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The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 – Assessing the Case for Repeal

Document Cited authorities 2 Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 May 2017
Published date01 May 2017
Pages234-239
AuthorMaureen McBride
DOI10.3366/elr.2017.0414
INTRODUCTION

In November 2016, four and a half years after the introduction of the controversial Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 (hereafter OBTC Act), Labour MSP James Kelly lodged a Member's Bill seeking to repeal the legislation. The Bill, in which Kelly criticises the OBTC Act as “an illiberal law”, received support from all four opposition parties, and represented the culmination of several years of campaigning by activists and some opposition MSPs. Despite this, the Scottish Government remain committed to retaining the Act, with various SNP sources citing a “lack of alternative approaches” offered by critics. Minister for Community Safety Annabelle Ewing claimed that the vote in the Scottish Parliament to repeal the Act “threatens to set us back as a country in our efforts to effectively combat prejudice, hate crime and sectarianism”.1 This short article attempts to outline and contextualise the current situation, and offers a further contribution to the debate based on findings from my ongoing doctoral research.2

CONTEXT AND SUMMARY

Legislation aimed at tackling the allegedly sectarian or otherwise offensive behaviour of football supporters was proposed at a summit in the immediate aftermath of a high-tension match between Celtic and Rangers in March 2011,3 though it is important to note that actual disorder amongst fans at the match was minimal. Around the same time, a series of incidents with apparent racist or sectarian motives received intense media focus. Neil Lennon, the then Celtic manager, received death threats and, along with two Celtic players (who, like Lennon, were Northern Irish Catholics), received bullets in the post. Former Cardinal Keith O'Brien revealed that the previous year he had received a live bullet in the post prior to the Pope's visit to Scotland, by senders claiming to be the Protestant Action Group.4 Viable parcel bombs were intercepted which had been sent to Lennon, his QC, the late Paul McBride, and former Labour MSP Trish Godman (the latter, both high profile Celtic-supporting Catholics), as well as to Cairde na hÉireann, an Irish Republican group based in Glasgow.5 Furthermore, Lennon was publicly attacked by an opposition supporter in May 2011 and called a “fenian bastard”, though the “religiously aggravated” aspect of that charge was dropped when the case went to trial.6

The OBTC Act has been described as a “panic reaction” to this apparent spike in sectarian-motivated attacks.7 Indeed, the situation in early 2011 was highly unusual, as sectarianism in Scotland has tended to manifest itself in a far subtler manner. Yet the decision to introduce legislation solely targeting football supporters was contentious given that the aforementioned incidents took place outwith the context of football and appeared to be characterised by anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment as much as by antipathy towards a particular football club. The Bill was eventually passed by the Scottish Parliament on 14 December 2011 and came into force on 1 March 2012. Amidst claims that this was a knee-jerk and politically-motivated piece of legislation the Act was...

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