After FOUR DAYS of criticism from all angles, the Police in Scotland appear to have entered into full deflection mode following the Scottish Cup Final shame on Saturday, 21st May - a day in which Rangers players and staff were physically and verbally assaulted by violent Hibs supporters who had illegally entered the field of play.
Aided and abetted by Daily Record 'reporter' Jane Hamilton - who late last night published a very dubious article on the dying tabloid's website - we are now hearing of claims that Police Scotland were obstructed in their line of duty by Rangers supporters "using their own kids to block roads" preventing them from getting inside Hampden to deal with the thousands of Hibs supporters who had illegally entered the field of play.
While the BBC and Sky pointed their cameras away from most of the troubling scenes, many eye-witness accounts have appeared on social media - backed up with video and photographic evidence - showing Hibs fans intimidate and attack Rangers players, staff and supporters.
What evidence/sources does Jane provide? Here are direct quotes from the article:
- POLICE officers stationed outside Hampden
- A Police Officer
- A public order officer (police officer)
- Other cops (police)
- Another police source
None of these officers are named.
Rangers fans are more than used to hysterical headlines and downright lies about our football club and support. We've laughed at the sheer stupidity of these articles over the years and mocked those who felt the need to smear all things RFC. From “Sash” shape patterns cut into the Ibrox grass to Pepperami being banned because the wrapper incorporated the colours of Glasgow's small club - we've heard it all.
When it comes to all things Rangers, Jane - like many 'journalists' before her - seems to have taken revisionism to an altogether new level of bampottery and hatred. Any reasonable person who witnessed the scenes after the Scottish Cup Final will absolutely know where the blame lies. Hibs fans poured on to the park, attacked Rangers players and staff and then proceeded to intimidate, taunt and launch missiles at Rangers fans. The Rangers fans who came on the park did the job of the Police and beat back the rampaging thugs until 'the Force' arrived on the scene LONG after the event.
Jane's article has many un-named Police sources. For argument's sake, let's assume Jane was given this info by Police Officers then it would suggest that Police Scotland are issuing falsehoods to cover their own failings. With the recent revelations of the South Yorkshire Police cover-up over Hillsborough fresh in everyone's minds, would such a tactic be wise this soon after the findings?
Perhaps Jane the sectarian bigot has simply concocted a web of lies to attack a Club and support she obviously despises*.
*What evidence have we that Jane could be anti-Rangers? Would it be her use of referring to Rangers as 'Sevco' - a term used by those foolish enough to believe that Rangers "are not the same club"?
*What evidence have we that Jane could be a sectarian bigot? Perhaps it's her habitual public use of the word "Hun" - a horribly offensive, derogatory term aimed at Protestants.
BUT WAIT! This has all been cleared up, earlier today Murray Foote, the Editor of the Record, added a note to the article insisting that these tweets were a 'direct reference to her husband' from way back in 2010 and not general remarks. Somehow he thinks that makes it okay.
Well what about this one Murray? Is this general enough? Note, it's from 2012, well after the term had been cemented in case law and generally accepted as being 'sectarian'.
Let's have a look at some more of the article.
"Complaints included being subjected to a barrage of abuse, their vans being jostled and some parents were accused of using their own kids to block roads". - You could be forgiven for coining a popular internet phrase - "Pics, or it didn't happen!".
"We were told people impeding and attacking a police convoy led to a 20-minute delay in riot control officers getting into the stadium". - "We?", so you have a witness to these accounts?
"On entering Cathcart Road from Prospecthill Road, we were presented with a large crowd of Rangers fans leaving the ground on the pavements and road". People familiar with the area around Hampden will know that the junction between these two roads is quite a distance from the Stadium. Given the short space of time between the final whistle and the ensuing Hibs pitch invasion, this would mean that not only has a significant amount of time passed before this alleged incident, but it's worth noting that even as the events unfolded on national TV, for half an hour or so, clearly it was the Hibs fans who were in need of police control. So why then is it that they would head towards the busy 'Rangers end', rather than the empty Aikenhead Rd - 'Hibs end' when trying to access the stadium?
"This wasn’t 18 to 30-year-olds doing this, it was families, older men in suits, 12-year-olds shouting as fiercely as their fathers and mothers". "They then started hitting and spitting on the vans, throwing items at the vans, trying to rock the vans, kicking the vans, trying the doors". - This will all be in the Police report, surely?
The video footage below clearly tells a different story: Rangers fans sarcastically clapping the "day-late" coppers who trudged towards Hampden Park in full riot gear, long after the Bears had done the job of Police Scotland.
I guess this is what the police mean? All I see is the @RangersFC fans cheering that police were finally there! pic.twitter.com/lI48wrOl37
— Lindsey (@Lindz810) May 26, 2016
The general consensus among Rangers supporters and witnesses on the day is that Jane is lying through her back teeth. The only alternative is that, following the aftermath of the Hillsborough findings, Jane has chosen to accept uncorroborated information from Police as 'The Truth", without giving any thought to the possible repercussions should this info turn out to be false.
At best Jane Hamilton is simply another hate-filled, anti-Rangers, bigoted hack... At worst, she's the first point-of-reference in yet another Polizei Schottland scandal.
Until such a time that Police Scotland confirm her reports, let's assume it's the former.
Jane isn't the impartial journalist she wants you to think she is - she is a demented hate-monger who sees fits to dehumanise a support and a Club via social media, while trying to promote herself as a Journalist. Her Tweets will leave the reader in no doubt that she is a bigot, a Rangers-hater and a liar of the worst kind. Not only is she lying, she is also stoking up sectarian tensions with her Tweets, and we would ask that all Rangers fans contact her employer and ask for her dismissal.
Last Saturday's events and the subsequent revisionism from the Scottish media have galvanised and united the Rangers support like no other recent event. The days of lying about our Club, fans, kids and history are gone. We will no longer be lied about or treated like second class citizens.
As for the Daily Record and Jane Hamilton, if you're a Rangers supporter and you buy this rag, please STOP. You are financing an enemy of our Club intent on demonising our support.
STOP PRESS: As of 2.00pm today, Jane Hamilton has 'ran away' from Twitter by deleting her account @janehamilton22. While some seem to think she has been 'hounded' off Twitter, we draw their attention to further evidence suggesting Jane simply wants her bigotry 'airburshed' from the public record. Too late, Jane!
