Celtic defender Shane Duffy has tonight shared a post on his Instagram account which was written by James McClean.
James has been on the constant end of anti Irish abuse for years. From the terraces, to the streets and social media, the Irish international has had to put up with a lot.
As football tries to to their bit eradicate small minding and bigoted behaviour, the Irishman poses a question to everyone – does any Irish abuse not count?
We see it in Scotland all the time, we hear it in Scotland all the time, you just have to look at the last Glasgow Derby with fans to know there’s a substantial number of people in this country who are quite ok with anti-Irish rhetoric. We’ve even had vandalised walls lately in West of Scotland — had it been aimed at another group, be it ethnicity or religion, would have evoked a strong reaction. However, because it was only anti-Irish stuff, it was seemingly fair game.
This is what McClean is getting at, there’s a reluctance to bring anti-Irishness into the discussion. Are people in denial or believe it’s ok to abuse someone for being proud like James is of his own country?
Shane Duffy, the Ireland captain shared the post with an applause emoji this evening.
Here is the message in full:
