Rangers in Catholic schools row

RANGERS football club has re-opened the controversy over separate Catholic schools by insisting MSPs must address the issue if they are to end sectarianism.

The club’s official response to a draft bill for the Scottish parliament warns that "Many believe this is where sectarianism and religious hatred begin."

The call was made, on Rangers FC letterheaded paper, by the club’s security chief, Laurence Macintyre, in his response to the Protection from Sectarianism and Religious Hatred Bill proposed by Lib Dem MSP Donald Gorrie.

In the letter, Macintyre states: "I am disappointed personally that the bill is not intended to affect ‘the contentious issue of denominational schools’. Many believe this is where sectarianism and religious hatred begin and it seems strange that the Scottish parliament should so readily accept that this is ‘a major matter of national policy beyond the scope of a (Scottish) Members Bill’."

The Rangers call was echoed by the Orange Order and Motherwell Football Club.

Alisdair Barron, Motherwell FC’s general manager, claimed the Lanarkshire club and its directors, including entrepreneur John Boyle, believed "a more fundamental approach ending denominational schools and a corresponding teaching of comparative religious values" was "the only way to ultimately eradicate sectarianism in Scotland".

SNP MSP Mike Russell said the clubs’ views were naive in the extreme. "It would be exceptionally foolish to believe that interfering with the long-standing right of Catholic parents to educate their children in Catholic schools would do anything other than make the situation worse," he said.

Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church, said: "I am certainly not aware of any school, Catholic or non-denominational, that has bigotry on its curriculum. I would suggest that’s nonsense."

Gorrie said any change in their status would have to be agreed with the Catholic community and the Catholic hierarchy.

"I don’t see anyone raising the issue politically," he said.

"It’s a fair point of view, but the issue is not on the political agenda. It’s like wishing the sun would shine a bit more - you can wish, but it won’t happen."