Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category
The People’s Game Still? Games under the Shadow of Giants
Part Two
Gerry Hassan
April 12th 2012
The story goes like this. Scottish football has always been about Celtic and Rangers. Live with it. Get used to it. This is increasingly the way of the world: oligopoly, closed competition, success following money.
Leaving aside the early days of the Scottish game this perspective invites pessimism and fatalism. And funnily enough it isn’t true.
The economic, social and cultural forces of Scotland from Victorian times onwards favoured the dominance of Celtic and Rangers from the moment the game professionalised. But not to the suffocating extent of today.
The Three Waves of the Post-war Game
To illustrate the changing dynamics of the Scottish game and the drive towards greater dominance by the Glasgow two I decided to look at the pattern of the game over the post-war era. And split it into three distinct periods: 1947-65, the immediate post-war period which saw intense competition for all three domestic titles; 1966-86, the era of Celtic’s ‘nine in a row’ and the rise of ‘the New Firm’ of Aberdeen and Dundee United; and then 1987 to today, with the Souness revolution, Rangers ‘nine in a row’ and the transformation of Celtic under Fergus McCann. Read the rest of this entry »
The People’s Game Still? The State of Scottish Football
Part One
Gerry Hassan
April 11th 2012
This is an appropriate time to survey the state of Scottish football. Celtic have just been crowned champions and Rangers are in administration awaiting the next stage of that saga. It is the week before the Scottish Cup semi-finals, and that other important part of the Scots football tradition and fabric, the Scottish Junior Cup semi-finals.
In this piece and subsequent articles, I want to put the current state of our game in a historical context. I will examine changing patterns of competition, dominance, change and rivalry and in particular take the long view from the beginning of the Scottish game, look at the post-war era and the distinctive periods it contained, and at the nature of Scottish football attendances.
In covering such a broad sweep I will attempt to bring to the fore salient facts and patterns which are often overlooked in the pressure cooker, instantaneous reporting of much of our mainstream media. And in conclusion I offer some thoughts on how the game is portrayed and some observations about how the game gets out of its current position. Read the rest of this entry »
The Comeback of ‘Gorgeous George’ and What It Says About British Politics
Gerry Hassan
Open Democracy, March 30th 2012
A seismic shock has been delivered to the British body politic and its insular, complacent, steady as she goes assumptions.
It is one with many levels, layers and complications: the return of George Galloway as the ‘Respect’ MP for Bradford West overturning a Labour majority of 5,763, winning by a margin of 10,140 over Labour, with an impressive 18,341 votes (55.9%), considerably more than the combined Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem vote of 12,402.
Already the qualifiers are out, implying that really the status quo is fine. Nick Robinson says it is, ‘An extraordinary result but surely a one-off political coup by a political one-off’ (1). Then there are all the qualifiers about Bradford West and ‘Gorgeous George’. The seat is unique; it swung against the national mood in 1997 and 2010. I even heard someone from Labour put down the ‘George’ surge to his celebrity status and TV appearance on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’. Read the rest of this entry »
Breaking the Grip of ‘Fantasy Island Britain’:
Social Justice, Scotland and the UK
Compass, March 15th 2012
Gerry Hassan
The Scottish independence debate has many dimensions, Scottish, English, British, European and global. It is also one that the insular London political class and media have only episodically covered the last forty years, being content to rest on ‘Braveheart’ and romantic, restless nationalist stereotypes.
It is then timely and apposite that the Fabian Society in association with Compass held a discussion under the theme, ‘Debating the Scottish Independence Referendum: What Future for the United Kingdom?’ with Labour MPs, Jon Cruddas, Anas Sarwar, Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour, and Gemma Doyle, along with myself, in the Houses of Parliament this week.
The evening showed some of the many comfort zones and delusions which Scottish Labour still hold to after its 2011 Scottish Parliament election humiliation. The two Scottish Labour MPs and Anas Sarwar in particular, spoke a language of renewal and urgency but which seemed mostly devoid of real political understanding or content. Read the rest of this entry »
Scotland Names the Big Day and the Alex Salmond-Rupert Murdoch Relationship
Gerry Hassan
The Guardian Comment, February 26th 2012
The launch of ‘the Sun on Sunday’ may have caused shockwaves in media and political circles in the corridors of power in London, but its headline about an Amanda Holden exclusive surely didn’t.
North of the border things were very different where a distinct Scottish version of ‘the Sun on Sunday’ was even more eagerly awaited and didn’t disappoint.
This was following Rupert Murdoch’s tweet this week that he was in favour of Scottish independence, declaring, ‘Let Scotland go and compete. Everyone would win.’
The ‘Scottish Sun on Sunday’ lived up to the expectations with a front page proclaiming a ‘Day of Destiny’ and revealing that the date of the independence poll will be October 18th 2014.
This is a massive moment. The SNP Government is in the middle of their own official consultation on the mechanics and details of the independence poll. And while this is ongoing they have decided to breach their own processes, all for gaining the favour and a headline from the new Murdoch paper. Read the rest of this entry »
