YouTube could not be more aptly named. One Rangers fan has elected to offer UEFA irrefutable evidence of the idiotic element of the support hell-bent on disgracing themselves and the club.
With one post from a web-surfer by the pseudonym "dezrfc", David Taylor's first act as general secretary of UEFA may be to decide the fate of a club whose reputation continues to be sullied by the sectarian antics of a minority of fans.
Rangers are in considerable debit in the eyes of European football's governing body after their misbehaviour in Villarreal. Now, as Martin Bain and Laurence Macintyre attempt to convince UEFA that police brutality was to blame for the crowd trouble during the 1-0 defeat to Osasuna last midweek, evidence of sectarian chanting in the form of mobile camera phone footage will severely prejudice their case.
At best, Rangers can expect to play behind closed doors at home and without a travelling support if found guilty. At worst, they may suffer a similar fate to Feyenoord, who were expelled from this season's UEFA Cup, and be prohibited from competing in all European competition next season. Maybe then the penny will drop, but it is doubtful.
Rangers deserve enormous credit for their efforts in trying to eradicate sectarianism. Today, however, the money spent on cleaning up the pre-match entertainment, providing the literature condemning discriminatory behaviour and forming an independent group to help address the problem must seem a pointless exercise.
Come to think of it, perhaps "dezrfc" should be commended for his act of folly. Away from the controlled environs of Ibrox Stadium, it has been shown that sectarianism remains a thriving industry among a sector of the support determined to thwart Rangers' best efforts to eliminate the problem.
Jim Templeton, of the Rangers Supporters' Assembly, summed up succinctly the situation Rangers now find themselves in by saying the website post represented "a massive own goal".
Sir David Murray, Bain, Macintyre and the right-minded majority are now at the mercy of a governing body that has already fined the club £14,000 and is intent on using Glasgow's religious intolerance as an example to the rest of Europe that discrimination will not be tolerated.
Taylor, ironically, may be the hangman. To follow through with the threats of expulsion and "ultimate sanctions" will require nerves of steel and the kind of iron will that has hardly characterised his reign as chief executive of the Scottish FA.
Any punishment will only be a short-term answer to an age-old problem, a marker for any future aberrations. Longer term, the next logical step is for Rangers, in conjunction with UEFA, to establish which songs constitute sectarian violations.
It requires little more than common sense to work out which are unacceptable, but then they are not dealing with sensible people. Their resourcefulness knows no bounds and so, in the interests of clarity, guidelines have to be set for the avoidance of any doubt. Only then will the fans be fully aware of what is acceptable and what is not.
The same applies across the city, where Celtic's problem element defend the right to glorify the IRA. That it has no place in a football stadium does not seem to register.
It has been a shameful week for Rangers fans, starting with the aeroplane gestures made to Shunsuke Nakamura as he prepared to take a corner during the Old Firm game. The YouTube posting compounded the thoroughly forgettable trip to Spain and has reopened the sectarianism debate.
How Murray must cringe at the latest embarrassment heaped on a club he has subsidised for two decades. In fact, as the 20th anniversary of his takeover nears, he must be questioning whether staying on is worth the hassle.
n AND ANOTHER THING IN the early hours of yesterday morning Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez contested another classic installment of brutal artistry in Las Vegas.
In the same week, Scott Harrison had a less edifying but presumably more enduring fight on his hands: a fight to prove his innocence to a notoriously uncharitable Spanish court system. The tragic irony will not be lost on him. Barrera was his long-coveted shot at greatness.
Scottish boxing is a bleaker landscape without Harrison. By now, he will have realised life is a lonelier place without ambition. It can only be hoped Harrison still has the stomach to go the distance in life, whatever dreams still flicker.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article