BY KATE HEANEY
A West Donegal secondary school has fostered bridge building links between perceived arch rival football teams Celtic and Rangers.
The Transition Year students from the Rosses Community School led by teacher John Gorman have been working together with a Glasgow secondary school to understand where bigotry comes from. Together they have visited the Study Centres at Rangers and Celtic grounds and come to understand that the age-old rivalries are more about gangs than about religion.
Speaking this week Mr Gorman explained that the very worthwhile project came about when he was approached by Donegal County Council to study the book 'Divided City' written by Theresa Breslin.
As senior year head he saw the Peace 11 sponsored study as a great way to get transition students involved in tangible peace building.
The book is set in Glasgow and tells the story of the friendship of three teenagers, one a Celtic supporter, one a Rangers supporter and the third an asylum seeker.
"The book presented a great opportunity to raise the students awareness of bigotry and prejudice in general. These are issues that would not normally be the most engaging for students but there is a massive Celtic supporters club here and lots of students would be big Celtic or Rangers supporters," John said.
It was fortunate in that a friend of his, Dominic Sharkey worked in the Rangers Study centre, even though he is an avid Celtic supporter. He contacted Dominic and his opposite number at the Celtic Study Centre, Tony Russell, with a view to pairing Rosses students with a college in Glasgow.
The clubs were keen to co-operate and they set up a pairing with Lochend Community High School in Glasgow.
Both sets of students read 'Divided City' with the Scottish students concluding their city was not as violent as portrayed in the book.
"The book is not at all about football, it is more about young people and changes. Of the 26 students we had who travelled to Glasgow at least 16 of them had no interest in football. But they all really engaged with the project. Even boys who had never read a novel before in their lives got into what the whole project was about. The trip at the end to Glasgow was a great incentive for them all," Mr Gorman commented.
They began their contact by email and post having read the book in class. The Glasgow school was mixed with both Protestant and Catholic students.
Mr Gorman drew up a study profile for the students which involved IT skills, critical analysis, dance and art as well as assembling a portfolio of their work.
Having read the book the students did a power point presentation of their understanding of the issues involved. They sent profiles of themselves to Glasgow and then painted murals to illustrate their understanding of the destructive force of bigotry.
"Out of three Transition Year classes, those who put the most effort into the project got to go on the trip to Glasgow.
"The students saw first-hand how many of these rival supporters live side by side. They exchanged views on bigotry and what they thought about the book and revealed a little about themselves. Then they got to meet face to face and discuss their views."
According to the Rosses students tthe rivalry between Rangers and Celtic is not religious.
It is more about finding an excuse to fight than about football.
The Rosses students got to visit both Celtic park and Ibrox, home of Rangers. They were given guided tours of the training grounds and stadiums and went to a Celtic game as well.
Student Cory Gallagher was impressed that she got to sit in Rod Stewart's seat in the Directors box. They were however surprised at the number of police officers on duty to separate rival fans. Celtic were playing Dunfermline and won 2-1 much to the delight of the visiting Donegal fans.
Mr Gorman said the whole project was so successful he hoped to continue it with next year's transition Year students.
"It went very well and I know the Glasgow students would like to pay a return visit here to Donegal. I know the students learned a lot about bigotry and prejudice. How someone can be bigoted without even realising it; about prejudices they might take from their families which are just passed on and accepted.
"It certainly made them think twice about their own attitudes to others. Their critical analysis showed why and how these prejudices come about and the damage they can do."
Student John Joe Gallagher really enjoyed taking part in the project and learned a lot from it.
"It was a good opportunity to explore bigotry. There's a huge irony in the way that people can be united by football but they can also be divided by football. The problems portrayed in the book would only be happening in certain parts of the city of Glasgow. The whole project was a very positive and educational experience," John Joe concluded.
Mr Gorman is interested to hear from any other schools interested in a cross community project.
