In the modern era of football, fan protests have become more frequent than before. The supporters have realized their power over the beautiful game and in the operations of their teams too.
While some opt to protest on social media, most travelling fans have staged some memorable protests inside or outside football stadiums over the last few decades.
The fan protest tradition rose in bounds when the Super League was unveiled last year.
The supporters of major clubs like Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and more made their displeasure felt by holding peaceful protests – which ultimately caused the project to be erased altogether.
Not all protests, of course, have been totally peaceful. Manchester United fans, sick with the ownership of the Glazer family, have been holding regular protests over the last few years.
Last year, they caused their game against Liverpool to be postponed after fans emerged in thousands outside Old Trafford – blocking the players from entering.
Some fans even made it inside the stadium’s pitch itself, something which was deemed unacceptable by many. Since acts like that, supporters have become more self-aware of the impact of their protests and realized that acting like hooligans will only disrespect their club and fan base.
As a result, supporter groups of famous football clubs have been opting to take more creative ways to hold protests that will hurt their club and not disrespect their reputation either. Celtic fan group, the Green Brigade, held a very interesting protest at the weekend.
The ultra fan group of the Scottish giants were formed in 2006 and are situated in the North Curve section of Celtic Park. These involve some of the loudest fans in the stadium, as they charge their players by making a lot of noise that also helps to destabilize the opposition players.
But the Green Bridge and Celtic fans in general have the reputation of being Anti-Monarch in nature. Their members do not support the British Monarch or their acts of the past. That’s why during Remembrance Day in the UK, they decided to stage a smart, yet effective protest.
Normally during Remembrance Weekend in the UK, a minute’s silence is observed for British soldiers that have died in their past wars.
This involves every game in the UK across a week, including that of the Premier League and other major competitions. It’s also observed for the Scottish League because of their ties to the Monarch.
The Green Bridge did not want to pay their respect to this because they do not want to support the past actions of the British empire.
As a result, every fan of the group exited the North Curva section of Celtic Park and kept it empty for the entirety of the minute’s silence, before coming back in time for kick-off against Ross County.
An image of the situation saw one major empty stand in a jam-packed stadium, helping send a powerful message from the Green Bridge.
The Scottish fan group have also staged protests in the past. In 2010, they also criticized the remembrance poppy (that is worn to pay respect to the dead British military soldiers) being instilled into the Celtic jersey.
They created a banner that said: “Your deeds would shame all the devils in Hell. Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan. No bloodstained poppy on our Hoops.”
The Green Brigade have also shown its support for the Black Lives Matter movement, changing many street signs in Glasglow and renaming them after prominent black civil rights leaders and activists after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
They’re not going to stop with their protests anytime soon, no matter what anyone says.