Footballer (Soccer player) gets criminal record for making sign of the cross

UK Daily Mail ^ | today | staff

[Rodney King]

he Catholic church has blasted a decision by the Procurator Fiscal to issue Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc with a caution for blessing himself.

Polish star Boruc was rapped for making the sign of the cross at Ibrox in an Old Firm match last season.

The caution was issued after a six-month police investigation into the incident, which is said to have angered a section of the Rangers support.

Boruc is reported to have been completely baffled by the decision to issue him with the warning But the move has angered the church and prominent Scottish Catholics including outspoken composer James McMillan and Celtic author Dr Joe Bradley.

Last night Peter Kearney spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, slammed the move. He said: "It is quite worrying that firstly some spectators saw fit to complain, but even more so that police felt that the act merited investigation.

"Incitement to religious hatred normally involves demeaning the signs and symbols of a person's faith "So, it would be interesting to know how a gesture of reverence falls into any of these categories.

"This decision could lead us down a very intolerant road.

"What if a family in a restaurant say grace and make the sign of the cross, would they be deemed as having inflamed the sensibilities of non-Catholics?" Renowned composer and Celtic fan James MacMillan, who's spoken out in the past about sectarianism, said the fuss over Boruc's act was a 'disgrace'.

He added: "It is completely ridiculous but then cases like these always are.

"It's a disgrace that in this day and age, such a fuss is being made over an incident like this. "It is a mark of shame that people cannot express their faith in a certain manner."

Dr Joe Bradley, editor of two books about Celtic and lecturer at Stirling University, said Boruc should be free to bless himself anywhere he likes.

He said: "This seems to tie in with the police report on Boruc who had apparently upset a section of the Rangers support.

"Only when people like Artur Boruc can bless themselves wherever and whenever they want will Scotland's sectarian problem be on its way to being solved." A Crown Office spokesman said that following careful consideration it was decided to use an alternative to prosecution in Boruc's case.

Options open to the fiscal included a straight warning or a warning plus payment of a monetary penalty known as a fiscal's fine.

Celtic have refused to comment ever since the caution was issued to their Polish keeper last week.

But last night Eddie Toner former General Secretary of the Celtic Supporters' Association said the club had "hung Boruc out to dry". He said: "It is sad that Celtic as a club appear to have made no objection to or comment on the caution.

"They seem to have hung Artur Boruc out to dry. "Celtic have a responsibility to protect the community from which they derive support, especially when that community come under attack.

"Perhaps those who made the complaint to the police should have a look at themselves, as it seems that it is they who have the sectarian problem.

"This gesture is one which is made by sportsmen and women all over the world, but bizarrely it only seems to cause offence here in Scotland." Boruc is not the first footballer in Scotland to have caused controversy by making the sign of the cross.

In 1999 Rangers fans complained after Celtic's former Croatian striker Mark Viduka blessed himself during an Old firm game.

Rod McDonald of Partick Thistle received a caution for blessing himself in a match against Rangers in 1996.

The yellow-card led to him being sent off for two bookable offences.

[SmoothTalker]

Before the Reformation (a.k.a. "splitting and wrecking") Scotland was a Catholic country. Now --- like Quebec --- it's full of beautiful old churches which have been converted into restaurants, loft apartments, hip-hop studios, and the occasional mosque."

Or like in the case of St. Andrews Cathedral have had the roof torn off (centuries ago) and have been allowed to decay into ruin.

[B Knotts]

Its total fertility rate (1.66) is way, way below replacement, and last year the resident Muslims, who make up at most 3% of its population, had 12% of its babies.

Scary.

And yet, there are a number of people here on this web site that are still all gung ho for contraception.

Hopefully, they'll wake up soon.

[Brian Allen]

<< This incident = Rangers complaining.
1999 incident = Rangers complaining.
1996 incident = Rangers complaining.

So, are the Rangers simply non-Catholic trouble makers; or are they totally non-Christian? >>

Every dead and decadent member state of The Europeon Neo-Soviet, including those comprising its squalidly fascissocialistic offshore satellite states -- and most particularly effectively-communist Scotland -- are froth and foam-flecked post-Christian and Christian hating.

Anyone ever born in Glasgow with a brain, barely made it into his teens before quitting that socialist sh*t-hole for as far away as he could get without beginning to head up the other side of the world! To be engineers on ships sailing from the South of England and/or to places like New Zealand and Australia and Southern Africa and the West Coast of the United States.

[Deo volente]

However, if in the middle of the game, some player named Abdul had tossed down a prayer rug and faced mecca...that would be OK.


They wouldn't dare stop him, because they know they'd have hell to pay!

[Deo volente]

You'll also see a number of baseball players, particularly Hispanics like "Pudge" Rodriguez of the Tigers.


Yes, a lot of the Latin American players make the sign of the cross before an at-bat.

But I wish they wouldn't do it so quickly that it looks more like they're swatting flies!

[jjbrouwer]

He's taunting the Catholic supporters of Celtic by pretending to play the (Loyalist) flute.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Oh! I get it!~

[I-spy-guy]

This incident = Rangers complaining.
1999 incident = Rangers complaining.
1996 incident = Rangers complaining.

So, are the Rangers simply non-Catholic trouble makers; or are they totally non-Christian?
---
From the BBC

In 1999 leading QC Donald Findlay resigned his position as vice chairman of Rangers after he was caught on video singing a sectarian song, The Billy Boys, after the Rangers v Celtic Scottish Cup final.

He was also fined £3,500 by the Faculty of Advocates.

In 1995 Paul Gascoigne, playing for Rangers, landed himself in trouble in a pre-season Old Firm friendly as he mimicked playing the flute, infuriating many Celtic supporters who saw the act as a loyalist symbol.

Gascoigne, who was unaware of the significance, was disciplined by the Scottish FA
---

So, no, it's not just Rangers complaining.

[jjbrouwer]

Good thanks, mate. Only post here once in a blue moon these days.

[I-spy-guy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/5289202.stm

In the 1970s the chants became increasingly influenced by The Troubles in Northern Ireland, with some Celtic fans supporting the Provisional IRA and some Rangers fans applauding the actions of loyalist groups.

The tribal nature of Old Firm clashes is underlined by Rangers fans flying Union flags and Celtic followers waving the Irish tricolour.

The mutual animosity was outlined four years ago when some Celtic fans began flying Palestinian flags and some Rangers supporters responded by fluttering Israeli flags.
---
As you can see, it's not an anti Christian thing, it's a bunch of bigots winding each other up in any way they possibly can.

There have been 8 sectarian murders (victims on both sides) over the last few years in Glasgow, the action taken by the police was designed to stop this type of behaviour.

Personally i feel that the act of using a religious gesture to infuriate the opposing team supporters is just as insulting to any true Catholic as it was to the protestants and i'm amazed that the Catholic Church is happy to let this happen.

[1rudeboy]

They wouldn't dare stop him, because they know they'd have hell to pay!

I would wager good money that, if you tried to do so in the stands, your life span would be measured in seconds.

[AnAmericanMother]

"In County Tyrone, in the town of Dungannon,
Where many a ruction meself had a han' in,
Bob Williamson lived, a weaver by trade,
And all of us thought him a stout Orange blade.
On the Twelfth of July as it yearly would come,
Bob played with his flute to the sound of a drum.
You may talk of your harp, your pi-ano and lute,
But there's none to compare with the Old Orange Flute."

Haven't thought of that song in years (last time I sang it, I were a Protestant.) (Errors mine, too lazy to hunt out the book.)

[AnAmericanMother]

I don't think the church has much to say about it . . . probably 90 percent of the Celtics supporters in the stands haven't been to Mass in years . . .

[Elbows Unique]

that is a very valid point....apologies

[ApplegateRanch]

Thanks to all of you for the background on the Rangers-Celtic rivalry. Once again, the media makes it all one-sided.

Sports in general, let alone European soccer, is not something I pay any attention to. No, not even Sunday football, or Monday Night basketball...assuming those are still the right days. Therefore, I really was baffled by the police action in this story; and it was the police involvement that prompted me to read it.

Depend on FReepers to know, and share, the rest of the story!

Thanks again.

[ccmay]

Many of the Scots Irish couldn't stand life in Northern Ireland and emigrated to America.

Among them, my own ancestors. They spent a little time in Omagh after they left Scotland, but soon moved on to Ohio.

-ccm

[firebrand]

Finally a news event that will cause me to start making the sign of the cross in public again.

[firebrand]

If that's the case, it's pretty pathetic to have to resort to those kind of tactics to win.

Taking lessons from the DNC?

[firebrand]

May I introduce you to your friend the Shift key.