Rangers face new sectarian song rap

Rangers will be reported to the Scottish Premier League today for sectarian singing during the 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Ibrox on Saturday, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

There were no choruses of the "Billy Boys" - the song that prompted Uefa to charge the club with sectarian behaviour on the part of their fans - but it is understood that two renditions of another Ibrox anthem referring to "Fenian b******s' were noted by the SPL observer, Alan Dick.

SPL observers are obliged to note offensive behaviour, such as the personal abuse meted out to Graham Rix in his first few weeks as Hearts coach. For the past three weeks they have also been asked to record sectarian demonstrations at any club, even though Uefa's control and disciplinary body acquitted the Rangers support of the charges of discriminatory songs, on the grounds of established custom and usage in Scotland.

That verdict, while grounded in fact, has angered Scottish football administrators as well as legislators, anti-racist and anti-sectarian campaigners and senior police officers, who have attempted to address the problem for some time. Given the bad blood between Rangers and Aberdeen, which has been sporadically evident for many years, the atmosphere at Saturday's game was comparatively tranquil.

The small but noisy travelling support produced an impressive flag display and their Rangers counterparts responded with a full-blooded rendition of No Surrender, a song which commemorates the siege of Londonderry in the 17th century. It has been argued by some Rangers partisans that the song is no more and no less a record of historical fact than Flower of Scotland with its reference to the Battle of Bannockburn and the preceding invasion by an English army under King Edward II - which gives some indication of the complexities which face any authority who attempt to proscribe such choruses.

Not that the Champions League is likely to ring to any Rangers songs next season, following the weekend's events. At just after 4.15, by the clock in the Govan Stand, Rangers' campaign to overtake Hearts for the SPL runners-up spot - and with it Scotland's second Champions League place - suffered two severe setbacks.

At that stage Rangers led through Kris Boyd's well-worked low shot seven minutes after the interval. However, a reckless intervention by Sotirios Kyrgiakos was to cost his team dearly, not for the first time this season. His flailing tackle on Gary Dempsey brought him a caution and led to a free kick from which Scott Severin's shot was deflected past Ronald Waterreus.

At the same moment, news flashed through from Tynecastle that Hearts had taken the lead against Kilmarnock. In the space of a few seconds the prospect of Rangers closing the gap with Hearts to one point had been replaced by the likelihood of a five-point margin opening up.

So it proved, as Rangers failed to regain their advantage over Aberdeen, who - for the first time since the days of Alex Ferguson in the Eighties - have completed a season without losing to the Ibrox side. Just as the news from Edinburgh deflated the Rangers crowd, there was euphoria at Tynecastle, where Hearts survived a scare when Christophe Berra tripped Danny Invincibile on the edge of the penalty box.

Berra escaped a red card for illegally preventing a clear scoring opportunity, a double omission by the referee which incensed the Kilmarnock manager, Jim Jefferies. To make matters worse for the Ayrshire side, the coup de grace was administered by Berra himself with an 87th-minute header.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk