Origins Prior to the
First World War, Rangers did not have any policy regarding players' religion, and at that time the club did have a number of Catholic players. The influx of largely
loyalist workers to Glasgow also helped precipitate an upswing in popularity of the
Orange Order in the city and surrounding areas. Occasionally, Rangers players and directors attended functions in Orange lodges, and subsequently, with the connections between Rangers and loyalism/Orangeism rapidly strengthening, the club quietly introduced an unwritten rule that they would not sign any player or employ any staff member who was openly Catholic. An indication that the policy was specifically anti-Catholic rather than Protestant-only was Rangers' signing of Egyptian international
Mohamed Latif in 1934. The policy was not acknowledged publicly until 1965 when
Ralph Brand, on leaving the club for
Manchester City, told the
News of the World that Rangers operated a Protestants-only policy. Two years later vice-chairman Matt Taylor was asked about perceived
anti-Catholicism with the ban on Catholics at Rangers; he stated "[it is] part of our tradition ... we were formed in 1873 as a Protestant boys club. To change now would lose us considerable support". Northern Irish club
Linfield, which shares a similar culture to Rangers, had a similar policy, though not as strict as Rangers', until the 1980s, as a contrast to their
Big Two rivals
Glentoran. Despite the policy, some Catholic players did play for Rangers during this time. South African
Don Kitchenbrand kept his Catholicism secret Some former Rangers players also stated that the policy extended to non-Catholic players who married Catholics. In 1980, for example,
Graham Fyfe said that he had to leave Rangers because he had married a Catholic woman. Former Rangers player and
Manchester United manager
Alex Ferguson wrote that although Rangers' management knew of his decision to marry a Catholic, he experienced "poisonous hostility" from the club's PR officer Willie Allison. By contrast, Celtic never had a similar policy banning players of any religion. Celtic manager
Jock Stein, himself Celtic's first Protestant manager, once stated that if he was offered a Catholic player and a Protestant player, he would sign the Protestant. When asked why he said: "Because I know Rangers would never sign the Catholic". In 1976, a friendly at
Aston Villa was abandoned because of
hooliganism by Rangers fans. This included fans attacking
a pub that had been bombed by the
IRA two years prior, which drew particular criticism from the
Orange Order. The Orange Order stated "Let us be perfectly blunt. The same examples of low animal life who force their support on Glasgow Rangers are one and the same with the foul-mouthed drunks who cause us great embarrassment every July when they turn up to 'support'
our annual rallies". Despite this assertion, no senior Catholic players were signed by Rangers following it; promising youth player
John Spencer did join the club in 1982 and quietly progressed through the ranks, while having to deal with hostility from both sides of the Glasgow religious divide as a result.
Maurice Johnston signing (pictured in 2001) signed Maurice Johnston, an openly Catholic player. Graeme Souness became Rangers manager in May 1986 and declared his intent to build a team based only on merit, saying that signing players who observed another religion or had a different skin colour "felt completely normal". Johnston had recently agreed to return to Celtic from Nantes, but the deal had not been completed, and signing such a prominent ex-Celtic player was an especially big coup for their rivals. Johnston's agent
Bill McMurdo felt that Rangers would need a "very special person" to cope with the pressure of being the first player to break the policy. Before signing Johnston, Souness had also been interested in signing other Catholic players, and had approached players including
John Collins,
Ian Rush and
Ray Houghton. Following the signing of Johnston, the general secretary of the Rangers Supporters Association, David Miller, stated "It is a sad day for Rangers. Why sign him above all others? There will be a lot of people handing in their season tickets. I don't want to see a Roman Catholic at Ibrox. It really sticks in my throat." Having received a leak that the transfer was about to happen, the
Belfast Telegraph reported the deal before it was announced. This prompted a group of
loyalists to gather outside the newspaper office demanding the story be retracted, while their telephone switchboard was jammed with angry callers. Some fans responded by burning their season tickets, although this view was not shared by all of the Rangers supporters. Some welcomed the fact that they had got one over their rivals, while Souness was given little or no credit for ending this source of anti-Catholic discrimination. although the end of limitations on the number of foreign players in that period led to far fewer native players being signed in general. In that same year, Rangers lifted a ban on players making the
sign of the cross at the behest of
Gabriel Amato but warned them not to do it in front of supporters.
Gennaro Gattuso, an Italian Catholic who played for Rangers in the 1997–98 season, alleged that his teammates ordered him to take off his
crucifix necklace. In 1998, fellow Italian
Lorenzo Amoruso became the first Catholic captain of Rangers, and Bob Brannan became the first club director who was a Catholic. In 2002, defender
Fernando Ricksen said that Rangers' Catholic players had to hide their religion because of sectarianism at the club. He stated that he had been receiving sectarian phone calls, and "If you're Catholic and you play for Rangers, then you are a Protestant. If you play for the Protestant people, you don't play for the Catholic people." In 2006, Rangers appointed their first Catholic manager,
Paul Le Guen, and in 2013 signed
Jon Daly, a high-profile Irish Catholic player. == Depictions in the media ==