Celtic fans threaten life of Fulham player

HATE is a dangerous emotion.
It leads to division and conflict.

All over the globe there are daily examples of hatred spilling over into violence.

In the Middle East, there is hatred between Israel and Palestine, in India we have seen Christians murdered because of hatred of their beliefs.

Our own country is far from immune.

Here hatred between rival football fans and Catholics and Protestants is growing to alarming proportions.

Northern Ireland striker David Healy has received death threats because, in a post-match interview, he said he had ended his “goal famine”.

Writers on message boards accusing him of endorsing Rangers fans’ Famine Song because he had used the word.

Things have clearly gone way too far.

Football message boards for Celtic are filled with hate and bile directed at their rivals.

Sadly, we are now witnessing these words spilling over into acts of violence and vandalism against the staff of both clubs.

The hate is peddled on a daily basis but a blind eye is turned to it.

What was once considered to be the rantings of a misguided few is now becoming increasingly mainstream.

As the hate flows, the mob mentality takes over.

So much energy is wasted in pointless tirades.

The moderators of these message boards could go a long way to solving the problem by actively removing the offending posts.

Rivalry is healthy and a necessary part of sport.

Hatred has no place in sport or a civilised society.