Death Threats Aimed at Celtic's Artur Boruc

We all know there are thugs and scum that live amongst us and they could be sitting next to us at a football match, and as usual rather than football taking precedence it is the mindless acts of the minority that ruin it for everyone.

After having to deal with two attacks on his home last week, Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc is set to take the field at Windsor Park on Saturday in front of a hostile Northern Ireland support many of whom support rivals Rangers.

Now this is nothing new but once again certain mindless thugs and gutter trash have painted graffiti on a wall in the Loyalist Sandy Row area of Belfast. Graffiti read ‘Boruc RIP’ and was painted on at least four walls ahead of the World Cup Qualifier between Poland and Northern Ireland at Windor Park.

Locals said it appeared overnight between Wednesday and yesterday and it comes at a time of high tensions in Northern Ireland, following the shooting dead of two soldiers and a police officer. Boruc had already been expecting a hostile reception in Belfast and last week, it emerged the Polish FA had hired a top security team to look after their team.

The keeper’s home was attacked twice after Celtic’s 2-0 CIS Cup victory over Rangers earlier this month. Polish FA spokeswoman Marta Alf said she had not been told about the graffiti but added, “We were aware of various threats about Artur on the internet. We have been given assurances by the Irish Football Association and police that all security measures are in place and we are hopeful this is the case. I spoke to Artur about the things on the internet and he said he wasn’t worried. It’s difficult to say how serious these graffiti threats are.”

She added that the president of the Polish FA would decide whether their own security should be stepped up. One of the graffiti threats was scrawled directly next to a “Love Football, Hate Bigotry” poster.

One local said, “It all depends who’s done it, but this kind of threat could be deadly serious. The area is a loyalist stronghold and dominated by elements of the UDA and u*f.”

Michael Boyd, the IFA’s head of community relations, said the graffiti incident harked backed to the targeting of Celtic star Neil Lennon, which forced the player to quit international football. He said, “We have been working to eradicate sectarianism and bigotry but we obviously have a long way to go. It is so frustrating that it only takes one idiot to ruin years of hard work. We are very proud of our connections with Celtic and the Polish community.”

Maciek Bator, of the Polish Association of Northern Ireland, said, “I would like fans to focus on supporting their national teams rather than Rangers or Celtic.”

No matter how hard you try to eradicate sectarianism and bigotry there are always those mindless thugs and scum of our society that ruin it for everyone else. Hopefully Boruc can go out on the Windsor Park field and show these mindless eejits what he is all about and prove to them and the world that he is still a World Class keeper. That's the way to answer these scum.