear that football attracts all sections of the community, but a section of Celtic fans go out of their way to be as controversal as possible, and this would seem to go back many years. Chants in support of, the IRA, Argentina during the Falklands conflict, and astonishingly Nazi Germany during the war (seemingly Parkhead was closed for a time for this). Not forgetting being unable to stay silent for 1 minute every November. But yet they are still considered to be a great support.

The only people that say celtc has a great support is themselves .

The only people that say celtc has a great support is themselves .

But they are usually doped up, drunk or just glory hunters who shouldn't be supporting sellic

Just watching the game back on Sky+. Quite clever editing by the Sky broadcast team the way they avoided showing the punter who ran on to the pitch. Chants of 'Argentina' were lol'able. Sort of mince county fans come out with.

The 'Argrentina' chants were quite clearly directed at Terry Butcher for being a former England international. As was the half German, half Argentinian flag in the away end.

Didnt quite understand the Argentina / German flag at the time. Thought they had signed an Argintinian and another German!

Simple fact of life, Celtic are the most loyal and best fans in the world. WHERE WERE THEY LAST SEASON WHEN THINGS WERENT GOING WELL. That was not showing their loyalty to the team. What season ticket sales do they have this year, bet its down again. And not just Celtic, look at Rangers attendance to unfurl the flag 45,000 - 5000 missing loyal fans. We broke our attendance record to unfurl our championship flag.

The bigger the support, the more likely their are to be morons, just so happens Celtic AND Rangers seem to attract more than there fair share of idiots

Didnt quite understand the Argentina / German flag at the time. Thought they had signed an Argintinian and another German!

Simple fact of life, Celtic are the most loyal and best fans in the world. WHERE WERE THEY LAST SEASON WHEN THINGS WERENT GOING WELL. That was not showing their loyalty to the team. What season ticket sales do they have this year, bet its down again. And not just Celtic, look at Rangers attendance to unfurl the flag 45,000 - 5000 missing loyal fans. We broke our attendance record to unfurl our championship flag.

The bigger the support, the more likely their are to be morons, just so happens Celtic AND Rangers seem to attract more than there fair share of idiots

No we never. We have had higher attendances than that before and thats when we never gave the south wing of the main stand to away fans.

I hate when sectarian songs are sung at football. Some Celtic fans do it, but i know for a fact they dont get away with it as those in the "Green Brigade" are against all that.. so a friend has told me who is a member.

Boys of the Old Brigade ect are not sectarian, they are in the same league as flower of Scotland! They have been sung by Celtic fans since the 30s and will probably always be.

The Flair looked rediculous from TV though they are the sort of things i would love to see in Scottish football. Flairs look good in Turkish games ect and help create a good atmosphere.

How many political connotations does Celtic need? I saw Irish flags on Saturday, a Palestinian flag, even a flag of the Basque Country! I'm quite glad that due to ICT's age and location, it seems to immune from any of this baggage.

We did have a Palestinian flag removed from the home end in the past if I recall correctly.

Indeed there was a couple of years ago IIRC. It was removed just in case it "caused offence".

I hate when sectarian songs are sung at football. Some Celtic fans do it, but i know for a fact they dont get away with it as those in the "Green Brigade" are against all that.. so a friend has told me who is a member.

That's OK then, if somebody told you!

Boys of the Old Brigade ect are not sectarian, they are in the same league as flower of Scotland! They have been sung by Celtic fans since the 30s and will probably always be.

I think people overuse the word 'sectarian' when really they mean 'political'. Why do your team (the green huns) and the other lot (the blue tims) have to sing political songs at all?

BTW 'Boys of the Old Brigade' - if I'm not mistaken, that's the one where this jolly chap asks his pal where he's off to, and he says he's away to join the IRA, n'est-ce pas?

The only people that say celtc has a great support is themselves .

But they are usually doped up, drunk or just glory hunters who shouldn't be supporting sellic

Good job ya added glory hunters there

BTW 'Boys of the Old Brigade' - if I'm not mistaken, that's the one where this jolly chap asks his pal where he's off to, and he says he's away to join the IRA, n'est-ce pas?

I seem to remember a wee wifie came on here a few years ago to say how nice it was that the Celtic support seemed to have this song about (that icon of Protestant youth ) The Boys' Brigade!

They never had a flare, it was green smoke bombs.

Was the Palestinian flag brought to the Gretna game by a fan who had been at a rally in town?

Was the Palestinian flag brought to the Gretna game by a fan who had been at a rally in town?

Yes

Was the Palestinian flag brought to the Gretna game by a fan who had been at a rally in town?

It was the season after that IIRC. I have a feeling it was a Killie game, I can't remember exactly which game but I'm almost certain it wasn't Gretna.

At least the the Club made some money out of them.

And Strathclyde police had it cushy with so many numties out of the city for a day.

When I left the bar there were a few just loitering, I don't know if they missed their bus and were hanging around by the A9 roundabout waiting for inspiration, all that I could sense was perspiration, as one said said to me in the passing "f**k the queen"?? I was going to pat him on the head and give him a lolly but I didn't have any lollies on me,I'm assuming thats one of the first thing he saw taught to say whilst wearing nappies to humor the grown ups.

How many political connotations does Celtic need? I saw Irish flags on Saturday, a Palestinian flag, even a flag of the Basque Country! I'm quite glad that due to ICT's age and location, it seems to immune from any of this baggage.

Celtic Football club have no such political connotations other than John "the *****" Ried. It's the fans that have these flags. Tbh, i don't really see the problem. Would you be annoyed if someone had an American flag with ICT on it?

Though more often that not, this is all mistaken for sectarian hatered which is obviously going to happen when you live in a place like Scotland who is full of veeery small minded people.

I hate when sectarian songs are sung at football. Some Celtic fans do it, but i know for a fact they dont get away with it as those in the "Green Brigade" are against all that.. so a friend has told me who is a member.

That's OK then, if somebody told you!

Boys of the Old Brigade ect are not sectarian, they are in the same league as flower of Scotland! They have been sung by Celtic fans since the 30s and will probably always be.

I think people overuse the word 'sectarian' when really they mean 'political'. Why do your team (the green huns) and the other lot (the blue tims) have to sing political songs at all?

BTW 'Boys of the Old Brigade' - if I'm not mistaken, that's the one where this jolly chap asks his pal where he's off to, and he says he's away to join the IRA, n'est-ce pas?

Well yeah, he is a member of the Green Brigade after all.

Yes, that is pretty much what it is about. But, it is the same core principle as the Soldier Song and Flower of Scotland.

Celtic Football club have no such political connotations other than John "the *****" Ried. It's the fans that have these flags. Tbh, i don't really see the problem. Would you be annoyed if someone had an American flag with ICT on it?

Is it just me or has anyone else just missed the point of DC's arguement?

Well yeah, he is a member of the Green Brigade after all.

Yes, that is pretty much what it is about. But, it is the same core principle as the Soldier Song and Flower of Scotland.

Right so you beleive whatever somebody says because of who they are?

Tony Bliar and George Bush said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. They were PM and President respectively, so surely it has to have been true.

Flower of Scotland is our National Anthem though, Boys of The Old Brigade etc, have nothing to do with Scotland. These morons have nothing to do with Ireland half the time but stick to the claim of "it's part of we're culture."

Is it just me or has anyone else just missed the point of DC's arguement?

Nope, me too. What I was trying to ask, but DC seems to think it's perfectly natural:

Why do they need to sing political songs AT ALL? Can they no just sing, eh, football songs?

Every so often this topic comes up and every so often stones are cast. Are the casters of those stones so innocent? Did not fans of our club invade anothers pitch? Did not fans of this club see fit to attempt a rendition of 'The famine's over'? Did not fans of this club think it ok to display the national flag of another country for the purpose of antagonisation? When we are squeaky clean and holier than all else then we'll have the right to critisise.

As for the selections of songs being debated I agree with Mantis..........try singing football songs.

Whilst I agree with the gist of what you are saying Alex I dont think ICT carry the baggage of other clubs imo. And yeh lets get back to football songs.

The problem is that both sides of the infirm have flags, banners, songs etc not because of what the ly believe in, but to have them to antagonise (or at least try to) other sets of fans. That's the problem with this situation. I wasn't at the game when someone at our game had a Palestine flag on display. I didn't agree with the fan being told to put it away (or having it taken off them) as I genuinely believe they were actually supporting the Palestinian people that day by attending the rally and then going to the game. Why was it that Celtic 'fans'' were allowed to have flags in the away end on Saturday? I'm left pretty confused by this.