A leading Arab has condemned the behaviour of some Dundee United fans who disrupted a minute’s silence for the Queen at Ibrox on Saturday.
Kevin Keenan, chair of the Arab Trust, The Dundee United Supporters Society, said the behaviour showed no respect and was very disappointing.
Mr Keenan, who is also leader of the Labour group on Dundee City Council, said: “It’s very disappointing that this happened.
“Fans were asked to behave during the silence but sadly a few chose not to do so.”
Audible jeers
The minute’s silence held at Ibrox following the death of Queen Elizabeth II was disrupted by a section of the travelling Dundee United support.
There were audible jeers throughout the period of reflection ahead of Saturday’s Premiership fixture between Rangers and the Tannadice club.
A chant of “Lizzie’s in a box” was also heard from a small minority of fans in the away section.
A rendition of the national anthem, which was changed back to God Save The King last week, followed the fractious commemoration of the Queen’s passing.
‘Behaviour not respectful or acceptable’
Mr Keenan said: “It doesn’t matter if you are a Royalist or not. This behaviour was neither respectful or acceptable.
“The people of Dundee showed their true feelings and respect for the Queen when they lined the Kingsway last Sunday.
“Many people, including myself, who are not royalists lined the route of the cortege through Dundee.
“I’m not sure if these fans were trying to provoke the Rangers supporters with this behaviour but it did not reflect the values of Dundee United Football Club.”
Commenting on the response by the club to the incident, Mr Keenan said the club were anxious not to provoke further trouble.
Dundee United FC statement
Afterwards, DUFC said: “Dundee United are aware of the actions of a small section of the crowd who chose to not respect the minute’s silence before this afternoon’s match at Ibrox.
“As a club, ahead of the game we reached out to advise our supporters of the pre-match arrangements with the expectation that the minute silence would be observed.”
Club Statement
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) September 17, 2022
Responding to criticism that the statement did not go far enough, Mr Keenan said: “The club are caught between a rock and a hard place.
“If they condemned too harshly they are aware they could have provoked a minority of hard liners to take things even further.”
‘Fans out of tune with the country’
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “It was very disappointing that a section of fans chose to disrupt the minute’s silence at Ibrox.
“This small minority of supporters have let their club down.
“They have also shown themselves to be out of tune with the mood across Scotland over the last 10 days, which has manifested itself in the outpouring of love and respect towards Her Late Majesty.”
Social media reaction
The behaviour led to several comments being made on social media.
On The Courier Facebook page, Andrew Chaplin said: “It wasn’t a minority it was lot more than that. Disgraceful doesn’t begin to describe it.”
While Linda Thomson said: “Absolutely shocking, disgraceful display of disrespect and they’ve no soul.”
Tee Rowling added: “There’s zero excuses – you just don’t do this kind of thing, especially during agreed minute silences!!
“It doesn’t just disrespect the opposing team, it disrespects your own team!!
“People are arguing the behaviour of other teams’ fans as a means of condoning this but that’s irrelevant because we shouldn’t be lowering ourselves to other peoples standards – we have more respect for ourselves and our team!”
