NEWS: Cliftonville’s newest signing suggested members of the Orange Order should be shot

Cliftonville Football Club’s newest signing Joe Gorman was at the centre of a 2014 Police probe after he suggested on social media that members of the Orange Order should be shot.

The then Inverness player was suspended by the club after his tweet, following a documentary into the disputed Crumlin Road 12^th July parade, which said “Ross Kemp in Belfast talking about the troubles. Wouldn’t you just love to open up on all those Orangemen.”

The suggestion that Orangemen should be shot displayed a deep sectarian hatred, especially from a professional footballer in such a prominent public position.

Despite the fact BBC and other mainstream media outlets extensively covered the new signing just before Christmas, there was very little- if any- reference made to the player’s sectarian views which had been at the centre of a Scottish police probe.

The club have made no reference to Gorman’s sectarian past in any of their public statements and to date no mainstream media outlet has asked whether the newly signed Cliftonville player would still like to “open up” on members of the Orange Order.

In 2014 the Orange Order released a statement following the player’s sickening comments saying: “The comment made by the player concerned was grotesque in the extreme. It is all the more sickening given terrorists who ‘opened up’ on our brethren have left 550 children from the Orange family without a father.”

Cliftonville made headlines last year after a sectarian stunt during the Irish Cup final. Their supporters also displayed pro-IRA terror scarfs and banners at the match. It seems a reasonable question for the mainstream media to ask Cliftonville whether the player still holds the same views, and whether such viewpoints are corporately endorsed by the club.