Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes has publicly criticised the Celtic fans present at Rugby Park for their behaviour during the minute’s silence for Remembrance Day.
The silence, once intended as a tribute to those who lost their lives in wartime, was reportedly disrupted by a section of the visiting Celtic support, prompting McInnes to speak out. In his comments, McInnes expressed disappointment, framing the incident as a show of disrespect to those being honoured.
Mcinnes looked visibly angry as he spoke about it.
However, this response raises wider questions about the complexity surrounding Remembrance Day and its observance in Scotland, particularly among Celtic fans. Many within the Celtic support, rooted in Irish heritage and a historical context that includes tensions with British military and political actions, feel conflicted about participating in these events. For them, the minute’s silence has evolved from honouring the victims of the world wars into a more general endorsement of the British Armed Forces, a shift that doesn’t sit comfortably with everyone.
This historical and cultural perspective is often overlooked by those quick to criticise. Public figures like McInnes and other commentators have shown little interest in acknowledging these nuances, instead opting for a more black-and-white narrative that paints dissent as disrespect.
The debate around Remembrance Day in football will likely continue, and it seems unlikely that the controversy will dissipate any time soon. For Celtic fans who choose not to participate, the reasons are complex and deeply embedded in their identity. Nonetheless, criticism from those outside the club continues to frame the conversation, often without any meaningful engagement with the broader historical or moral implications at play.
If it’s to do with the world wars there wouldn’t be a problem, standing quietly for the killers in Ireland and around the world is another thing. Keeping politics out of football is for 1 side only it seems.
Hun prick!
Mixed feelings about this, tbh. I’m a Scot of Irish descent, believe in a reunited Ireland and an independent Scotland, but then so did both of my grandfathers and all of my great uncles who spent years trying to dodge bombs and bullets all around North Africa and southern Europe, who were part of the forces at Dunkirk and Normandy and who flew planes for the RAF. None of them had much say in the matter and went at the point of the British state’s sharply pointed threats and weaponry.
If this was to commemorate Churchill, Chamberlain, Attlee or any other politicians involved I’d jeer with the rest of them, just as my grandfather and uncles used to jeer whenever Churchill showed up on Pathe newsreels at the pictures. But this is about remembering the common 5-8, the folk who happened to be there when events overtook them and who were cut down, either abroad as combatants or civilians caught up in bombing attacks and wartime austerity.
People have the right to register their protest and that’s fine. But Jeezaw, it’s one minute out of your year. The Celtic support is full of descendants of those who fell and it irks me that the other side of the city has somehow corralled the respect for the war dead. Especially when most of their first team squad, when called up landed safe and relatively cushy numbers in the shipyards for the duration, hence the ease with which they ‘won’ wartime’ titles.
You mentioned nuance. Aye, the world’s complex. Folk have a right to jeer. McInnes has a right to be annoyed.