I think Irish Catholics deserve the same consideration and protection from the BBC as Jews, don’t you?
I say Jews, but that’s a hell of a push because when I say Jews I’m talking about the people who are currently shooting hungry Gazans dead for fun at the fairground shooting stall Israel and the US call a food distribution centre. I'm talking about the Israeli army. I’m talking about Bob Vylan’s ‘Death, death, to the IDF’ chant at Glastonbury, which sent the BBC into a paroxysm of panic and self-loathing that led to a number of corporation staff being told to "step back from their day-to-day duties”.
What was the crime for which they lost their positions, if not their jobs? Well, it’s quite simple, really. On the Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury, the BBC was at DefCon 1 because of the appearance of Kneecap, who had recently become embroiled in a number of political controversies. Bob Vylan were on before Kneecap, and while the BBC Glasto team was putting on its ‘Press’ flak jackets and helmets ahead of the Kneecap appearance, the London punk-grime duo went ahead and made history with that IDF chant.
I don’t need to go over again the carnival of action and reaction that greeted the Bob Vylan set – led by the government of the day, no less – but I can sum it up by saying that when the dust had settled a consensus had been arrived at:
• Jews/the IDF had been horribly failed by the BBC.
• The stream should have been cut immediately.
• Heads would have to roll.
In the event, deputy heads and acting deputy heads rolled. And they rolled sideways instead of down or out.
Fast forward nearly a month and the BBC are preparing to stream the second leg of a Champions League qualification tie at Windsor between Linfield and Shelbourne. Everyone in the BBC team planning the coverage knows what may happen. The Billy Boys – a vile anti-Catholic chant – regularly gets an airing at the ‘National Stadium’. It’s a song that makes Bob Vylan’s IDF chant seem like Silent Night at a primary school panto:
We’re up to our knees in Fenian blood.
Surrender or you’ll die…
I’ve heard it many times at Windsor, both as an attending spectator and on TV. While it has been removed from the songlist at international games, Linfield fans maintain a warm attachment to it. It was sung at the last match I attended at Windsor: a 1-2 away win by Cliftonville. So too was “F**k Bobby Sands, he’s deid” (in a Scottish accent, oddly, but we’ll leave that one to the side).
Everyone who works at the BBC knew as well as I did that the chances of it being sung on Wednesday night were high. Which is to say that the BBC went into the game in the full knowledge that in all likelihood at some stage between 7.45pm and 10pm viewers would be subjected to the most notorious and infamous sectarian song in the loyalist hit parade. Which begs the questions:
Was the broadcast considered “high risk”, a label the BBC had slapped on Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury before a note was played?
Did the BBC take anti-Catholicism at Windsor as seriously as they took anti-semitism at Glastonbury?
As recently as April, the Andersonstown News asked the BBC about the singing of The Billy Boys at Windsor. The song rang out clearly around the stadium on the day Linfield sealed the Irish League with a 2-1 win over their arch-rivals Glentoran. Here’s what we reported after contacting the BBC:
"In response, BBCNI declined to say whether it had discussed with anyone the possibility of anti-Catholic singing going out live to a lunchtime audience. It said its focus was 'primarily on the fixture itself. We work hard to mitigate editorial risks'. BBCNI declined to give any details of what work had been done to mitigate the risk of anti-Catholic singing during the live broadcast. We further asked whether an apology had been made at the time or subsequently to viewers after The Billy Boys was heard during the live coverage. Dedicated sports channels routinely issue apologies when offensive words are broadcast live. BBCNI declined to answer that question, but said: 'No offence was intended by the BBC and we regret any upset caused.'"
BBCNI also issued a broad disclaimer, telling the Belfast Media Group "We aren’t responsible for people’s behaviour at football matches."
So while the BBC regretted any upset caused by its broadcast of sectarian hate, it didn’t regret it enough to make sure it didn’t happen again on Wednesday night. And as for the BBC claiming not to be responsible for people’s behaviour at football matches, pardon me for telling them that’s a steaming pile of ordure. If they did a live broadcast in full knowledge of the risks involved, then they become responsible. It is entirely reasonable, for instance, for the BBC to claim not to be responsible if the crowd at the Crucible starts singing Nazi marching songs during the snooker World Championships, although you’d like to think somebody would cut the audio.
I’d have bet my Adidas Predator boots that the response from the BBC press office this time round would look pretty similar to the April response. And, hey presto! “We regret the extent to which inappropriate language/terms may have been audible as part of our sound relay from the stadium.” More regret. But not enough regret to stop them doing something about it, being prearmed with the almost certain knowledge that it was going to happen.
Let’s face it – the BBC doesn’t care a jot about the broadcasting of anti-Catholic singing at Windsor, otherwise it wouldn’t have happened. Again. And not many others care either because I’m pretty sure that this is only place you’ll be watching, hearing or reading about The Billy Boys being sung live on the BBC at Windsor. Again. Who’d want to be a BBC exec facing the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on the matter?
– Were you aware that The Billy Boys was likely to be sung?
– Yes.
– How aware?
– Pretty aware.
– Pretty aware?
– Pretty aware as in Does the Pope wear a funny hat.
– What did you do to stop it?
– Just what you saw and heard on Wednesday night.
– Which was?
– Um... nothing.
