Irish News lines out for the RUC
The Irish News has launched a full-blooded campaign to ensure
that the Donegal Celtic v RUC soccer match on 14 November takes
place. The West Belfast club has been asked, by Sinn Féin,
relatives of RUC victims and some local people, to pull out of
the fixture. The Irish News says the club's players and committee
want it to go ahead.
Last Thursday the paper ran a story by Alex McGreevy headlined
``Public support Celtic's stance'' which claimed ``an overwhelming
response from Irish News readers yesterday offered 100 per cent
support'' for playing the match. The article quoted a Donegal
Celtic player who said ``[Sinn Féin] are sitting down there in
Stormont in their so-called government earning £40,000 a year for
sweet FA while we are out for nine months of the year in rain,
hail and snow trying to bring sporting success to West Belfast''.
A ``Lenadoon football fan'' was quoted as saying ``it's about time
these people who wear wooly masks to intimidate football teams
and club committees left the people alone to play their football
in their own areas.''
The next day McGreevy, a former member of the Donegal Celtic
committee, quoted a couple of readers who supported Sinn Féin's
stance and also penned an opinion piece on why the game should go
ahead.
In another opinion piece on Monday journalist John Haughey
accused Sinn Féin of ``gatecrashing'' and ``blundering'' into the
issue. Donegal Celtic, he wrote, ``are only the latest victims in
a struggle which occasionally subsumes innocent bystanders. The
cause is all.''
It is a football matter, he argued, and should be left to the
club to decide.
Then a provocatively worded editorial in Tuesday's paper upped
the campaign. On Sinn Féin's request to the club not to play the
match, the Irish News said, ``It would be hard to imagine a more
blatant breach of the spirit of the Mitchell initiative than a
political party attempting to impose its will upon a football
club.''
This is serious stuff when the Irish News editor can't think of a
more blatant breach of the spirit of the Mitchell initiative. Why
isn't President Clinton flying over? Why aren't the Unionist
parties demanding SF's expulsion from the Assembly? Has anyone
told the Cruiser?
In reality, the Irish News is choosing to ignore the point. Every
article the paper has carried on the issue implies threats and
intimidation and some state it openly. Sinn Féin, it seems,
cannot make a political argument without being accused of
intimidation. If the SDLP were to call on the GAA to scrap Rule
21 would the Irish News accuse them of ``imposing their will'' on a
sporting organisation?
This is not simply a sporting issue, any more than English rugby
or cricket tours of apartheid South Africa were simply sporting
issues. When those teams wanted to tour in South Africa there
were plenty of commentators willing to defend them. ``Don't mix
sport and politics'' was the cry. ``The decision should be left
with the sporting bodies.''
Progressive voices correctly pointed out that sporting links with
South Africa boosted the apartheid regime. It helped towards
normalising their society and raising their morale. Cutting
sporting links was one element of international sanctions which
eventually pushed the white regime towards change.
But surely we have a settlement here? This is a new era and we
should let bygones be bygones. Wrong. This is the time when the
maximum pressure should be put on the RUC. It is absolutely
essential for a new policing service to be put in place. The
don't-rock-the-boat philosophy of the Irish News plays into the
hands of those forces who want little or no change. It is exactly
what we don't need. Send a clear message to the RUC that they are
unacceptable. Cancel the fixture.
By Brian Campbell
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