In football, there is almost an unwritten rule of never rooting for the enemies of the team a person supports. The entire point of rivalry means enjoying one side’s success over their ‘enemy’ and hoping for the downfall of the latter.
Manchester United legend Eric Cantona aptly described the significance of loyalty in football, once saying ‘You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favourite football team.’
But it doesn’t appear that this memo was received by Scottish content creator Toni Marie, a lifestyle blogger.
She comes from a city of Glasgow where the football allegiances are torn apart between the two mega powers in Rangers and Celtic.
But in the hopes of going viral and getting attention from both fanbases, the 21-year-old has broken a ‘cardinal sin’ in Scottish football.
She has posted pictures of herself supporting both Rangers and Celtic, donning the two colours with pride. She’s even attended matches for both teams posing as their ‘fan’, even recording her entire experience through her vlogs.
Marie is a Celtic fan, but recently even attended a Rangers game with her boyfriend, wearing a scarf and writing ‘all silly mindsets aside, you can enjoy it regardless’. The content creator probably did this to get more eyes on her product.
She has over 17,000 followers on Instagram and over 10,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel. But she’s most active on TikTok, having over 53,000 followers. Marie mostly posts daily vlogs, showing her daily activities, travel vlogs and even some ‘ted talks’ where she gives motivational speeches.
But this is more or less the biggest mistake that any football fan or any person in general can make in the city of Glasgow.
That is due to the sheer hatred and historic significance in the Rangers-Celtic rivalry. While both clubs have been competing in Scotland’s tip tier for over a century, there is a distinct difference in a Rangers or Celtic fan.
Celtic were created as a symbol for the Irish people that immigrated to Scotland and their green colors are almost a representation of their roots.
Rangers are often considered as the club of the Glaswegian born and bred people as they’ve been created and promoted by the local people.
There is also a religious divide among Celtic and Rangers fans, with the former’s majority being Catholic Christians and most Rangers supporters being Protestant Christians.
There isn’t any legal ‘ban’ on supporting both the rival clubs, but it is of course frowned upon.
Marie probably promoted herself supporting both the clubs to get more attention on her content, which she’s succeeded in.
The young vlogger is attracting a lot of hate on social media for her questionable antics and is being mocked in pretty brutal fashion from supporters of both teams.
Despite receiving a lot of hatred for her actions, Marie appears calm in the storm.
She has since posted on her Instagram detailing that a football match can be enjoyed without being narrow-minded in thinking about rivalry.
She’s even stated about how she enjoys watching Celtic matches with her dad and also the same while watching Rangers ones’ with her boyfriend or siblings.
But Marie’s case is definitely a one-in-a-million situation because in Glasgow, you wouldn’t see many people rooting for both Rangers and Celtic.
The two Scottish heavyweights share one of the most intense, deep-rooted rivalries and the two sets of supporters’ dislike for one another is why the Old Firm Derby is considered as one of the most exciting matches in world football.
