Johnny Watterson: Rangers’ clash with election highlights unionist anxiety

There was a memorable phrase that popped up on social media this week regarding Rangers supporters in the North appealing to the Electoral Office. It arrived amid fears that they would be “denied the opportunity to vote” in the Assembly election because it clashed with an important football match.

The election takes place on Thursday, May 5th, the same day as Rangers play their Europa League semi-final second leg against German side RB Leipzig in Glasgow. Kick-off is 8pm. How easy it is for the best laid plans to become a diary dumpster fire.

A Rangers fan from the Banbridge area, quoted in news reports, explained with no small sense of grievance, that at a time when political parties are all calling for as many people as possible to get out and vote, action should be taken to prevent voters being “disenfranchised through no fault of their own”.

The bad bounce of the ball and the biggest Rangers game in years is clashing with the most important election in years

This week that “d” word kept popping up like Kemar Roofe at the far post. “Arse-cringingly embarrassing” was the memorable phrase.

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It was difficult to tell how sombre the mood was when he was speaking. But the fan’s recollection was that in 150 years of playing the beautiful game, this was just the fifth time the famous club has been in a European semi-final.

“We’re not Liverpool or Manchester City,” he confirmed.

The naivete of the request, however, has not failed to attract both rebuke and political support despite the Electoral Office explaining the official manual says there can be no last-minute reprieve for fans who choose the game over voting.

Chief electoral officer Virginia McVea confirmed that correspondence had been received by her urging a change to the deadline for postal or proxy votes after concerns were also raised by Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) Upper Bann candidate Darrin Foster.

“While the deadline for applying for absentee ballots has passed, in the circumstances I believe there is a strong argument to say that fans travelling to Glasgow for this historic match should be treated sympathetically,” said Foster.

“Rangers have always had a large and loyal following in Northern Ireland and it makes sense to relax the rules so that no one is disenfranchised.”

Relax the rules. Disenfranchised. Well, loyal following, that is true. According to an article in The Newsletter in 2021, there are about 60 Rangers supporters clubs in NI. There will be hundreds of fans intending to travel to Ibrox Park in May. The 1st Belfast Rangers Supporters Club alone has 1,400 followers on Facebook.

McVea also told reporters that to reopen the window for travelling fans’ postal or proxy vote applications would require a change in legislation, which is not possible.

Therein lies the current dilemma, the bad bounce of the ball, the vagaries of sport and Uefa schedulers conspiring together and the result, the biggest Rangers game in years clashing with the most important election in years.

Unsurprisingly, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and TUV are finding the whole thing beastly. In the 2017 Assembly Elections, DUP won 28.1 per cent of the vote to second place Sinn Féin’s (SF) 27.9 per cent. That came from 225,413 first-preference votes to SF’s 224,245 first-preference votes.

The TUV won 2.6 per cent of the share and drew 20,523 first preference votes, about 2,000 more than the Green Party.

The clash of dates could end up as a burlesque and mad footnote in Assembly Election history

Earlier this week, the DUP, knowing better than most how numbers crunch on election day, dipped its oar into the footy waters.

East Derry candidate Maurice Bradley repeated that the window should be reopened to give all travelling Rangers fans the chance to vote.

“Although a number of those flying to the game and those already booked on early afternoon ferries should be able to vote in person, there are hardly any travel options for those trying to book travel on May 5th in time to reach Glasgow by kick-off,” he said.

“The electoral office should allow late-application postal votes for those who will be unable to vote in person.”

It is difficult to see past another group of dyed in the wool football fans trapped in their own bubble and hostage to a football world where allegiance to club is at least as important as the politicians and political system they come from.

What is harder to comprehend is their puzzlement that both options cannot be made available. If they think a Rangers semi-final is more important than casting a vote, then that is a decision they are entirely free to make.

But the notion of claiming they are disenfranchised because they have a choice of casting or chanting seems not just absurdly misplaced but entitled.

What is interesting is Rangers has found itself acting as a kind of barometer of the current pre-election climate and how tight, desperate and nervy candidates have become.

A real fear is that of the hundreds that will make the trip to Glasgow, many will do so without casting a vote. That could be the difference between success and failure as Rangers fans are almost all unionist voters with nationalists generally supporting Celtic.

The clash of dates could end up as a burlesque and mad footnote in Assembly Election history. Rangers facing Leipzig in the Europa League semi-final draining the register of votes and allowing for Sinn Féin to become the biggest party in NI for the first time in history. If that happens, a disastrous own goal by any measure.