Sturgeon condemns violence at Rangers v Celtic game but has no solution for it …
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has condemned supporters who marred Sunday’s Glasgow derby at Ibrox with their “mindless, thuggish behaviour”. Sorry, Ms Sturgeon, but that’s not enough. Not nearly enough, writes Bill Heaney
The start of the second half of Sunday’s match was delayed when Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart pointed out shards of broken glass in his goalmouth after a bottle was thrown on to the pitch, while other objects rained down when Celtic’s winger Jota was taking a corner kick.
A member of Celtic’s backroom staff later required a significant 18 stitches in a head wound after being struck while making his way towards the dressing room as Celtic won 2-1 to move six points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership with six games to play.
Ms Sturgeon labelled the actions of those responsible as “unacceptable”. “This sort of behaviour is not acceptable,” the First Minister said at the media post mortem on Monday morning.
“But these are matters for the authorities, obviously for the football authorities and potentially for the police and criminal justice authorities.
“Regardless of what team you support, I’m not the world’s biggest football fan and not just because my team is Ayr United, but people should be able to enjoy football. Football should be something that people can take their kids to and have a happy, joyful occasion.
Rangers Supporters Liaison Officer Greg Marshall has called for help to identify the person responsible for the shattered glass in Hart’s goalmouth.
He tweeted on Monday afternoon: “We are working with Police Scotland to identify the individual who threw a bottle onto the pitch at half time yesterday. This delayed the start of the second half and put players safety in danger. Anyone with information can pass details anonymously to either the club or Police.”
If this was the best Rangers could do then that’s not good enough since it must have been a Rangers supporter who threw the bottle. Only 700 Celtic supporters were allowed into the ground and the space they were allocated was nowhere near the scene of the incident.
Police investigations are ongoing. They have revealed in their own clumsy way of communications handling that a total of 70 people were refused entry and 21 were ejected from the stadium on Sunday. The collection of glass bottles taken off some fans at the gate was impressive. It would be helpful to know how many of these were taken at the turnstiles allocated to Celtic.
Officers made six arrests for a range of incidents in the lead-up to and during the Old Firm match, while dozens more people were either denied entry to the stadium or ejected.
A number of missiles were thrown from the stands, including two separate incidents from the one that hit the Celtic staff member. Both of these involved glass bottles.
Assistant chief constable Mark Williams said: “The disorder and violence shown during the game on Sunday was completely unacceptable.
“All the relevant authorities must work together and with genuine fans to prevent incidents such as this in future. There is no place in Scottish football for this type of behaviour.
“We are continuing inquiries into a number of incidents that took place during the game, which includes the serious assault of a Celtic physiotherapist who was hit with a glass bottle. We would ask anyone with information to contact police via 101.”
Three men were arrested and charged in connection with vandalism at Ibrox stadium in the early hours of the morning before Sunday’s Old Firm clash.
The 41-year-old man was arrested for alleged breach of the peace with religious aggravation and alleged assault; the 18-year for alleged sectarian breach of the peace and alleged drugs offences; and the 17-year-old was subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal for alleged drugs offences.
Officers say inquiries are ongoing to trace others involved, as well as several other incidents that took place inside the stadium. The police are still investigating the incidents at Ibrox and George Square from the time of the Premiership.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are aware of a glass bottle being thrown at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow during the Rangers v Celtic match on Sunday, 3 April, 2022. One man has sustained injuries as a result of this and required treatment. Inquiries are currently ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”
Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou said that his colleague had not been seriously injured but blasted the “couple of idiots” responsible for the incidents.
“I think he is OK, he had a couple of stitches,” the Australian said. “It is disappointing because this is a fixture that gets beamed around the world, and stands on its own. Two teams going at it, first and second spot. You don’t need a couple of idiots ruining it.”
That’s the usual excuse when these things happen. That it was a tiny minority who ruined it for the majority.
Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst echoed his counterpart’s comments when asked about the glass on the pitch.
“Of course it’s not what you want,” he said. “You go out of the locker room and are preparing well for the second half, you want to go. Then you have to wait a couple of minutes.
“It’s never good that due to situations the game has to be stopped. I don’t think it’s a good thing. Safety is first and I understand we have to wait for the pitch to be playable for both teams.”
It is truly disappointing that both managers when asked about what had happened appeared to consider this was a football matter; that if would reflect badly on football by harming its marketing power and that the other thought that holding up the game would affect his players’ performance. Come off it. These remarks do not recognise the gravity of this situation.