Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Walker

Rangers' Europa League opponents St Joseph's face UEFA rap over corner flag fiasco

Rangers' Europa League opponents St Joseph's were reported to UEFA after their last game in Europe after a farcical incident where they used ballboys' shirts as corner flags.

Steven Gerrard's side travel to Gibraltar to face the minnows today and are massive 1/14 shots with bookies to claim a first leg lead at the tiny Victoria Stadium.

But St Joseph's are sweating on a rap on the knuckles from UEFA after a bizarre episode during their second leg, preliminary round qualifier against Prishtina.

A swirling wind ripped off two of their corner flags during the game. And St Joseph's had to delay the game to use the shirts of the ballboys as a makeshift flag on the poles.

St Joseph's president Stuart Rodriguez admits he's desperately hoping to avoid a repeat against the Ibrox giants tonight for the good of football in the British overseas territory.

He recalled: "Who can forget the sight of, not one, but two corner flags disappearing from their poles and the game being stopped twice, in comical fashion.

"On the second occasion a ball boy’s t-shirt came to the rescue and was used as a makeshift flag as a Prishtina player looked for the real flag behind some scaffolding - and all this before Prishtina were trying to take a corner when there was not a soul of a single stadium official or employee on hand to help.

"It lead to the other team filing a complaint to UEFA at half-time saying that we were deliberately wasting time.

"If we want our game and our local football to be taken seriously, these things cannot happen. Imagine if this happened again against Rangers live on TV? How would it make our country and our football standards look like?

Would sponsors want to invest, would fans want to watch?"

And St Joseph's are confident the game against Rangers - deemed a high risk encounter- will pass off without incident.

Rodriguez said: "There have been a number of high-level meetings with the Gibraltar FA, local police, and security officers to deal with any potential threats and make decisions collectively like ground security,

policing, alcohol bans, fan segregation, ticketing and these meetings have worked well.

"We all want public safety as well as making it a game to remember for the right reasons. Lincoln Red Imps have been helpful in passing information on about their experience at the Celtic game with regards to ticketing and crowd segregation and we have taken their advice on these matters gladly."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.