FLY THE FLAG

First of all may I congratulate your fine production in airing the views of the pro and anti Union flag brigade and for including the question "should a person wearing a union jack flag be ejected from the ground?" in the 1997/98 readers poll. I don't know what the result will be but I am sure the debate will rage on.

Secondly, I would like to comment on the "Same old tosh" aired by Andrew Drummond and Martyn G in the last issue (38). Andrews letter brings up the usual response from someone who is bitterly upset that so-called Hearts fans could have such extreme and ignorant views. Are you bitterly upset Andrew only because these views are the opposite of yours by any chance? God, if we all had the same views what a boring place we'd live in!

"We are not mini Rangers". Correct, Mr D, no we are not and why would a union flag at a Hearts match make us a Rangers fan. I've taken a union flag with "Hearts" on it to many games in Scotland and Europe to watch Hearts and if I did want to go the 40 miles west where I am told in a condescending way i 'd be at home then I would. But I am a Hearts fan not a Rangers fan so sorry to dispel that myth. Why weren't you complaining a few years ago or at Parkhead this season when the union flag was commonplace?

I am also not a hypocrite as suggested and don't want to copy the "very behaviour previously sneered at". Rangers and Celtic are first and foremost "weedgie scum" but I hate Celtic fans especially for their blatant support of the IRA. I don't agree with Loyalist terrorism either, but flying the union flag does not make Hearts an anti-Scottish sectarian club.

Onto martyn. What are you all about, MATE? So what if this is your first year as a season ticket holder, it doesn't make your views more valuable than someone who has been going for years and who cannot afford to shell out cash in . Why mention it? Also, mentioning a missed apostrophe is petty. Is everyone who flys the "anachronistic, irrelevant symbol of ancient British imperialism" a racist, BNP member and an English football hooligan or not? I don't get your point on this or your generalisation.

You are living in a dreamworld if you think there are any Scots left who give a toss about the Union Jack. There are supporters of other clubs who like to fly the flag without any grief from people like you. I've personally seen union flags flown by Aberdeen, Airdrie, Dundee, Dundee United, Falkirk, Inverness Caledonian, Morton, Motherwell and Raith Rovers fans. All clubs with just as much Scottishness as Hearts.

The final parting shots in both letters I actually agree with. I am proud to be forever a Hearts fan, Scottish. But I'm also proud to be forever British and, much to Andrew and Martyn's annoyance I'll continue to fly the Union flag wherever Hearts play.

Neil