Celtic star's sectarian nightmare

BY STEPHEN MOORE

Soccer star Neil Lennon may be forced to leave Celtic after yet another sectarian attack directed against the 32-year-old this weekend. Lennon awoke last Sunday morning to find " You are a dead man" and other sectarian slogans scrawled on the walls outside his home.

The midfield maestro has faced abuse and threats almost from the moment he put pen to paper on his Celtic contract in 2000. The Lurgan native was almost immediately targeted by the boo boys after his arrival at Parkhead, however over time verbal abuse on the pitch, from fans and opposing players alike, became the least of his worries.

At the start of 2001, a group of UVF supporters singled out Lennon for heavy abuse following a heavy home defeat for 'Northern Ireland' at the hands of Norway. Lennon then received death threats. The barrage of sickening sectarian taunts and threats continued at international home games, despite the fact that Lennon was probably their best player during his time in the team.

Too many people were of the opinion that Lennon was fair game for abuse at any level simply because he chose to wear the green and white of Celtic. Lennon was forced to quit international football a mere 18 months later, just as he was about to reach his peak. On 21 August 2002, Sammy McIlroy had chosen to make Lennon his captain for a match against Cyprus at Windsor Park, the first ever Glasgow Celtic player to do so. Lennon was relaxing in the team hotel before the match when the BBC's Belfast office received a death threat from a man claiming to be from the UVF warning that if Lennon played in the game he and his family would be "harmed".

"I've got a ten-year-old daughter who knows nothing about this at the minute and we're going to try and keep her away from it," said Lennon, explaining his decision to retire from international football entirely. "I just can't put her and my family through things like this every time I play so I have decided I won't play for Northern Ireland any longer. It's a decision I have thought about before and this time I've come to the conclusion that it's the best thing for everyone involved if I stop now."

But that wasn't the end of it. Only last summer he had to be talked into staying at Celtic by manager Martin O'Neill after being physically assaulted while returning home from a night out with a female friend in Glasgow's city centre just weeks before the UEFA Cup Final.

Departing team mate Henrik Larsson has recently commented on the abuse Lennon routinely endures at matches from opposing fans. If Lennon decided to leave Parkhead, it would be a sad day for both player and the club, as he has been an integral part of Celtic's hugely successful team in recent years.

The midfielder must not be written off yet however. Lennon and Celtic have held talks with the police and he is looking at a move away from Glasgow's West End.

Neill Lennon is a very public victim of a deeply ingrained sectarianism that permeates soccer in the Six Counties and sections of Scotland. For all its fancy PR campaigns, the Irish Football Association has never really stood up to the bigots. But in this it is only reflecting establishment attitudes towards anti-Catholic bigotry throughout the North.