Eddie McClung, a subcontractor at construction business Doosan Babcock, alleged that he was turned down for future work by a manager who was a Celtic supporter. He claimed unfair dismissal and discrimination on the basis his commitment to the team was ‘as important to him as it was for religious people to go to church’.
Doosan Babcock countered by comparing football fandom to support for a political party.
Giving judgment, in McClung v Doosan Babcock, case no 4110538/2019, however, Judge Wiseman said she considered support for a football club ‘akin to a lifestyle choice, rather than relating to a substantial aspect of human life and behaviour’.
Referring to the legal test set out in Nicholson v Grainger plc (2009) UKEAT/0219/09, she said the claimant’s belief was genuinely held but did not otherwise meet the threshold for ‘philosophical belief’.
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