First Minister Alex Salmond has thrown his weight behind a campaign to wipe bigotry and sectarianism out of Scottish football.
The nation's top politician joined with representatives of every SPL club and the Scottish Football Association to launch the government-backed Kick Out Bigotry initiative at Hampden.
Salmond, who was also joined by former Old Firm captains Billy McNeill and Richard Gough, is confident Kick Out Bigotry will succeed in tackling the problem head on.
He said: "We are going to win this campaign. We haven't won it yet - that is clear.
"But we are going to win it and we are going to do it by working together to create the kind of society and the sort of game we want to see in Scotland.
"All societies manifest bigotry in some form or another but there is no country in the world which is more hostile to the concept of bigotry than Scotland.
"It's based on 'A Man's A Man', equality of people and mutual respect - the kind shown to every other nation on earth by the Tartan Army - regardless of the result.
"There is no country which that message is more sympathetic to than Scotland.
"You can't be a real Scot and a bigot. If you are a real Scot then you will kick it out."
Kick Out Bigotry, which has received £200,000 from the Scottish Government, is co-ordinated by umbrella organisation Football For All.
Honorary president and FIFPro representative Tony Higgins believes eradicating the problem will change society for ever.
Higgins said: "If we obliterate sectarianism from sport, then it is a natural assumption that we take this into daily life."
Representatives of the Kick Out Bigotry campaign will be present at all top-flight matches this weekend as they take the message to the supporters.
All 12 SPL club signed up to a pledge at the launch to end all forms of bigotry in football.
SFA chief executive Gordon Smith believes progress has already been made tackling the problem but expects the new campaign to make significant progress around Scottish grounds.
He explained: "The most important thing about changing attitudes is to change behaviour.
"Hopefully this campaign and the work that's already been done will change the behaviour of individuals.
"There have been big strides already. This is happening. It's hard to be party to every single thing that's said or shouted at every game but there are people out there who are looking at it and there are delegates at every game in the top division."
Salmond, who was also joined by former Old Firm captains Billy McNeill and Richard Gough, is confident Kick Out Bigotry will succeed in tackling the problem head on.
He said: "We are going to win this campaign. We haven't won it yet - that is clear.
"But we are going to win it and we are going to do it by working together to create the kind of society and the sort of game we want to see in Scotland.
"All societies manifest bigotry in some form or another but there is no country in the world which is more hostile to the concept of bigotry than Scotland.
"It's based on 'A Man's A Man', equality of people and mutual respect - the kind shown to every other nation on earth by the Tartan Army - regardless of the result.
"There is no country which that message is more sympathetic to than Scotland.
"You can't be a real Scot and a bigot. If you are a real Scot then you will kick it out."
Kick Out Bigotry, which has received £200,000 from the Scottish Government, is co-ordinated by umbrella organisation Football For All.
Honorary president and FIFPro representative Tony Higgins believes eradicating the problem will change society for ever.
Higgins said: "If we obliterate sectarianism from sport, then it is a natural assumption that we take this into daily life."
Representatives of the Kick Out Bigotry campaign will be present at all top-flight matches this weekend as they take the message to the supporters.
All 12 SPL club signed up to a pledge at the launch to end all forms of bigotry in football.
SFA chief executive Gordon Smith believes progress has already been made tackling the problem but expects the new campaign to make significant progress around Scottish grounds.
He explained: "The most important thing about changing attitudes is to change behaviour.
"Hopefully this campaign and the work that's already been done will change the behaviour of individuals.
"There have been big strides already. This is happening. It's hard to be party to every single thing that's said or shouted at every game but there are people out there who are looking at it and there are delegates at every game in the top division."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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