Thursday, May 01, 2008

Is This Shirt Offensive?

Dear readers from across the pond: you could be forgiven for having no idea how controversial this shirt has turned out to be, over here in the West of Scotland.

You see, as you may or may not be aware, there was an Old Firm match (Celtic vs. Rangers, that is) this past Sunday. Celtic beat Rangers 3-2 in a thrilling game that I watched with a fellow female (and Celtic fan), Claire. Until this past Sunday, Rangers were leading the Scottish Premier League but with Celtic's win on Sunday, they are now in the lead.

After the match, Celtic's goalie, Artur Boruc - a Polish catholic - pulled off his jersey to reveal a t-shirt of the late Pope John Paul II. Innocent enough, right? Unfortunately, not so in a religiously divided city like Glasgow.

Personally, I don't have an issue with the shirt - besides the obvious questionable taste in style and fashion - but apparently it enraged quite a few Rangers fans (who were, no doubt, sore from having just lost). It's pissed off quite a few media outlets as well; you could say that Boruc's t-shirt is Scotland's own fucking Miley Cyrus scandal. Both of whom - Boruc and Cyrus - made calculated moves and when they backfired, they claimed innocence.

Initially, I thought it was quite antagonistic on Boruc's part. My boyfriend then said to me, "why is the picture of the late Pope so offensive?!" and you know, I guess he's right.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Crazy how any little thing can tick some people off. Canadians are not much different I guess, look at what we do when we win hockey games, cause riots and make untold amounts of damage. (and that is when we WIN. :P)

Jennifer said...

Yeah, the religious bigotry (hatred?) boils beneath the surface and small things can set some people off.

As a Canadian, where religious tensions are minimal, I never cease to be perplexed by the rivalry between Protestants and Catholics over here. It REALLY bothers me and I wish it was eradicted!