How would you regard someone who says, “I don’t recognise Israel and I don’t debate with Israelis”, regards Israel as an apartheid state and supports Hezbollah?
Or someone who sucked up to mass murderer Saddam Hussein and said he was speaking to him “In the name of thousands of Britons”.
Or who said that the 9/11 terrorist atrocity was not, after all, as a result of the evil actions of islamist fascists but instead “came out of a swamp of hatred created by us”.
Or someone who visited Bashar al-Assad, the vicious mass murderer of Syria, and announced that “For me he is the last Arab ruler, and Syria is the last Arab country. It is the fortress of the remaining dignity of the Arabs, and that’s why I’m proud to be here.”
Or someone who stood on platforms with senior IRA commanders long before the peace process began?
Hopefully, you wouldn’t regard him very highly at all. You might think, “Well, he’s an extreme person and whilst I wouldn’t want him anywhere near me, he’s entitled to his views.” In a free country, that’s fair enough. But to invite him to be a guest of your football club? Hmm. Not so sure about that one.
Well, that’s what Bristol Rovers managed to achieve on Tuesday night, inviting one of the most extreme politicians in the land to attend the game against Rochdale, apparently in the pursuance of a business deal that might benefit the club. Galloway tweeted about the occasion and indeed allowed himself to be photographed by the players’ tunnel at half time, referring to his “friend”, Wael al Qadi, the Jordanian banker who is president of the club which is owned by a business owned by his family (if you know what I mean).
Whilst an overseas ownership model is not my ideal choice, I have nothing against Mr al Qadi or any of the people he has hired to run the club. I can only speak as I find and they have always been courteous and kind to me. Neither do I have any issue with the family or any of the senior club employers being friends with whoever they like. That’s their business. But when someone as odious as Galloway shows up at what is essentially my club in every way except financially, then it’s my business too.
If Britain First leader Paul Golding was invited to be a guest of the club, I would have a view on it and it would not be a positive one. If Nick Griffin came to have a meal in Box Number One, I’d be less than impressed, as I wouldn’t be if Nigel Farage or Gerry Adams turned up. I felt bad enough when Nick Higgs invited Bristol North West’s former MP, the publicity hungry Charlotte Leslie, to slobber all over him in the quest for more votes (failed). George Galloway has never done anything in his life unless it involved his personal advancement. I do not want Bristol Rovers to be a part of that and I would certainly not want the club to be engaging in a business partnership with him. That would be a step too far.
Bristol Rovers is a football club, not a political plaything. It should be all-embracing and diverse and certainly not welcoming with open arms someone who says, “We reject this illegal, barbarous, savage state that calls itself Israel. And you have to do the same” adding that “Hezbollah has never been a terrorist organisation!” No, it should be about building a football club for the benefit of the supporters who own it, if not in bricks and mortar, but through a lifetime’s emotional connection. Inviting the likes of George Galloway to be its guest does not strike me as a sensible way of so doing, regardless of whether his friend is the president of the club.
