TODAY'S post will call for a conscious effort; I have decided there has to be more to Scottish football than the on-going travails of the RTA, as the Edmiston Drive soap opera rolls endlessly on.
Time to look at the other side of the city and in particular at one of the tribal elders of the Celtic Family. Step forward the Right Honourable James Murphy MP, the self-styled People's Party's leader in Scotland.
Just a thought here, does Jim ever, at meetings of the great and good of Labour's Scottish branch office, ever utter the timeless words: "We are the People"?
Any way, whilst some of my Independence-leaning friends have been at great pains to point-out, most of the policy pronouncements the bold Jim has made of late concern affairts devolved to the Scottish Government, and have little or no relevance to the on-going General Election campaign, the fact is: right now, if James was to call a news conference to announce: "Today is Monday", BBC Scotland would lead their evening news with this and it would be the front-page splash in tomorrow's Daily Retard.
Jim, who professes to be a non-drinker, has been mounting a so-far unsuccessful campaign to make it possible for football fans to, as happens with rugby fans, be able to enjoy a wee swally while watching their favoured sport.
He has, somewhat stupidly I think, tried to turn this into class war - but, rank hyporcary and an inability to see when you are making yourself look stupid is, apparently, a necessary failing if you wish to reach the upper rungs of the political ladder.
We will treat his suggestion with the contempt it deserves, so, let's look at the issue.
Back in the day, when Glasgow Warriors were Partick Thistle's tenants at Firhill, I would occasionally put on my rugby reporter's hat for a Friday night Celtic League game, then, 16-hours after the final whistle, roll-up there again, wearing my football reporter's bunnet, for a Thistle game - to find some of the same guys sitting in the same seats in front of the press box in the Jackie Husband Stand.
These gentlemen, who were wonderful company by the way, would often wonder why they were considered fit to handle a beer or two, or in a couple of cases, a couple of small bottles of a cheeky Merlot or Shiraz, on a Friday night - but, were incapable of handing the same amount of drink on a Saturday afternoon.
It made no sense then, it still makes no sense. The fact is, you get drunken erse-holes at rugby matches, just as you do at football. I know labourers and factory workers who are a pain in the erse with drink in them - I also know accuntants and lawyers with the same failing. Over-indulging in booze and misbehaving is not simply a working class problem.
OK, football does have the added-on problem of the Old Firm, or, for the members of the Celtic Family who insist the Old Firm is no more - the Bigot Brothers, the two Glasgow-based football teams, some of whose fans are still re-fighting the 1689-1690 Anglo-Jacobite wars in Ireland and the subsequent religious differences on that island.
Leaving the Bigot Brothers our of it, why shouldn't the football clubs, as the rugby clubs do, have the right to make some money out of the sale of alcohol inside grounds on match days.
The professional rugby clubs work hard on: "the Match-Day Experience", with frans zones, pre and post-match entertainment. They want the fans to enjoy their day out, and the match, but, while doing so, they want them to spend money.
The amateur rugby clubs would be lost without their pre and post-match bar income. By and large, Scottish football doesn't have this add-on. I am fortunate in that, the football club I follow, Kilmarnock, does have the Sports Bar under the Rugby Park main stand, plus the adjacent Park Hotel. These two venues provide an additional revenue stream on match days. Some of the smaller clubs, such as Annan Athletic and Queen of the South have licenced clubs inside the ground, providing revenue streams, many do not.
The winner from this is the commercial hospitality industry, the pubs and hotels close to grounds. It is to them that the fans go pre and post-match. Just ask yourself: how much better-off might Scottish football be if the pre and post-match drinking could be done inside the ground, with the profits going to the clubs?
It's a no-brainer. Of course, Scotland does have, historically, a bad relationship with drink, however, all the recent reports show, we are getting (slowly) better. There may well be a wee gene somewhere in our Celtic DNA which makes us ptentiatlly unhinged after a certain amount of drink has been taken, but, this ought not handicap football.
It will be a risk; the ranks of the unco guid will not like it, but, I think Scottish football is now mature enough to handle drink, so,why not give it a try.
Therefore, I welcome Murphy's efforts, however, can I point out to him - this is a devolved matter, maybe better you stick to Labour's policies on non-devolved matters, assuming you have policies.
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