English Hearts Supporter

Turner Park
London
NW5

Dear NIT

As an English Hearts supporter, I have to take issue with the racist attitudes shown in the articles written by Andrew Drummond and Martyn G. published in NIT 38.

It would appear that unless you are 100% dedicated to Scottish independence, then those two individuals think you have no right to follow Hearts. Indeed Andrew Drummond thinks that anyone who considers themselves British should be following Rangers.. why??

I lived in Edinburgh from 1978 until 1990 and held a season ticket at Tynecastle for the full length of my stay in Edinburgh. A bit longer than Martyn who has held a season ticket for 1 season. I moved back to London in 1990 and since then I have made it to about 10 games per season The reason that I chose to follow Hearts when I lived in Scotland was due to their proud Scottish traditions, coupled with the pro-British attitude of the fans. This ensured that I always felt welcome at Tynecastle, however the anti-British atmosphere that seems to be creeping in at the moment is making me wonder how long it will be before I get a slap for being English.

The current arguement appears to have started with Ailsa Lamont's antiEnglish/British diatribe, which claims that the Union flag has been hi-jacked by racists and hooligans, and that as a result no-one should have anything to do with it. My answer to that, is probably the same as Gavin's. Every nation has its misguided people who shame their nation, and in England we do suffer from the problems of racism and hooliganism. However judging by the increasing reports of anti-English attacks which has led to murder in one instance recently, Scotland has nothing to feel smug about. Maybe Settler Watch themselves might not be up to much, although the people who have had their homes vandalised may not agree, but the anti-English attitudes that a lot of Scots show, does your country no credit at all. In fact the anti-radst magazine Searchlight pinpoints Scotland as one of the areas where racism is on the increase, and after reading the intolerant attitudes of Ailsa, Andrew and Martyn I can't see anything to suggest that Searchlight have got it wrong.

Moving on from the accusations of racism, you have the loyalist/orange lodge situation. Now as an Londoner I didn't have a clue about loyalists, republicans etc. in 1979, and I still don't have any interest in it, but what I do know is that the majority of Hearts fans who refused to turn their backs on the team in the gloomy years of the late 70s, early 80s do have sympathies with the loyalists One game in particular springs to mind when mentioning this. and that was Clydebank away in the 81/82 season. It was a midweek game, and Hearts won 5-1 The crowd was only about 900-1,000, with Hearts making up around 400 Almost every song that night from the Hearts was sectarian, and I think it would be safe to say that our support that night represented the hard core. I still meet up with the lads that I knocked around with at that time and most of them have syrnpatnie.c with the loyalists, although I never, nor did a few others. However this never stopped us being accepted and no-one ever tried to ram their viewpoints down our throats like Ailsa. Andrew and Martyn are Maybe the term fascist should be aimed at them, as they seem unable to accept differing viewpoints from their own. What does it matter if someone flies a Union flag, no-one is making you do it. it should be freedom of choice.

Also, why do people automatically assume that the Union flag should represent sectarianism? It would appear that this is an attempt by the anti-British brigade to discredit the flag They jump to conclusions and are willing to pluck things out of thin air to discredit anyone who disagrees with them. For instance, despite reading Gavin s article a few times I cannot see where he says that its fine for the BNP and hooligans to shame the flag, as Martyn G accuses. In fact I can t see any mention of the 3NP whatsoever All I can see was a letter from someone who is obviously sick and tired of Nationalists who only look at the negatives of the Union. I thought the comment about where commas go was pathetic, and it shows Martyn G up for the narrow minded little twal that he appears to be trying to portray. The letter from Andy Pratt was obviously written to put forward the point of view of the loyalist element and I can understand why that would provoke discussion.

Now to sum up. .At the moment we are all British, and until the SNP gain the majority of seats at a General Election, or a YES/NO referendum is held then that will remain the situation I was pleased to see that Scotland got their devolved parliament, as I think that this will promote a Scottish identity within the UK, and it will also hopefully lead to the extra subsidy that Westminster pays Scotland being stopped, making a more equal Union. I have family (English settlers) who live in Dundee and they all voted for devolution, so I don t think that a YES vote indicates unhappiness at being British as Martyn suggests.

Sorry for having to write this in a football fanzine. We should be united in our joy at the double, Hibs relegation and our glorious cup win which has to be the best moment of my life, and a definate reason to get to as many Hearts games as possible next season. So, sorry Ailsa, Andrew and Martyn, your hatred for my country will not prevent me from watching the team I love, complete with my Union Flag, with LONDON HEARTS emblazoned on it. If you want to try and prevent me from displaying it then you are very welcome to try, or may I suggest that you may wish to go to watch Celtic or Hibs where your hatred for all things British will undoubtedly be admired.

Thanks for giving me the right to reply.

Cheers
Leoroy
LONDON HEARTS