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The Final Farewell

io c f a id h r Lio c f a id h r Lio c f a id h r Last Ever - Issue 40

Price 2 / 3 Fo r Celt ic & Ir ela n d

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TAL Issue 40 is the lastissue of TAL Fanzine

This issue of TAL, our 40th in 13 yearsof existence, will be the last issue of themagazine as we have come to know itin A4 format. TAL will continue on theweb and we hope to produce a moreregular but shorter E-zine edition of thefanzine after a general overhaul of theTAL website www.talfanzine.com.

The TAL Forum which has developeda life on the internet independent of themagazine will also continue to functionand hopefully become a source of arti-cles and writers for the regular E-zine.

A number of factors have brought thisdecision about. Most of all, however,have been our changing political priori-ties. The fanzine has largely served itspolitical function and it is time for a newgeneration of young republicans to pickup the gauntlet. The laws and regula-tions with regard to "sectarianism" inScotland are increasingly beingadapted for use against those whoshow political support for Irish republi-canism. This together with the generallyantagonistic and repressive policingpolicies at football grounds has made itmore difficult to sell the TL magazineat Celtic Park and even to find the nec-essary numbers prepared to take therisk of harassment and possible arrestby selling it at the ground.

Its our opinion that the proposed tight-ening of laws and regulations on

sectarianism are almost entirely press-led, completely misplaced and politicallymisguided. It is therefore incumbent onrepublicans to make a more general-ised political response to such attackson the Irish community in Scotland. Weshould not allow the issue of anti-Irishr a c i s m i n S c o t t i s h s o c i e t y(euphemis t i ca l l y descr ibed as

sectarianism) to be reduced down tothe actions of the supporters of Celticand rangers. However, TL, in ouropinion, is not the proper vehicle for re-publicans to make that political re-sponse.

Cairde Na hireann is the politicalmeans by which republicans in Scot-land must respond to the attacks on ourcommunity. It is to be hoped thatCairdes plans to produce its own quar-terly political magazine will come to frui-

tion in the very near future. Watch outfor announcements of a new magazinefrom Cairde Na hireann. This newrepublican political magazine fromCnh will address itself to all of the po-litical issues that TL did previously, butit will hopefully have a wider appeal torepublican-minded folk in Scotland, inaddition to TL's core within the Celticsupport. It is expected that Cnh mem-bers will sell the new magazine at CelticPark, starting next season.

In the lifetime of TAL Fanzine we havegone through the changes from the oldterracing to an all-seater stadium, evenspending some time away from CelticPark when we had to play our homematches at Hampden. The Celtic sup-

port has also gone through transforma-tions in this period with the growth innumbers also being accompanied by 'anew breed of fan one that neither

knows its history nor even sings thesongs, or relates to the special atmos-phere that have been long associatedwith our club.

There are still many issues that need tobe continually addressed by the sup-porters at Celtic Park: the club's corpo-rate image taking precedence over thefans' cultural identity; the consequentloss of atmosphere in the ground; con-tinued vigilance against racism etc...and of course, the team itself and the

money allotted to the coaching staff forstrengthening the squad. All of this andmore still require our attention.

We'd like to thank TALs readers, con-tributors, supporters and even some ofour critics for making the production ofthe magazine over a thirteen year pe-riod a worthwhile task. TAL as we havecome to know it may be no more, butwe wont be going away entirely youknow. Out of the ashes...

TALs Roll of HonourThere have been many over theyears who have played their part inthe development of TAL but thanksmust go to the following for theirlong-standing help and support:Jon, Allan, Eddie, Kidder, Tam, Smiler,Boydo (R.I.P.), Davie, John OK,Polegass Bhoy, Gary Og, Alan Q,Smiddy, Mark B, Pilgrim Charlie, Peter,Celtic Connection (Mark RIP), She-been, Irish Brigade, Peatdiggers, Mick,

Jimmy, Ricky, Govan Psycho Killers,Tall Cranes, G51 Club, Big Ed, CladdaClub, Derek Warfied, Paddy, Jude,Brian, Eamon, Panic Brothers, Robert,Phil, Terry, Feargal, Kevin, Jez, South-sider, Kenny, Euan, Emma, Gerry,Damian, Noel, Billy Lynch (RIP), Andy,Gary, Pat, Jim, Denis, One-Eye, Anti-Fascist Action, Red Action, James Con-nolly Society, An Phoblacht-RepubicanNews, P.O.W. Department, Cairde Nahireann, Vol. San McIlvenna RFB,James Connolly RFB (defunct), Vol.

Bily Reid RFB (defunct), Sons of Ire-land RFB (defunct) Bridgeton RFB(defunct), Jim, Stevie, Sven, Heiko,Rafael, Katrin, Massimo, JFR, HNT, StPauli Fanladen, Dixie, Holloway Gael,Greenock CSC, Spuds, James G, CelticSoccer Crew and any weve missed!

Tio c f a idh r LTio c f a idh r LTio c f a id h r L

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It has been a strange season in manyways but then we always knew it wouldbe. The idea of going to watch a Celticteam minus the familiar sight & consid-

erable talents of Henrik Larsson was adifficult one to come to terms with butreality bites hard.

Among some of the other oddities we'vehad to endure this season was our firsthome defeat in the Champions Leaguegroup stages (there's that man Larssonagain I hear you say..!!). On a morewelcome note we collected our firstpoint on our travels in the same compe-tition. Ultimately though it proved toolittle too late & it wasnt even enough to

secure a place in the UEFA cup. Thusno European football the other side ofChristmas for the first time in three sea-sons, now that was strange. (Overheardafter the Milan game outside Celtic Parkas we trudged away from the ground:Nae maer Continental excursions taesee the Celtic.?? Feck me, I suppose Illneed tae get a burd!

Strangest of all for me though this sea-son is why we had a Brazilian world cupwinner playing second string football

who couldnt buy his way into the man-agers thoughts when it is clearly obvi-ous to all that certain players eitherneeded to be rested for fear of burn outor should have been dropped due toloss of form?

Despite the fact that we are still themasters of our own destiny the seasonhasnt exactly panned out as we mighthave expected. I for one thought maybesomewhat naively, that we would simplypick up in 2004/05 where we had left off

in 03/04, After all given the achieve-ments of last year coupled with the in-eptness of our nearest challengers itwasnt an unrealistic expectation. Thetruth is however that we have rarely hitthe dizzy heights of last seasons cam-paign.

Of course everyone will have their ownopinion as to why that might be & ifMORI were to conduct a poll of the sup-port tomorrow then these are some ofthe reasons that might feature highly:

* The refusal of the board to invest froma position of strength.

* An improvement in both personnel &performance across the City.

* A lack of consistency inour own performance.

Others may feel that the

current side has becomea little long in the toothwith the majority of Mar-tin ONeills preferredfirst eleven well into theirthirties. ONeill himselfmay point to injuries & inparticular the long termabsence of Didier Agathe & the intermit-tent knocks that Chris Sutton haspicked up throughout.

My own belief which Im sure is shared

by many is that we have yet to compen-sate for the departure of Larsson. Al-though for the most part we have con-tinued to win games the victories havetended to be laboured rather than em-phatic. Whilst no one would have un-der-estimated Henriks loss, in terms ofgoals, it his perhaps his work rate &ability to pressurise defences that havebeen crucially missed. As Larsson left,much of the weight of expectation wasplaced on the not unsubstantial shoul-ders of John Hartson & whilst not being

as prolific as his predecessor he has letnobody down. The difference betweenthe two however is stark. CompareLarsson the natural athlete who wouldeffortlessly pull defenders all over thepark to Hartson who has to work sohard just to maintain match fitness. Wecould never have expected BBJ to un-dertake Henriks role but for what hehas done, he is for me the outstandingcandidate for this seasons Player of theYear award, With Petrov a close sec-ond.

HoweverHartsonsb u r d e nmight justbe easedn o wthanks tothe per-s u a s i v em a n n e rof MartinO N e i l l

that resulted in the addition of CraigBellamy to the squad at least until theend of the season. Bellamys perform-ance in the recent victory at Easter Rdwas inspirational. It was full of pace,drive determination, skill & most impres-sive of all, arrogance. Here was a

player who was playing well & he knewit..!! It is a vital ingredient that has beenmissing from a Celtic team for quitesome time, Sutton though supremelycompetent is unassuming, as Larsson

was. Hartson in turn is modesty per-sonified. Bellamy however thinks hesthe man and hes convinced me..!!Theres no doubting the ability and con-fidence of this player. His addition to thesquad has inspired us to go on the runthat will see us retain the League & Cupdouble that was clinched with eventualease in the Hampden sunshine lastMay. Oh, and if he does by the way, beprepared to listen to him telling us so..!!

Of course it is not just about the strikers

& if our aspirations are to be realisedthen there are one or two players whowill need to buck there ideas up a weebit for the run in. The defence to datehas been less than impressive althoughLaursen has been reasonably OK (nomore than that) since coming in. Bobo& Stan have on occasions this seasonlooked as if they were playing alongsideeach other for the very first time, whichis hugely frustrating.

The goalkeepers position is one that

continues to haunt us regardless ofwhos between the sticks Despite RabDouglass howler against the Forces ofDarkness, I would, like Martin ONeil,have been inclined to stick with him.However, as is often the case with BigRab, his misfortune while paying forScotland has become David Marshallsopportunity to once again stake hisclaim to the goalkeepers jersey. Hismost recent performance against rang-ers at the Reichstag was further proofthat he certainly has the potential to

make that place his own, but as withDouglas, it is a lack of consistency thathas been Marshalls problem in thepast. I hope that he is about to over-come that problem.

In midfield Thompson has been under-

Team Talk

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achieving for quite some time now & asI alluded to earlier I cannot understandwhy Juninho was not given a longer op-portunity to impress at Thomos ex-pense, but with the small one now hav-ing departed the question is now anacademic one. As for Petrov he contin-ues to defy the odds with his all actiondisplays. Given that he hasnt had aproper break from the demands of top

class football for almost 2 years I thinkwe can forgive him for going AWOLduring the second half of the recent set-back to the Huns. Lennon is well, sim-ply Lennon. His consistency is hisstrength & we are grateful for it.

Without doubtthe most en-joyable aspectof the seasonhas been theemergence of

Aidan McGe-ady as a firstteam regular.Although hewill be the firstto acknowl-

edge that but for the absence of Agathehe might not have featured as often ashe has hes certainly seized the oppor-tunity & has become an integral part ofthe first team squad. Contrast that tothe fortunes of one Liam Miller who hasfailed dramatically to find his feet at Old

Trafford. Is that what they call chickenscoming home to roost..??

And so to sum up, nobody at CelticPark will need telling that the reality ofthis season, especially failure to go be-yond Christmas in Europe, has notquite met the expectations of the sup-porters. In that sense we have becomevictims of our own success. To borrowa euphemism that the Manager has of-ten been tempted to use, we are nowthe benchmark & have been for some

time. But it is worth pointing out that de-spite not matching up to our billing noth-ing is lost & everything is still there tobe won, its all very much in our ownhands. So come the 29th of May &Jackies testimonial I fully expect to seethe Captain running around Paradisewith a trophy in each hand. That is sureto be a wonderful weekend with theLeague and Cup double champions tak-ing on Ireland in Jackies TestimonialMatchAnd Craig belamys signature on a

long-term contract woud be a nice pre-sent for next season.Anything less might be a disappoint-ment. Hail-Hail..!!

Slan agus Tiocfaidh Ar La.

Holloway Gael.

By Our Food ExpertCraig Salami.

Celtics display against rang-ers in the last encounter ofthe season between the twoGlasgow giants was spicierthan a Peperami sausage.And to prove themiraculous prop-erties of the Sa-lami, our fansdecided to donatetheir extra sau-sages to thestarving Sons ofWilliam. A realdemonstration ofthe charitableroots of our cubto bring joy tothe many and

food to the embittered few.

The Ibrox soup kitchen managerwas so overwhelmed by the gen-erosity of the Celtic supportersthat he took to the field himselfto take charge of the collection.Well, it was either him or DerekJohnstone and the starving poorof Bluenoseville were deemed tobe in greater need than the bot-tomless pit that is DJs belly.

The malnourishedand emotionallydeprived childrenof Bridgeton,Larkhall andGreengairs weretreated to a sau-sage feast on Sun-day night. Tearswere shed inhomes all over theblue-half of Scot-land and beyondat the sight of

what happened

last Sunday. And who couldgrudge Celtic their magnificentvictory after the kindness oftheir super support?

As always there were a few big-ots among the rangers crowdwho resorted to the usual sec-tarian name calling. Cries of

Pep (erami ) i shBastards andNo Salami showthat the Ibroxfaithful have along way to gobefore they enterthe culinaryequivalent of the21st Century. Butthey were the mi-nority becausethe rest of theblue order raisetheir seats in the

race to get out of the stadiumearly enough to catch the lastfreebie frankfurters from theirphilanthropic friends from theeast end.

One rangers fan was even kindenough to offer his soft drink toone of the Celtic players as agesture of solidarity and thanks.

We understand that with theloveable wee green snack having

been being de-clared off-limits bythe powers-that-beat the Reichstag,there was a moveto bring in theTrue Blue Bitteramias a cheap replace-ment. However,judging by the dis-play of rangersplayers and fans onSunday, Such a bit-ter diet can only

cause indigestionands heartache.

Fly The Flag

Do you want a sausage togo with that drink mate?

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1/Where, when & why did the clubstart?A/ The club was formed in the summer of2001 on the back of the treble winningseason. Following a mass meeting of RMT

Union Reps to discuss industrial actionagainst the privatisation plans of LondonUnderground Limited (LUL), a number ofus retired to a local bar. Many of us presentwere either Irish or Scottish & the talk soonturned to the Celtic.Although we were all in different CSC's inthe South East we felt there was sufficientnumbers & interest to set up a CSC of ourown. The inaugural meeting was held a fewweeks later & the Underground Celtic Sup-porters Club (UCSC) was born.

2/ a) is it solely for Underground staff?b) Do Underground staff make up the

majority of its members?A/ The majority of members are Under-ground employees but this is not a prerequi-site of membership. Roughly three quartersof the members work on London Under-ground, the rest are either friends or relatedto Underground staff.

3/ What is the make up of the club? (i.e.men, women, children, race etc)A/ We are quite proud of the fact that

women make up about 10% of our member-ship which tends to tie in with the statisticthat Celtic FC has the highest percentage offemale season book holders of any club inEngland or Scotland. Most of our membersare either Irish or Scots but as the Celticfamily is a broad church & London an eth-nically diverse city it is worth pointing outthat we have members from many parts ofthe world including: Iran, Catalonia, Ja-maica, Turkey, New Zealand & Port Tal-bot..!! We even have a sizable contingentfrom a desolate, barren & almost uninhabit-

able wasteland known to most of us as Dun-dee..!!

4/ What do you think about the directionof Celtic FC/PLC on & off the park..??A/ Like many supporters we are far from

happy with the way the club is run at Boardlevel. Obviously our main bone of conten-tion is the lack of investment in the firstteam. We are continually told that themoney simply isn't available to sustain thesort of spending that we the fans feel is re-quired for the manager to build on the suc-

cess that has been achieved to date. This isdifficult to accept when you consider therevenue generated from our involvement inEuropean competition over the last threeyears. There is no question that the team isin need of improvement & major invest-ment should have come on the back of last

seasons double. Unless that cash injectioncomes very soon then the chance to providestrength in depth will have passed us by &the blame, rightly so, will be laid at the di-rectors door.

We were also extremely angry that BrianQuinn in the recent Panorama programmedid little or nothing to defend the reputationof the Celtic support when the agenda wasclearly to portray us as one side of the samebigoted coin. Much like Fergus McCann'sBhoys Against Bigotry initiative from a fewyears back an opportunity existed to set therecord straight & deal with the real issueshere. Such as the fact that it is Celtic fanswho are far more likely to be the victim of

murderous sectarian attacks than the perpe-trators. Just ask the families of Mark Scott,or Thomas McFadden. As a resultof Quinn's naivety, if that's what it was, theopportunity was squandered. The board isnot representative of the support & that canonly change when working class supportersare given a chance to express our views atthat level. Don't hold your breath..!!

5/ How often do you get up to Celtic

Park.A/ Its probably fair to say that we have

been represented at most games at Paradisethis season. Most of our organised trips areto Europe although sadly that was some-thing that was greatly missed in the secondhalf of this season.

6/ What has been your most memorable

trips & matches..??A/ There are quite a few actually. Our first

trip as a CSC to Amsterdam for the Cham-pions League qualifier against Ajax was aspecial one & not just because of the re-sult..!! Seville was another great occasion &

would probably feature quite highly in mostpeoples recollections, the club took about24 members to that particular game & mostwere fortunate enough to have tickets. Thevisit to Turin remains fixed in the minds ofthose who travelled for the simple reasonthat their flight was diverted to Genoa & it

cost them 180 in taxi fares to get to theStadio delle Alpi..!! Another memorableevent was the game in Basle when one ofour members followed the pipe band on tothe pitch at half time & proceeded to march

behind them with a Bobby Sands scarf heldhigh above his head, well not that high ashe's only wee..!!There was also an attempt at piracy on thehigh seas of the Danube when we went toBudapest & it will remain a mystery to allas to whether one of our members, heavilydisguised in a balaclava (no sign of anAK47 anywhere) took part in a 'live stage-show' in Prague after the game in Teplice.

7/ Are you the same London Under-

ground workers that the press talk about

as 'holding London to ransom' withstrike action?A/ All those within the CSC who work for

LUL are either RMT Representatives, activ-ists or members. We strongly believe incampaigning on the issues that affect em-ployees whether they be privatisation, pay& conditions or pensions etc. If negotiationsfail to provide us with an acceptable resolu-tion & we are left with no other option thanto call for strike action then so be it. Theonly other organisation that can bring thesame level of chaos to the capital as we do

are currently on ceasefire..!!

8/ What do you think of Ken Living-

stone?A/ Many of us would have been supportive

of Ken in days gone by, after all he was oneof the few people in English Politics duringthe eighties who was prepared to share aplatform with Sinn Fein at that particulartime. It is difficult to believe the currentMayor of London is that same man.Firstly he committed the ultimate betrayalof the working class by going back to La-

bour despite winning his first term asMayor by standing as an independentagainst the Labour candidate. Secondly dur-ing industrial action taken by the RMT hebetrayed us by urging our members to crosstheir own picket lines, even though he ispreviously being on record as saying hesupported the right of workers to take in-dustrial action.This was an appalling act of hypocrisywhen you consider the extraordinarylengths that Bob Crow, General Secretaryof the RMT went to, to get him re-elected.

Not only did he write to the entire member-ship in the region urging them to vote forLivingstone as Mayor but he also vetoedstrike action which had been due to beginon the morning of the election in order tomaximise Livingstone's vote. It would be anaccurate to say that we hold the newts he

The TAL Interview - Underground CSC

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supposedly keeps as pets in higher regardthan the man himself.

9/ What about politics, are you a mixed

bunch or is there any brand of politics

that most members agree on..??A/ The membership would be united in itsbelief that the working class needs to beproperly represented although party alle-giances might vary. However there is a

common bond of opposition to all things'New Labour'. Come the local & generalelections this year many of our memberswill be campaigning on behalf of the Inde-pendent Working Class Association(IWCA). Already numerous fund raisinginitiatives are underway in order to financethe political campaign. Last year this in-volved, among other things, a sponsoredwalk in the footsteps of the InternationalBrigade across the Pyrenees which a num-ber of club members took part in.On the question of Ireland again the major-

ity of members would be very much proGood Friday Agreement (GFA) with theexception of maybe a couple of dissidentvoices..!!

10/ Is your club committed to anti-

racism & anti-fascism..??A/ Given the political nature of the clubthese are issues that we feel very stronglyabout & we are opposed to all forms offascism & racism. There are also quite afew people within our ranks who over theyears have been very actively involved in

militant Anti Fascist Action. These arealso issues that we often have to contendwith in our roles as Trade Union Reps &activists. We continue to confront fascism& racism at every opportunity whether it beon the streets in the workplace or as hasbeen the case of late, in the political arena.

11/ We hear that you have a couple of

famous (or infamous) honorary membersin your club, would you like to enlighten

us about them..??A/ The former 'right honourable' member

for Kelvinside George Galloway was anhonorary member of our club for one sea-son, 2002/03. This came about when he wasan invited speaker at a 'political school'which had been organised by our RMT Re-gional Council. We presented him with oneof our club badges which he could be seenwearing on numerous national news pro-grammes that week when speaking on hisopposition to the Iraq war & his libel caseagainst the Daily Telegraph. He also cameup trumps with a couple of VIP tickets(including a free bar, Cheers George..!!) for

the game at Anfield that season. Our honor-ary members now are two long standingmembers of the Republican movement, oneof whom is on release under the terms ofthe GFA & has travelled to a number ofEuropean fixtures with us, and the otherwho remains imprisoned for his commit-

ment to the cause. We are honoured thatthey agreed to become members of theUCSC.

12/ What are your hopes for the future of

the team & the club?A/ As was pointed out earlier we wouldhope that the board would release to themanager what we would believe to be a re-alistic amount of money to invest as he sees

fit. The teams achievements since O'Neillcame in have been staggering when takinginto account how little financial support hehas received from the directors. If this does-n't happen it will be only a matter of timebefore the manager decides to take his ser-vices to a club who are willing to match hisambitions.In terms of the club overall the aspirationhas to be to play in an environment whichwill enable us to realise our obvious poten-tial. The English Premiership is the logicalplace for that to happen but despite Dermot

Desmond's assurances that this will comeabout we have yet to see credible evidenceor even hope that it will be the case.

13/ What are your political hopes for the

future..??A/ a) The RMT members among us will beadvocating a return to national ownership ofnot just London Underground but all thoseother networks & train operating companiesthat have been privatised over the years. Tothis end there is a major national march insupport of the 'Rail Against Privatisa-

tion' (RAP) campaign which starts in Glas-gow on April 16th & finishes in London OnApril 30th. There will be rallies, meetings& events in towns around Britain whichfeature along the route.b) The IWCA contingent in the Under-ground CSC will be hoping to raise the pro-file of the party yet further in all the con-stituencies where it intends to field candi-dates & to build on the success of LornaReid's impressive showing in last yearsMayoral election race here in London & theelection of three councillors.

c) In Ireland we demand an end to the de-monisation of Sinn Fein & the full imple-mentation of the GFA with immediate af-fect. We would hope to see the continuedrise in Sinn Fein's political mandate & thatothers will join the list of elected MP'sMichele Gildernew, Pat Doherty, Martin

McGuinness & Gerry Adams.

14/ There is a malicious rumour doingthe rounds that your clubs nickname is

the Thespian Lions because you can get

more members to an art gallery or a

theatre than you can to Celtic Park forgames, any truth in this rumour?A/ The Underground CSC is unashamedlyovert in its appreciation of the arts & be-

lieve that they should not be the sole pre-serve of the chattering classes. We arehappy to state that we know our Bach fromour back four, our Andy Thoms from ourAndy Warhols & our Venus de Milos fromour Paolo Di Canios. (For all you philistinesout there she's the one with no arms, he'sthe one with the straight arm..!!)Seriously though we believe this rumourcame about due to the fact that we recentlytook 18 members to see Danny Morrison'splay 'The Wrong Man' which is currentlybeing performed in London. I don't know if

there are any plans to take this productionon tour but if you get a chance, go see it, itsexcellent. Now get off our backs..!!

15/ Finally what does the future hold

for the Underground CSC..??A/ Well at present our membership standsat approximately 60, we have 6 seasonbooks in the club & many of our membersare registered in the World Huddle ClubSelect scheme. These are all figures wewould be hopeful of increasing come sea-son 2005/06. There are also plans afoot to

construct a new club website & hopefullyour hugely popular newsletter 'Green-pages' will be back in production verysoon. If you would like more information

about us or are interested in joining the clubwe can be contacted on 07956 079 012 thisis an official club contact number.The club has also been instrumental in theformation of The Association of LondonCeltic Supporters Clubs (TALCSC) and oursecretary has been elected to the committeeof that organisation. The Association willbe aiming to give a strong voice to & play a

major role in representing Celtic supportersin London & the South East. To date mostof the CSC's in London have affiliated.More info can be had by contacting us viathe web address which is www.talcsc.com

Finally, on behalf of the Underground CSCI would just like to say how sorry we arethat this particular issue of TAL is to be thelast & how grateful we are for the role it hasplayed in the 13 years since its inception. Ithas without doubt been a political inspira-tion for many & is responsible for politicis-

ing a whole new generation of Celtic sup-porters, not just in an Irish Republicansense but also in an anti-racist & anti-fascistcontext. Let this be a tribute to its effective-ness & testament to its credibility, Slanagus go raibh mile maith agat.

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Auf Wiedersehen TAL

One never dies so long as somethingof you remains here,And it has a place in my heart, al-ways!

What a sad moment, to write an articlefor the last issue of TAL. Especially forme and most of the long-term Celtic &St. Pauli Supporters. TAL is the reasonwhy I am a Celtic Supporter and regularguest at the European Cup Awaygames anywhere in Europe or someHome Games in Glasgow. I cant sup-port a team like Manchester United orBorussia Dortmund which is just foot-ball, success and a big, famous team.The Supporters is the main and only

reason to support a football club. And apart of the supporters of Celtic FC areunique and special. The people(editors, writers, sellers and also buy-ers) of TAL are the difference. You arepolitical. As we, the Supporters of FCSt. Pauli, you are strongly anti-fascist,and against xenophobia or discrimina-tion of any kind. TAL is open minded, ithas a focus on political topics from the32 counties, to the Basque Country orPalestine. You are the punkrockers ofCeltic Park and also the punkrockers

of football on the isle. This is why I likedyou and why I too became a supporterof Celtic FC.

In the beginning it was hard to learnhow to pronounce or write Tiocfaidh arla. I was always wondering what arethey shouting? Tschakki alla??? Isthis the hard Glaswegian accent ?! Areyou all too drunk to speak or shout inbrilliant Oxford English ?!? ha ha! Iread the spelling of that phrase Tiocfaidh ar la and was pronouncing itlike tiukfeight ahrlah. At the time I felt

like an idiot, but now I will never forget itand what it stands for.

Through the first issues of TAL which ibought in the Fanladen of St.Pauli i got more and more infor-mations of the origins of Celticand its supporters. I got inter-ested in Irish politics and thestruggle in the north. After that, Ibought books about the republi-can movement and made myfirst visits to Belfast and Derry.TAL politicised me. But not onlythat. Through TAL I found newfriends - and got drunk a lot aswell! The editor from TAL wasorganising all the craic in Glas-gow when we came over with adouble-decker bus from Ham-

burg to Glasgow for a weekend in Au-tumn 1996. TAL organised the privatesleeping places, a football match inSighthill between St Pauli and Celticsupporters, concerts in Govan and atthe Cladda Club - and we went to thestadium for the Motherwell Game. At

the European Cup Games you alwaysknew, that where TAL is, is where thecraic is. With the TAL supporters youcan enjoy the atmosphere and knowthat the right-wing assholes from theopponents would be kicked off the bars,streets and grounds. Is this really allover now ?!

A very big and important piece of Celticwill be missing. First the jungle , thenthe republican songs, now TAL! Com-mercialisation, Yuppiefication of oursport, the growth of the businessmanand trendy liberal supporter is rife inScottish football at the present time, notonly at Celtic but its there that it hurtsmost. A lot of Celtic Supporters havelearnt from TAL, but now who is goingto teach them? Who is teaching all theyoung Celtic Supporters ? Teachingthem the true origins of Celtic and whyit has become such a big club? 70.000Celtic Supporters in Seville were notthere only because of the big suc-cesses in football in the last years, theywere there because of where Celtic FCcomes from.

But the people will be the same. Thefriendship between the majority of Celticand St. Pauli supporters will still bethere. We will always unite around ourgames, our problems and our struggles.We will not be split by the new genera-tion.

I look forward to the new projects of theactivists of TAL and I am still confidentthat our day will come!.

Good luck to all of you, anti-fascistgreetings from Hamburg-St. Pauli to thesecond best club of the world.

HS Sankt Pauli Anti-Fascist

Sln from Gary OgIt's a shame that the magazine hascome to an end as it was one of the fewpublications that was unafraid to call itas it seen it, and whether or not I al-ways agreed with every article is irrele-

vant, but I did respect the stance of themagazine.I hope that the recent gig in Govan willnot be the last TAL function becausethis too would be unfortunate, as thereare now very few organisations, or indi-viduals for that matter, that are willing topublicly take the stance that TAL did. AGlasgow bereft of TAL entertainment,would be a culturally diminished Glas-gow in my opinion.Throughout the past few years I havealways enjoyed a friendly and produc-

tive relationship with TAL. It saddenedme considerably that I was not able tomake the last TAL Night (if that was in-deed the last one). I hope it was agreat night for all in attendance. I wanted to let you know that I respectyour decision with regards to the maga-zine. Celtic Park is becoming an everincreasingly hostile place towards Re-publicans, indeed Glasgow in generalis. It is a time like this, when we allmust come together in unity to furtherthe struggle that is ahead of us. Far too

often in the past, we have been heldback by individuals working to their ownagendas, for their own ends, which hasprevented that forward progress that weare now achieving. I believe you rightlypoint out that Cairde na hireann is theorganisation that will best help usachieve that goal. It will not only fightfor all the ideals we have fought for overthe years, but will inspire and educateour youth. These are the next genera-tion of fighters, politicians, poets andmusicians, and CnhE is, in my humble

opinion, the vehicle to drag them awayfrom the urban myths of "we hate them,they hate us"and forward to a place

where we do create a "Scotlandof Equals" and a united 32county Ireland. This is whatTAL stood for too, that is why Irespect TAL and indeed why Iwrite this note to you.Thanks for all the reviews andinterviews in the past, and in-deed for some very interesting,educational and humorous

reading!Sln, Gary Og

NOTE: Thanks for the many similar

expressions of support and regret at

the passing of TAL that weve re-

ceived from our readers.

One never dies so long as something of you remains here...

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The recent jail sentences handed downto two Celtic supporters and one Dun-dee fan for disturbances in a Dundeepub around a match between the twosides that took place last year may haveraised some eyebrows among our sup-porters. The casual hooligan phe-

nomenon has long been one that Celticsupporters have denied even existsamong our support, but the facts arethat Celtic does indeed have its ownquota of soccer casuals and for morethan 20 years they have called them-selves the Celtic Soccer Crew.

Its not the job of this fanzine to defend,condone, nor indeed to condemn theCeltic Soccer Crew. We are realisticenough to recognise that hooliganism in

one form or another is endemic to foot-ball. To try to deny its existence is fu-tile, to simply condemn it out of hand ispuerile, but to properly understand ittakes a bit more time and thought .

The Celtic Soccer Crew is a curiousphenomenon even in the word of foot-ball hooligans. Firstly, they buck thetrend for right-wing and fascist politicsamong most other hooligan mobs inScotland and England. Secondly, a size-able proportion of them would even go

as far as pinning their political coloursfirmly to the mast of Irish republican-ism and anti-fascism. Indeed, on anyrepublican or anti-racist march that hastaken pace in the last 15 years there hasalways been a presence of Celtic SoccerCrew members.

It would be wrong, however, to say thatall CSC members are left-wing by na-ture. Many of them are republicanlargely as a result of background andinstinct, while others are anti-racist bypolitical choice. A smaller but no lesssignificant number would probablyview themselves as being sympatheticto the spirit of both causes but wouldprefer there to be no obvious politicalaffiliations and see the existence of the

CSC as only about organising fightswith the hooligans that follow otherScottish clubs.

Inevitably, this attitude can mark themout from other fans and has meant agreat deal of scrutiny from the forces oflaw and order. Note-worthy encountersin the last couple of seasons have beenwith rangers, Hearts and Dundee(where arrests and jail sentences fol-lowed). Past battles have includedfights with hooligans of practically al

the major clubs inScotland plus con-frontations with fansof English sides likeBlackburn, Totten-ham, West Ham, Bir-mingham and New-castle.

Some CSC membershave also involvedthemselves in the

past with Anti-Fascist Action andhave taken part inmany of that groupsstreet-fighting ac-tions against the

BNP and other fascist organisations.

So, love them or loathe them, its noteasy to pigeon-hole this particulargroup of Celtic lads. In fact, they areprobably the most religiously integratedbunch of Celts that you are likely tocome across, with a number of themhailing from Protestant backgrounds.Not only that, but they have also re-jected the politics that might normallybe expected go with it in favour of re-publicanism and anti-fascism. Some-

what ironic for a group of hooligansthat started life in the mid-1980s underthe name of the Roman Catholic Casu-als, a name that was dropped shortlyafter it became apparent that they likeCeltic fans in general were a bit morecomplex than the stereotype suggests.

All of this an more will be revealed in aforthcoming book currently being writ-ten by one of the leading CSC memberswho has been active in the football hoo-

ligan scene for more than 20 years Hav-ing seen the first draft of the book, Iwould recommend it to all who trulywant to understand the hooligan phe-nomenon, as well as to those who justwant to read a blow-by-blow account ofthe adventures of a group of tearaways.

Rebels With A Cause?Celtic Soccer Crew members demonstrate their political alle-giances with the Starry Plough, Palestinian & Basque flags.

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Jock Steinthe definitive biography

By Archie McPherson

One of my greatest regrets as a Celticsupporter is I am too young to havewatched a game Stein managed orplayed in never mind meeting the great-est legend Celtic has ever produced.

This book is a great insight into what jockachieved in football and also what hisday-to-day life was like too. Archie

McPherson spent a lot of time with jockand it is clear from the book he consid-ered him a friend and had loads of goodexperiences with him as well as somebad.

The definitive biographytakes you through Jocks timegrowing up in Burnbank, theteams he signed for from hisyouth to his time at Celtic andbeyond. It also documents histime as a manager from whenhe first started off to his timeat Celtic and then onto hislast day managing Scotland.

Obviously a big part of thebook is the road to Lisbonand all he achieved duringthe glory years at Parkhead.There is also mention of thefinal against Feyenoord welost which some fans haveblacked out of their memoryas it would taint all the goodachieved by the club backthen.

Archie also documents jockspersonal life and how he in-teracted with players, fellowmanagers and his circle offriends. One interesting partof the book is one that sur-prised me but gives readers

an idea of how football in the west ofScotland works. His best friend ignoredjock when he signed for Celtic and hisown father went out of his way not to in-teract with him, his friend and father were

rangers menand saw jocksinvolvementwith Celtic as aform of be-trayal. Archiealso detailsjocks relation-ships withplayers, man-agers and fansalike. Onestory which

sticks in mymind and de-

scribes how fearless he was, is the storywhere he wades into fans at a game toremove offensive flags and also beratesother fans for being sectarian. It alsodocuments his personal relationshipswith players including Billy McNeill, Ber-tie Auld and Jimmy Johnstone and theCeltic chairman and directors ofthe time.

Following on from Talman's articlein the last edition of TL Fanzineregarding the 'Big Jock Knew'campaign initiated by rangers fansthe book includes the story of Jockstaying behind after the Ibrox dis-

aster to seewhat hecould do tohelp and alsoattendingsome of thefuneralswhich fol-lowed. Healso took

time out tosign autographs for people at the funer-als. Its a shame rangers fans could notshow jock the same respect in death andexplains why he disliked rangers andwhat they and their fans stood for, theblatant sectarianism and religious biaswhich has been and always will be a driv-ing force at Ibrox. It simplifies the reasonwhy in jocks and our minds we are better

than them and always will be.

Jock Stein the man the myth and the leg-end, unfortunately we may never see amanager as good but we can at least say

we had one of the best managers in theworld. But then again we can live in hopethat Martin ONeill produces more of thesame glory days, with Seville and some ofthe European nights already having comeclose to it.

The book is priced at 18.99 and can be pur-chased from www.highdownbooks.co.uk

By Greenock CSC

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Jimmy JohnstoneLord of the Wing dvd

Following on from the stein review,another of my great regrets is neverseeing Jimmy Johnstone play, whichmy father rubs into me at every op-portunity, he describes every momentof Jinky's playing career as a joy asyou could never really tell what was

coming next. I particularly love thepart in his original video which showshim getting kicked heavily by a de-fender. Jinky's response is to collect

the ball at the free kick and run at thesame defender.

The dvd has loads of comments byfamous players managers and fansalike. Special personal descriptions ofJinky from Brian Clough, Jack Charl-ton, Denis Law, Pat Crerand, AlexFerguson. Tommy Gemmell, JohnClark, Johann Cruyff and Alfredo DiStefano to name a few. One of themost touching descriptions of Jinkycomes from Robert Duvall who de-scribes him as the best character hehas ever met. Sandy Jardine also re-counts the now infamous Largs boat-ing incident

Man Utd showed interest in Jinky at15 but luckily Celtic got wind of thisand offered him a contract. He had

been at Celtic since the age of 9mainly as a ball boy.

The main shock of the dvd is the well-documented fact Jinky only playedfor Scotland 23 times even althoughhe was adjudged to be the best mid-fielder Scotland has ever seen. Maybethis has something to do with 75% ofScotland fans at the time being rang-ers fans who subjected him to terribleabuse every time he played for Scot-land.

Obviously the main part of the dvd istaken up by media clipsof him during

his foot-b a l l i n gdays andits a joyto watchhim in fullflow. Yecant helps m i l e

when hecont inu-o u s l ymakes amug outof de-fenders.

Jinky is presently fighting motor neu-rone disease and spends a lot of histime researching and searching for acure. Too late for him unfortunately

but hopefully working towards a curewill be another legacy of him to goalong with his footballing skills. As heconfidently remarks its only incurablebecause there has been no curefound yet. He is also a regular atparkhead and always spends time tosign autographs and talk to fans. Ashe says himself he is one of us its justhe wasnt too bad at football too.

Good luck Jinky and as my da con-stantly remarks thanks for the memo-ries

By Greenock CSC

Jimmy Johnstone

Thats his name

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Vol. Martin Savage

CommemorationThe annual Vol. Martin Savage com-memoration took place in Dublin onSaturday, 4th December 2004. The Vol.

Joe McDonnell Sinn Fein Cumann or-ganized the event.

About 200 Republicans gathered inCastleknock village to pay their re-spects to this young Volunteer whogave his life for the cause of Irish Free-dom in 1919.

The march was led by the newly formedOglach Joe McDonnell Memorial Flute Bandfrom Blanchardstown and was closely fol-lowed by Sinn Fein Vice President Pat Do-

herty, Local Sinn Fein Councilor Felix Galla-gher and members of the Vol. Joe McDon-nell Sinn Fein Cumann who also had a largebanner on show.

Family members of the Savage family madethe long trip to Dublin for the occasion, asdid the Coen/Savage Sinn Fein Cumannfrom Sligo.

Cabra Sinn Fein also had a large attendanceat the commemoration and the Vols Smith/Hehir/Harford/Doherty/Bell RepublicanFlute Band also played at the event. Both

flute bands played a great part in the com-memoration and sounded excellent

Upon reaching the memorial monument atAshtown gate speeches were made by MaryLou McDonald MEP, Cllr Felix Gallagher andthe main oration was made by SF vicepresident Pat Doherty MP. Three wreathswere then laid by a member of the Savagefamily, the Oglach Joe McDonnell MFB andalso one on behalf of the Republican Move-ment.

After the successful commemoration peo-ple made their way to the Halfway House

pub were refreshments were made avail-able.

The Ashtown Ambush

IRA Volunteer Martin Savage was killedat an Ambush at Ashtown on the 19th ofDecember 1919. Savage and his unit of10 other Volunteers which consisted ofMick McDonnell, Tom Kehoe, SeanTracey, Seamus Robinson, Sean Hogan,Paddy Daly (Leader), Vincent Byrne,Tom Kilkoyne, Joe Leonard, and Dan

Breen had been planning to assassi-nate the then British direct ruler andthe British Armys supreme commanderin Ireland, Lord French.

The IRA had gathered intelligence thatthere were three cars and an outrider in

Lord French's convoy tak-ing him from the Ashtownrailway station to theVice-Regal Lodge in the

Phoenix Park. When the convoy appearedminutes later, each Volunteer fulfilledtheir role in the attack the ambushersthought he would be in the second car buthe was in the first and drove through theirblockade.

As the second car careered off the roadafter its driver had been shot it becameobvious that Lord French was not in factone of the occupants. The occupants, partof Lord French's guard, returned fire. Asthe firefight continued the third car arrivedon the other side of the blockade it be-came obvious that Lord French was not infact one of the occupants.

The occupants, part of Lord French's guard,returned fire. As the firefight continuedthe third car arrived on the other side ofthe cart and began firing with rifle and ma-

chine-gun fire on the now exposed Volun-teers. They were caught between two linesof fire. Dan Breen was shot in the leg as hebroke cover and seconds later Martin Sav-age fell mortally wounded by a bullet inthe neck. Tom Kehoe and the wounded DanBreen succeeded in dragging Martin Sav-age's body from the road while the firefightcontinued.

The British forces, including somewounded, began at this stage to withdrawfrom the scene, leaving one dead and theunconscious DMP member behind them.The IRA unit managed to disperse then tosafe houses in the Dublin area. Dan Breenwas helped onto his bike by Paddy Dalywho helped him to a safe house in Phibs-boro' area, where he was attended to bythe captain of the Dublin hurling team, DrJ.M. Ryan.

The ambush saw Martin Savage aged just 21and from Ballisodare, Co. Sligo pay the ulti-mate sacrifice for his country.

San McIlvenna

20th Anniversary

Vol Sean Mcilvenn RFB 20th anniver-sary commemoration Blackwaterstown.

This was the 20th anniversary and the6th time the band had been over to Ire-land on parade or function and to saythis was important to the band theMcilvenn family and Armagh Sinn Feinis an understatement...

The weekend started with the 2.45pm

boat from Stranraer ferry port to Belfast,we arrived in Armagh city around theback of 6pm and got settled in the localbar to get our accommodation sortedfor the weekend.

On Saturday we met at 11am at the localbar and got ready to head into blackwaters

town for the commemoration that was due toassemble at 2pm, the band had 14 flutes 3side drummers and 7 colour party a goodsized band for the time of year we thought.

At Blackwaterstown we meet up with theMcilvenn family and found out were wewere on the procession the parade was leadby a republican colour party then the familymembers with our self next with friends andcomrades from Belfast, Armagh, Dundalk,as well as locals from Armagh city and sur-

rounding area.

We proceeded to go throw the town on tothe spot were Sean was shot were we real-ised that we had a lot of RUC/PSNI whomhad been out on the streets for some timemaking there presence known for what everreason I dont know as no one had invitedthem along anyways.

At the memorial were Sean was shot therewas the roll of honour read out with mlaConnor Murphy saying a few word aboutSean with the wreaths being laid and theband playing Sean song then the national

anthem and then we headed back into townand onto our transport back to Armagh cityfor were there was a meal organised and afunction afterwards in the Pearse Ogs club.

At the function a close friend of Sean, Chriswas first to pay tribute to Sean and whatSean was all about with some stories of pastoperations, close shaves with the securityforces and how Sean was about his per-sonal security and his family life Chris wordsleft us in a mixed way from sad to laughterto respect to honour for my self as a mem-ber of the band and representing Sean hisfamily and the republican movement.

Next was Sean wife pat Mcilvenn, patspoke about Sean commitment to the repub-lican movement his dedication to his friendsand comrade in Armagh were Sean spent alot of his time, pat also thanked her friendsin Dundalk were after Sean death the familylived until they moved back to Belfast.

Another close friend of Sean who has sadlypassed away was Harry McCartney, Seanwas Harrys OC when he joined the NorthArmagh brigade and with the respect he hadfor Sean he named his first son Sean ogafter Sean Mcilvenn, harries son Sean ogpresented Sean og Mcilvenn a bronze

statue of caecilian from the republicanmovement on the night.

Next was our time to pay tribute and we did-nt let anyone down the as the band gaveone of our best performances iv experi-enced as a member of the band over thepast 5 years and it was a great honour toeach in every member who represented theband that night and am sure they will re-member it for a long time to come,

The band have released a DVD to mark the20th anniversary of Sean death with parade,marches demonstrations we have been in-

volved in the band hope to have this avail-able to buy in early January 2005.

Volunteer Sean Maxi Mcilvenn2nd battalion North Armagh Brigade IRADied 17th December 1984

By VSM RFB

Commemoration Reports

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O Paddy dear, and did you hearthe news thats going round?

The shamrock is forbid by law togrow on Irish ground;

St Patricks day no more well

keep, his colours cant be seen,For theres a bloody law agin the

wearing of the green.

And so it is in Scotland in 2005. St Pat-ricks day is cancelled. Irish bars can-not fly Irish flags and cannot play Irishmusic on the Jukebox. Football fansare told they can no longer sing theIrish songs their fathers sang. And ofcourse if you do wear the green youare libel to have your throat cut at

Bridgeton Cross or some other darkpart of Jack McConnells New Scotland.

This may seem a bleak picture topaint. However Scotlands Irish com-munity will recognise the country I de-scribe. It is the same country their an-cestors landed in at various points overthe last two centuries. That thesedeep rooted and let us say it, racist,attitudes towards Scotlands Irish com-munity have been sustained is a dis-grace. But what is really shocking isthat Scotlands political establishment

has chosen to ignore it for generations .

To ignore the problem of anti Irish ra-cism is to be part of that problem. It isin this context that republicans wel-comed Jack McConnells commitmentto eradicate sectarianism. Any discus-sion on this issue is to be welcomed asit is our community who are the vic-tims of sectarianism. If Scotland wantsto eradicate sectarianism and beviewed as a forward looking, modernand dynamic small nation which em-

braces its cultural and ethnic diversityit is going to have to address its rela-tionship with its oldest and largest im-migrant community.

Over the past few months Cairde nahEireann has engaged positively withthe various initiatives the Scottish Ex-ecutive has put forward to deal withthis issue. Our position has been con-sistent throughout and based on princi-ple rather than short term politicalgain. For republicans this is an issue of

equality. We will not accept beingtreated as second class citizens anylonger. The time has come for Scotlandto recognise the contribution the Irishcommunity has made to this countryand to acknowledge our rights.

Republicans decided to make a written

submission tothe John OrrReview ofMarches andParades. We

believe it was important to set out ouranalysis of the issue of marches. Thecontentious nature of some marchesdoes not occur in a vacuum but rathertakes place in a specific political con-

text. In our submission we made ourattitude to sectarianism crystal clear.

Republicans are opposed to religiousintolerance of any description.. Ourwhole political project is built on thetwin foundations of Equality and Jus-tice. These principles guide our actionsand as such religious intolerance is in-compatible with republicanism.

Attempts to label Irish republicans assectarian are nothing new. Part of Brit-ish strategy over the last thirty five

years has been to portray itself aspeacemaker stuck in the middle of twowarring tribes. This rubbish has a clearpolitical message to those on this is-land, it says this conflict is sectariantherefore it is irrational and if it is ir-rational we cannot solve it. This hasbeen discredited time after time andBritains responsibility for the conflictexposed along with its old colonialtrick of divide and rule.

Labelling republicans, and indeed ex-

pressions of Irishness, in Scotland assectarian is offensive. It is also part ofa wider strategy by the state. Devolu-tion has opened up many new vistasfor republicans and nationalists. Thepotential has never been greater fornew tactical alliances to be adopted toput pressure on the state at its weak-est points.

The Scottish Executives campaignagainst sectarianism is being used aspolitical cover for sustained attacks onthe Irish community. Central to thishas been a increased harassment andintimidation of Irish people at ferryand Airports. Police forces in Scotlandhave a reputation for hostility towardsthe Irish community. In 1999 I wrote tothe then Justice Minister, Jim Wallaceasking him to endorse the Patten Re-port on Policing in the North and inparticular to publish figures outlininghow many police officers in Scotlandwere catholic and how many wereIrish. He refused.

The introduction of new legislation re-garding sectarian offences make it allthe more important that these figuresare released. At a recent meeting withthe current Justice Minister we out-lined again our desire to see transpar-ency over this issue. Police officers

have a crucial role in defining sectar-ian behaviour. So it is crucial we knowhow many are catholic and Irish to en-sure it is not one community policinganother.

At the heart of this strategy is thestates determination to reduce ourethnicity to religion or football. Whilemany in the Irish community are in-deed Catholic and support Celtic theIrish community, like any other, is di-verse. To talk about the problem interms of football or religion suits onlyour political opponents.

Sectarianism and anti Irish racism askfundamental questions about the na-ture of Scottish society. It exposes theOne Country Many Cultures initiative asnothing more than an advertising cam-paign. More importantly it sends thewrong signal to Scotlands recent im-migrant communities.

This problem can only be resolvedthrough dialogue and mutual under-standing. Republicans remain commit-ted to working with others to resolvethis issue. The Irish community in thiscountry deserve nothing less. For cen-turies Irish people in Scotland haveshown solidarity with the people of Ire-land in their struggle for equality andself-determination. We shall continueto do so. Attempts to demonise ourculture or criminalise our politics will

fail.

When laws can stop the blades ofgrass from growing as they grow,And when the leaves in summer

time their verdure dare nowshow,

Then I will change the colour thatI wear in my caubeen,

But till that day, please god, Illstick to the wearing of the green

By Jim S.

James Connolly CommemorationEdinburgh

Saturday 4th June 2005Assemble Kings Stable Road

Cairde na hireann

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If We Dont Help Them Now

Pol MacAdaim Reality Records

Pol MacAdaim hails from Belfast and onthis showing his music can be favourablycompared with that of Christy Moore,Damian Dempsey and Terry Cruncher

ONeill.The CD kicks off with a couple of jigs ac-companied by the Uillean pipes of PatrickMartin, then goes straight into politicalmode with the title track, If We DontHelp Them Now a beautiful lamentdedicated the Turkish hunger strikers whodied in their dozens in their recent cam-paign against the F-Block jails, a furthercriminalisation of their struggle, by thequasi-fascist regime of Turkey, a regimethat is being welcomed into the European

Community with open arms by the lead-ers of Britain and Germany.

Starving for human rights,

They wont give up the fight,

Let them know neither will we,

For as long as the fascists are in

control there,

Theyll come closer to you and to

me.

Its one of the finest political songs Iveheard since the H-Block campaign andthe Hunger Strikes in Ireland. It is mov-ing, but its more a call to arms than asimple statement of emotion. MacAdaimurges his listeners to solidarity and actionrather than to shed a tear over his lyrics.At the same time, it celebrates the strug-gle of the hunger strikers families, manyof whom joined them on solidarity hun-ger strikes during the campaign.

The Belfast Hornpipe lightens the moodand the traditional sounding Well Below

The Valley with its theme of sexualabuse, which was used in the acclaimedfilm The Magdalene Sisters, prepares theground for another lyrical assault on in-justice. This time its the loyalist bigotswho tried to prevent the little girls of Ar-doyne from attending Holy Cross Primary

School that are the legitimate target ofPols righteous anger.

Let our children go to school

Youve broken every human rule

The world sees you for what you are

Bombing children wont keep you in

power

Bigots scaring childrens what you

are

Its a short song made all the sharper byPols invective and he pulls no puncheswhen he attacks the loyalist protesters,suggesting that its a bit of education theycould maybe do with themselves.

Another blast of the pipes with Port naBpucai. The Uillean pipes are a kissing

cousin of the Scottish bagpipe, but for methe musical texture and political contextof both is very different. Scottish bagpip-ers are only now beginning to innovate inorder to shake free of the militaristic asso-ciations of the genre, but the Uilleanpipes are largely free of imperialist bag-gage and the sound and atmosphere thatthey can create is truly nerve-tingling. Onhearing the Scottish bagpipes I immedi-ately think of things like the EdinburghMilitary Tattoo or the Strathclyde PolicePipe Band trooping round HampdenPark at half-time on Scottish Cup Finalday playing A Scottish Soldier stereo-typical images I know but Ill wager thatthey are common to many Scots. The Uil-lean pipes, on the other hand, conjure upimages of rolling hills, mountains, lakesand windswept moors. Dont ask me whythese images should be so different butfor me its the depth of sound and con-trasting playing styles that make it so.

I dont know is very much an anti-

capitalist song attacking the dumping ofnuclear waste, pollution of rivers, drugdealing and even manages to squeeze ina wee dig at the long periods of impassein the peace process.

The Rose of Armagh is a tribute to Rose-mary Nelson, the human rights solicitorwho was murdered by a car bombplanted by loyalist assassins. We knowwhy you did it, we know youll go to Hell,You murdered our sweet Rosemary for

the truth that she did tell.This CD gets 10/10 from me enjoyableand thought-provoking from the first songto the last.

Reviewed by Talman

InternationalePol MacAdaim Reality Records

Internationale is Pol MacAdaims mostrecent recording. As the title suggests itsvery much a collection of old socialist

standards and communist anthems withan

If you can stand to listen to the Red Flagwithout conjuring up an image of TonyBlair, Gordon Brown and John Prescottwith limp fists aloft at a British LabourParty conference, then youll find as gooda version of it on this CD as youre everlikely to. Its not the lame version thatyoud expect because Pol gives it an al-most rocky feel and of course he reallydoes put his heart into it.

Such a Parcel o Rogues is Rabbie Burnslambaste of those who sold Scotlandsnationhood for English gold and royalpatronage. Bought and sold for Englishgold, such a parcel o rogues in a nation.And still the selling of a nation goes onbecause Scotlands Establishment is tiedhand and foot to Unionism and keepingits own privileged place within the ranksof the British ruling class. As long as welet them.

Joe Hill is the old American trade unionfavourite turned into a dirge by many ayoung socialist. Ive had the misfortuneto attend a few socialist socials over theyears (yes, this editor has had one hell ofa life, Ill tell ye I wouldnt wish it on my

Pol MacAdaim - Making The Music Of Revolution

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own worst enemy well, maybe) andlonged for the disco later when we youngyins would get to boogie and the woollyjumper brigade would be consigned to acampsite fire with their guitars, hopefullytaking the feckin ghost of Joe Hill withthem. My only real dislike on this CD butits only because the song evoked memo-ries I thought Id long buried and not PolMacAdaims interpretation of it that

makes me hate it.

Sacco and Vanzetti is from the sameschool of American syndicalism butWoody Guthrie could write a good tuneall the same and this really s one of myall-time favourites. The story of two Ital-ian migrs, anarchists and trade unionagitators, framed for robbery and murderand executed by a state that needed theirdeaths to send a warning to an emergingradical trade union movement in theUSA. Two working class martyrs whosememory and story is kept alive in thissong. Americas hidden history. Brilliant.

Christy Moore fans will already be aware

of the Lakes of Pontchartrain, a tale of ayoung Irishman who fell for the charms ofa dark-skinned Creole girl

Connolly Was There is not one that youllhear at many republican events but per-haps this is a song that we should adoptas it gives voice to the socialism of JamesConnolly, celebrating his fight againstcapitalism and the legacy he has left tothe working class of all countries.

Also included is the wonderful If WeDont Help Them Now, Pol MacAdaimsown tribute to the Turkish hunger strikersthat evokes memories of the Irish hungerstrikers struggle against tyranny.

Back in 81 our very own sons

Did starve against such evil ways

Though its been 20 years, we still

shed our tears

For the suffering they went through

each day

The Internationale finishes off the CD.Well, I suppose he had to include it as hecalled the album after it This song waswritten to celebrate the workers rising andestablishment of the first commune inParis in 1871. It really is a great song thathas unfortunately become the anthem ofthe Trotskyist movement worldwide, mostof whom wouldnt know a worker if onekicked them up the arse with his steel toe-capped boots. But Im starting to remem-ber those socialist summer campsagain and the nightmares

Fair play to Pol MacAdaim for giving a

new slant to some old tunes. It didnt allwork for me, but thats largely down topast political associations that Id rathernot have visited again. But 85% of thisCD did hit the right spot with me (or wasthat the left spot). For his rendition ofSacco and Vanzetti alone, its worthspending money on, but theres a wholelot more to enjoy as well.

Reviewed by Talman

Sodem & Begorrah

The latest CD from NeckRelease Date - 16th May 2005

If the 6-song Psycho Ceilidh is con-sidered an EP, and Heres Mud inyour Eye is essentially the same as aremixed Necked, than an argumentcould be made that Sod em & Begor-rah is the second actual release fromthe band Neck. As such, it proves to bea strong sophomore release.

As in all of their previous CDs, one ofNecks strongest identifying characteris-tics is the arrangement. The band plays

in many layers; the solid, rock rhythmsection is sharply accented by the fid-dle, banjo, and occasionally, the Uil-leann pipes, providing an elaborate andconsistent backdrop for OKeefes vo-cals. Marie McCormacks wanderingwhistle completes Necks sound with itscontinuous exploration of the melody.

The new CD maintains a level of rowdi-ness just a notch or so above thebands usual approach with the electricguitar occupying a more prominent rolein the majority of the songs than it hasin past releases. Although this obscuresthe clarity of the vocals in some cases, itprovides the overall feel of the disc witha fuller, edgier sound

Sod em does, however, contain afew slower numbers, (May the Road

Rise With You, Caoineadh/Blood onthe Streets, and an Uilleann pipe-infused Ill Take Me Back.) These areapproached with a degree of emotionthat really draws out the passionate ca-pacities of Leeson OKeefes voice, andmakes these songs standouts on thedisc.

Of the traditional tracks on the discThe Psycho-Ceilidh Mayhem Set isan eight and a half minute long set oftraditional jigs and reels that starts inno-cently enough, but soon snowballs intoan intensity akin to that of riding a rol-lercoaster holding an armful of cats! (Assoon as this track ended, I caught mybreath, and played it again! Its thatgood.)

Bean-counters should be pleased as thedisc clocks in at a hair shy of one fullhour from start to finish with no weak

filler tracks included.As a second release, it clearly surpassesthe dreaded Follow-up stigma thatplagues many second discs. As a fourthrelease, it continues to combine greatsong-writing with excellent orchestra-tion. However you count it, Sod emand Begorrah is a CD that you shouldhave.

http://www.neck-neck.freeserve.co.uk/

Reviewedby: TBG

See Shiten Onions

websiteformore...

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If You Know The History

Track Listing

Four Leaf Clover, Celtic Celtic, Coronation

Cup, Roll Along/Jumping Out The Win-daes, Glory Glory Glasgow Celtic, OneTwo Kick, Hail Hail (the Celtic song), Wil-lie Maley, Hampden In The Sun, Over AndOver, Johnny Thomson, Walk On

A few of you might have heard this albumand might already have copies of it, if youhavent, enjoy your free copy with this edi-tion of TAL. This CD was produced by theboys of Slievenamon, relatively new to thescene but are beginning to make a name forthemselves on the republican scene around

Scotland and England and hopefully furtherafield in the coming years..

They have played in many venues big andsmall and are slowly but surely receivingmore and more bookings and making moreof a name for themselves. If you haventheard them already take this cd as a taster oftheir talent and take yourself along to one oftheir gigs, you wont be disappointed.

Details of their gigs are posted on theirwebsite which you can access by going to

www.geocities.com/slievenamon67. Youcan also get a sample of their latest cd andinfo on booking the band and buying theirlatest cd titled Outlawed In Greenock. Theyhave played with Charlie and the Bhoys atthe Barras and also with the legendaryDerek Warfield at the Port Glasgow Hibsclub. They play regularly at the Wig andPen in Paisley and have also been booked toplay a gig in Dorset at the local Celtic sup-porters club, which is a repeat booking asthey played there last year too.. They havealso played in OShaunesseys in Stirling a

few times. At all venues they have been re-ceived well and have received other book-ings from not only the venue managers butfrom other fans wanting them to play attheir nights. They have also recently playeda gig in the Emerald Isle along with theVSMRFB and will be invited back at somepoint in the future.

And now onto the cd. This has been pro-duced by the band themselves and they areoffering it to every fan for free. The banddecided to give something back to the sup-porters of Celtic/republicanism in ScotlandWales Ireland and England and also othercountries around the world. You can orderyour cd free from their website for the costof a first class stamp and envelope. This is agreat gesture by the band and I cant com-

mend them highly enough forthis.

The cd has the old classics on itas well as new songs recorded

with Slievenamon's inimitable style. FourLeaf Clover and Celtic Celtic starts this cdoff and these songs never grow old, for theyoung ones of us you're dads and grandaswill remind the halcyon days of the sixties

belting these songs out at Parkhead whilsttaking on and beating all comers. Then itmoves onto Coronation Cup a new tuneabout the winning of the Coronation Cupand one which will get you laughing as youpicture the old bitch and Philip talkingabout this cup. Then onto Roll Along/Jumping Out Their Windaes, guaranteed tohave you laughing again and one which al-ways gets the fans up singing and dancingalong to it. Back to the classics with GloryGlory Glasgow Celtic, ok it may be betterknown as a song about another club and

may have been stolen from another writerand changed a wee bit but can ye ever havetoo many tunes about Celtic legends and theEuropean Cup. Next up is One Two Kickabout the infamous game involving Celticand Racing Club of Argentina, maybe a bitof fibbing here describing Tam Gemmell asa gentle giant but it gives you an idea of thetongue in cheek humour involved in thissoon to be classic. Straight onto their ownversion of Hail Hail, nothing needing saidabout this song. Then back to the days ofWillie Maley which has become a terracing

chant over the last couple of seasons and isheard frequently at away games, they do theversion without the ahem added extras be-tween verses. Then comes their version ofanother old classic, Hampden In The Sun,great mellow version of it and proves thelyrics work just as well in a slow renditionas an upbeat one. Then a great mellow ver-sion ofOver And Overwith the lead singersvoice coming to the fore once again. Slowsong once again with Johnny Thomson re-minding us of what could have been andlooking back at a tragic event in Celtics his-

tory but also allowing us to remind JohnThomson with pride. We finish off withwalk on, perfect choice to end on and oneeveryone can join in with. To hear this songat Parkhead being sung by fifty thousandfellow celts is a very emotive time and Idont know anyone who could say theydont feel their heart strings being tugged atthis point.

Well done with it lads I hope you get therecognition you deserve and are with us formany years to come. A personal thank you

for reminding what it means to be part ofour Celtic family. Giving the cd out freejust sums up we arent always in it for themoney, we are there because we love ourclub and would do anything for it and ourfellow Celts..

Reviewed By Greenock CSC

Hammo R.I.P.James Hammo Hamilton

New Ross, Co. Wexford1981 - 2005

James passed away recently after along battle against illness. He will besorely missed by everyone who knew

him. James was a massive Celtic fanand a proud Republican. He was agreat supporter of TAL and had a greataffinity with Celtic supporters from allover these islands, as he appreciatedthe longstanding support many of themgave to the Republican struggle overthe years. But James' first love was Ire-land and for the men who fought anddied in the struggle for freedom, espe-cially the hunger strikers of 1981, andthe others who went on hunger strikebefore them. Just before James en-

tered hospital, he was arranging a tripfor us to attend a commemoration forMichael Gaughan in Mayo.James made sure he played his ownpart in the struggle, and was a willingand committed worker for Sinn Feinduring elections. He had no time forpeople who would sing IRA songs in apub, but do nothing to help the Republi-can movement. It was something weoften debated.Also he could never come to terms withthe Free State Republicans whose

commitments ended at the border.It is a tragedy that James left us atsuch a young age, when he had somuch he wanted to give. But we'll re-member the craic he gave us along theway.Slan go foill mo caraTiocfaidh ar la.

Slievenamon

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It is undeniably true that many Celtic sup-porters proudly identify with the cause ofanti-fascism, and TAL fanzine has played akey role in bringing this about. In this lastissue of TAL it is worth looking back at the

significant commitment that has been madeto the anti-fascist movement by Celtic sup-porters in recent years. When TAL waslaunched several of the staff were alreadyinvolved with Anti-Fascist Action. CelticFans Against Fascism stickers were adver-tised in the magazine 14 years ago, andhelped win active support for the very ef-fective AFA campaign against the BNPsmajor recruitment drive in Scotland in theearly 1990s. One of the highlights being thecancellation of a BNP National Rally inGlasgow in November 1991 after the venue

and participants were surrounded and at-tacked.

Rather than just try to involve supporters inthe wider struggle against fas-cism, anti-fascists at Celtic ad-dressed issues closer to homefrom the very outset. Writing inthe AFA magazine Fighting Talk,the TAL editor wrote: Only a fewyears ago Celtic supporters regu-

larly racially abused the black

Rangers player, Mark Walters, in

his first few games against us. How-ever the situation has now been com-

pletely reversed after the majority of

the supporters turned against the

mindless minority. It would be safe to

say that the racists amongst the sup-

port have been very quiet for the last couple

of seasons and those few individual wank-

ers who tried to get away with remarks and

abuse towards Rangers newest signing,

Basile Boli, were very quickly dealt with by

other supporters around them. (FT, Issue9, 1994)

While the anti-fascist message was enthusi-astically embraced by many supporters, notso the authorities. At the January 1995game against Rangers at Ibrox the policedemanded the Celtic Fans Against Fascismbanner be taken down, on threat of arrest,because it was provocative!

After 3 years work on the ground CelticAnti-Fascists was formally launched in Feb-ruary 95, and it wasnt long before Celticfans were involved in a major anti-fascist

battle. In July that same year, at the pre-season friendly against Birmingham City,fascist hooligans from several clubs unitedto attack the Celtic supporters. The FarRight were inspired by their success ingetting the Ireland vs England game aban-doned in Dublin in February, and after ini-

tial surprise the Celtic supporters foughtback and clashes continued all day and intothe evening with the fascists taking a heavybeating. Such was the reputation Celtic wasgetting for being solidly anti-fascist that

when Paris St Germain supporters came toGlasgow in November (for a Cup WinnersCup game) any dubious looking Frenchfans pulled immediately replied no, no,Im not fascist!.

From the outset there was a special relation-ship between Celtic supporters and the largeanti-fascist following from the Hamburgclub St Pauli. Celtic Anti-Fascists partici-pated in several European meetings andconferences, bringing AFAs brand of mili-tant anti-fascism to a new audience. Other

international links soon followed, in par-ticular Ajax, Breda, Bordeaux, Juventusand Athletic Bilbao.

If any further evi-dence was needed of Celtics anti-

fascist credentials it soon came when Celticplayed Hamburg SV in the UEFA cup(1996). Fascists from across northern Ger-many joined forces with Hamburgs rightwing hooligans to attack the Celtic support-ers, and once again the anti-fascistsemerged the stronger.

At the same time that Celtic supporterswere battling the fascists across Europe, theclub launched its Bhoys Against Bigotryinitiative in 1996. While paying lip serviceto anti-racism its primary aim was to re-move the Irish heritage of the club and po-lice Celtics own supporters. Another at-tempt to attack the genuinely radical ele-ment among the support was the Channel 4documentary Football, Faith and Fluteswhich attempted to show Celtic and Rang-ers fans as being as bad as each other; no

attempt to explain the reactionary nature ofLoyalism, its links to the Far Right, andhow Celtic supporters opposed this for po-litical, not sectarian, reasons. Celtic Anti-Fascists led a very effective campaign toisolate the film crew from Celtic supportersand so deny them the opportunity to portray

anti-fascism as thuggery ( a view veryclose to the heart of much of the BritishLeft).

Tragically it was the murder of youngCeltic supporter Mark Scott, and the subse-quent attempted murder of Irishman SeanOConnor, that led to Celtic Anti-Fascistsmost effective campaign being launched in1998; the Campaign Against Sectarian At-

tacks. While the club blamed the victims forthe attacks by Loyalist bigots, CASAlooked for real solutions; CASA put for-ward political arguments explaining thelinks between fascism and Loyalism,showed the attacks were racist attacks, criti-cised the lack of protection for supportersfrom the club and police, looked at ways ofimproving transport to and from the ground,and kept supporters informed of what washappening.

At a public meeting in February 1998 a

CASA representative made the followingpoint: Look at any racist attack and com-pare it to these sectarian attacks and you

will see an undeniably similar method of

operation. The organisations which bene-

fit from racist attacks, whether random or

organised, are in the long run the fascists

of the NF and BNP. In Scotland, the di-

rect beneficiaries of sectarian attacks

are Loyalist organisations such as the

UVF, UDA and LVF. Increasingly how-

ever Loyalist and fascist organisations

have become increasingly indistin-

guishable from each other, having across over of members, strategy and

tactics Jason Campbell, the man

who murdered a 16 year old Celtic fan,

whilst probably not formally a member of

any organisation on the Far Right, nonethe-

less shared a common goal and method

with them. To terrorise and subjugate a mi-

nority community.

When representatives of the campaign at-tended The Equality Goal conference atCeltic Park, in order to question Fergus

McCann about the clubs deathly silence onthe issue, on seeing them McCann becamesuddenly ill and left the meeting! Clearlythe prospect of a public challenge from peo-ple who were serious about addressing theissue of racist attacks was too much forhim. The fact that CASA was prepared toconfront the issue at every level, from thestreet to the boardroom, showed a level ofcommitment that those involved can berightly proud of.

Celtic supporters have a proud record of

anti-fascism, and hopefully will remain in-volved in the new battles that lie ahead, par-ticularly in the working class communitieswhere the Far Right seek to gain politicalinfluence.

By TERRY MITCHELL, AFA.

Beating The Fascists

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'First they came for theCommunists, but I was nota Communist, so I saidnothing. Then they came

for the Social Democrats,but I was not a Social De-mocrat, so I did nothing.Then came the trade un-ionists, but I was not atrade unionist. And thenthey came for the Jews,but I was not a Jew, so Idid little. Then when they

came for me, there was noone left to stand up forme.'

Everybody loves to quote PastorMartin Niemllers lines aboutmoral failure in the face of theHolocaust.But interestingly, people use thequotation to imply different mean-ings even altering it to suit theirpurpose. When Time magazineused the quotation, they movedthe Jews to the first place anddropped both the communists andthe social democrats. Former

American Vice-President Al Gorelikes to quote the lines, but dropsthe trade unionists for good meas-ure. Gore and Time also added Ro-man Catholics, who weren't onNiemller's list at all.

In the heavily Catholic city of Bos-ton, Catholics were added to thequotation inscribed on its Holo-caust memorial. The US HolocaustMuseum drops the Communists butnot the Social Democrats; otherversions have added homosexuals.

Why history matters, DD Gutten-plan, The Guardian, SaturdayApril 15, 2000:

The Nazis did not come first forthe Jews, as Peter Novick explainsin his brilliant and provocativebook, The Holocaust in AmericanLife, "First they came for the Com-

munists" - a circumstance acknowl-edged by Niemller, who contin-ued, "but I was not a Communist -so I said nothing. Then they camefor the Social Democrats, but I wasnot a Social Democrat - so I did

nothing. Then came the trade un-ionists, but I was not a trade union-ist. And then they came for theJews, but I was not a Jew - so I didlittle. Then when they came forme, there was no one left who

could stand up for me." The Holo-caust Museum in Washington DC isjust one of those who, in Novick'sphrase "prudently omits" Commu-nists from Niemller's homily.

But prudence and political calcula-tion have influenced our knowledgeof the Holocaust from the begin-ning...For a long time after the

war, the fate of European Jewrywas hardly mentioned, partly be-cause, as the cartoonist ArtSpiegelman's father says in Maus,his survivor's tale in cartoon for-mat, "No one wants anyway to hearsuch stories," and partly because incamps liberated by British andAmerican troops including Dachau,Belsen and Buchenwald, only a mi-nority of the prisoners were Jews.

In Ed Murrow's famous 1945 broad-cast from Buchenwald the wordsJew and Jewish are never spoken.

From Pastor Niemller website

Martin Niemller was a Protestant pastor, one of the pillars of moral resis-

tance to the Nazis, who imprisoned him for four years in solitary confine-ment.In 1931 Niemller became a pastor in Dahlem, a fashionable suburb ofBerlin. Two years later, as a protest against interference in church af-fairs by the National Socialists (Nazi Party), Niemller founded the Pas-tors' Emergency League. The group, among its other activities, helpedcombat rising discrimination against Christians of Jewish background.

Niemller was influential in building opposition to Adolf Hitler's effortsto bring the German churches under control of the Nazis and in 1937was arrested by the Gestapo. Eventually sent to Sachsenhausen and

then to Dachau concentration camps, he was moved in 1945 to the Ti-rol, where Allied forces freed him at the end of World War II.

Pastor Niemller

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(This Review From the Irish Democrat)

Ruan O'Donnell reviews The Connolly Col-umn, The story of the Irishmen who foughtfor the Spanish Republic, 1936-1939 byMichael O'Riordan

LIBERTY HALL, the scene of heavy fight-ing during the 1916 Easter rising, was theappropriate venue on 16 March for thelaunch of the revised second edition of theclassic Connolly Column, The story of theIrishmen who fought for the Spanish Re-public, 1936-1939.

Michael O'Riordan's striking book first ap-peared in 1979 when no Irish publisher wasprepared to handle the title. While hostilityregarding Ireland's 'premature anti-fascists'had largely abated, the Corkman evidently

struck a nerve with a positive account ofvolunteers waging an armed campaign inthe teeth of opposition from the Dublin andLondon establishments.

This explains in part why the first editionsuppressed certain identities and sufferedthe ill-effects of proof copy exchanges witha printer in the German Democratic Repub-lic.

The new version, launched by broadcasterCathal O'Shannon, retains the spirit of the

original by republishing its original text.However, the addition of fourteen new ap-pendices comprising short articles, obituar-ies and book reviews brings much fresh in-formation into play. Several contributionsare the work of Manus O'Riordan, Head ofResearch with SIPTU and an authority onthe republican left of the 1930s.

Recent commentaries by the twoO'Riordans are particularly interesting asthe dual perspectives of the author, a highlyintelligent eye-witness, and that of the mod-

ern researcher are jointly brought to bear onthe first generation of academic treatmentsof the subject.

They contest such points as the re-evaluation of Frank Ryan's career byFerghal McGarry and Robert Straddling,not least the complicated relationship be-tween Ryan and alleged pro-fascist SeanRussell during World War Two. These is-sues resonate in modern Ireland, as evi-denced by the vandalism of Russell's monu-ment in Dublin in December 2004.

The primary focus of Connolly Columnconcerns the Irish communists, republicansand anti-imperialists who fought in Spain,mostly within the British and Lincoln bat-talions of the XV International Brigade af-ter January 1937.

Many, like the FrankRyan, were IRA veter-ans of the War of Inde-pendence and CivilWar. Ryan gravitatedtowards the left wingRepublican Congress

in 1934 and the Inter-national Brigades in1936.

Similarly, Kit Conway,killed in action atJarama in February1937, had fought Brit-ish soldiers in his na-tive Tipperary beforeembracing several for-mer enemies as com-rades in Spain.

Amazingly, MajorGeorge Nathan, sus-pected of involvementin the murder of twoleading Limerick SinnFein members in March 1921, was eventu-ally accepted as a bona fide volunteer afteran enquiry at Madrigueras. Nathan ac-