Disappointing result in Sydney. Ban on Alcohol Sponsorship is nonsense.

[Joe O'Rourke]

Disappointing result yesterday out in Sydney, losing on penalties is no consolation, we still lost, and Big Gio needs some practice I think. The main reason for the trip was obvious, it keeps the majority of our squad up to match fitness, and more importantly, it brought the Famous Glasgow Celtic to our fans in Australia. I think at times we take Celtic a wee bit for granted because we have the opportunity to see them play every week. I remember doing the tour of North America in 2010, I know how much it meant to our supporters in Canada and the USA, they loved every minute of every match.

It was also a great commercial opportunity for Celtic to grow the Celtic Brand even more in Australia. I believe all the opportunities for greet & meet with the supporters were massively popular, some of the young supporters out in Australia would never have seen Celtic play, except on television, so really brilliant for them, and of course all the Celtic Dad’s and Grandad’s who left these shores for a better life down under. I have many friends out in Australia who were delighted to get the chance to watch the team live again. I also have many friends in North America who still buy their season ticket every year, knowing that they may only get to use it once or twice a season, that’s real dedication.

So just when we are getting a buzz from Celtic becoming even more popular, the Scottish Government, along with their never been elected allies, the Scottish Green Party, decide that advertising alcohol products at football drives people to drink, I don’t think they really understand how alcohol works. I know plenty of Celtic Supporters who go to the game every week and never drink, and I know plenty who go every week and enjoy a drink, I don’t know any raging alcoholics who go to the match at all, so if they only see Celtic playing on the telly, why don’t they do us all a favour, and ban televisions.

In the not too distant past the SNP Scottish Government imposed the notorious Offensive Behaviour at Football Act on Scottish Football Supporters. This Act criminalised a lot of young supporters all over Scotland, and the Celtic Support probably suffered more than any other support. In the end they had to admit defeat, and were forced to abandon the Act, not because they admitted it was wrong, but simply because they lost their majority at Holyrood, so had to repeal the Act.

There are many actions in Scottish Football that could be addressed, and I don’t need to tell where most of them take place, but that won’t happen with this Government, who stand by every year when Anti-Catholic parades are taking place all over Scotland, a First Minister who congratulated Rangers on winning the first ever title, but declined to congratulate Celtic on winning Nine in a Row twice, or for a Quadruple Treble. I’m certainly not trying to influence people to vote for any particular Party, I just believe, considering only about 6% of Scottish Teams benefit from alcohol sponsoring, there must be more important issues to be dealt with, the NHS in Scotland, and the railroads.