David Healy in hot water

Fulham to probe Healy actions

 

Fulham is just being PC and saying all the right things. Everybody knows the whole incident was good natured.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Healy would be playing on the IRA side and Celtic fans are supporters of the Irish/Britain side, yeah?

 

I'm amazed how seriously this stuff is taken. Didn't a bunch of people freak out awhile back because Artur Boruc did a sign of the cross before a Rangers-Celtic game? No wonder the Scottish Claymores folded.

 

FFC24 - very breif history of Ireland - it is vastly more complicated than this, but...

When England first invaded Ireland they flooded the place with protestant English settlers, catholicism was illegal in England and still to this day no mornach can be, or can marry a catholic.

The settlers bought division because they were given the land that belonged to the Irish and the Irish were forced into serfdom. Much later, the Irish agreed that the south would return to home rule while the majority in the north (populated by the decendants of setters and having strong loyalties to the British Crown) wanted to be ruled by the United Kingdom. As such, the Northern Irish are Protestant Unionist and the Southern Irish are Catholic Republicans (big genrealization). This has led to hundreds of years of sectarian violence between the Irish.

Now the bit about why the thing Healy did was bad....

Healy was imitating a member of the Orange order, a militia established by protestant unionists to fight catholics during the reign of William III (the order was so called because William was the Dutch Prince William of Orange). The British establishment turned a bline eye while the Orangemen ruthlesly put down rebellion in Ireland, slaughtering men, women and children - I guess it could be seen as similar to a German making a Nazi salute when playing Hapoel Tel Aviv FC.

I would think that something racist was said to Healy by some Celtic fans (Celtic is the catholic club in Glasgow, while Ranger is the protestant) and he reacted. The only advantage Healy has is that most people in the UK don't really understand why it is so offensive.

 

Healy was getting stick from the Celtic fans for wearing shoes with a Northern Ireland flag on them.

Apparently, he was also the target of a few pro-IRA songs from the Celtic support as well.

But he gets the blame for the "flute" playing while the Celtic support will get off free and clear of their role in it.

Healy wasn't singing "No Surrender." He wasn't making anti-Catholic statements. He was responding to a crowd making bigoted statements towards him.

Hopefully Fulham will request Celtic investigate their own fans' role in the incident.

 

Thanks for the info GBFC! I for one was wondering what the flute playing immitation was all about.

 

And then there was that little bit about England doing their part to starve Ireland to death.........

Good info about the Orange Order, GBFC. Is it true that the Dutch Prince was well-reknowned for his buggery?

Careful distingushing fact from hearsay, HDL. The truth is out there somewhere, but I doubt we will know it completely.

 

I don't think the Celtic fans were too serious about their songs. Seems like it was all good natured bantering.

Not everthing serious in life, is always serious. Healy was smiling when he 'played the flute'.

 

I've been out of the loop for most of the summer but after catching up over the last few days, what's up with all the intra-FUSA hostility? Was there a nasty exchange somewhere? Someone say something about someone's mama? The message board seems very dark.

(fitting in a thread touching on internal tensions)

 

Hi WhitesBhoy.

Is the Bhoys a refence to the green and white hoops? The potatoe famine and the English continuing to export grain from Ireland during it was unforgivable, but alas, not relevant in explaining Healey actions.

All crown princes of the Netherlands were 'of Orange' I think, much like the UK is 'of Wales'. I don't recall William III being singled out for this, so it may be one of the others. The most famous English homosexual monarch was probably Edward II.

 

It does become a case of "he said, they said." I don't believe Healy went out of his way to the flute until the Celtic supporters started ragging him about the Orange Order.

I'm a Northern Ireland supporter, so my bias will go towards Healy. The times I've watched him play it is obvious he isn't someone prone to sectarian displays. He does love his country and wears his heart on his sleeve... and in this case his shoes as well.

There has to be a degree of fairness in play. Healy wasn't walking alone on this one.

 

GBFC! It's me, FFCinPCB. I changed my name, as I will no longer reside in the Redneack Riviera for much longer. And yes, Bhoys refers to the Hoops of Celtic. My 2nd team.

However, if you ask pettyfog, I am merely regressing back to my adolescence.

Of course, I do follow football, and I do seem to have a youthful exuberance about it, my teams, and playing. So, in a way, he's right about me, and many others here.

 

Speaking of flutes -- Don, is the woman on your blog playing a flute?!?!

Hmmmmmmmmmm...

What would Jethro Tull say.

 

Wait, so the Orange Order...plays the flute?

He wouldn't be able to hear you with Metallica's Grammy in his ear.

 

And James Hetfield wouldn't be able to hear too much as he lives with his head up his own ass.