Exactly Basil - as a Roman Catholic who grew up on Clydeside I was naturally well aware of the corrosive influence of sectarianism and the abuse which came from both sides of the divide. I was lucky in that I came from a "mixed marriage" (father Roman Catholic, mother C of E) and there was none of this rubbish at home. Also at age 12 the family moved to an area of England where I was relieved to learn that nobody gave a fig what your religion was.
As I see it Alex Thomson (see Basil's link) had it spot on. Maybe some of the younger blokes got carried away and didn't know what they were getting into, but there was an officer/NCO i/c there somewhere, who the very next day should have been up before someone very senior getting the bollocking of his life for allowing that travesty to happen in public.