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The National (Scotland)

Sport

Matthew Lindsay

Scottish football is a victim of Broken Britain - MSPs need to act not just our clubs

Football Celtic Jack MacKenzie Aberdeen (Organization) Brendan Rodgers John Swinney Lewis Ferguson Livingston Rangers County (Organization)

MAY has been a memorable, enjoyable, uplifting month in Scottish football for so many reasons.

With Falkirk winning the Championship and promotion back to the Premiership amid scenes of wild rejoicing, Lewis Ferguson becoming the first man from this country to lift the Coppa Italia since 1985 and James Forrest of Celtic being presented with his 26th medal, there has been much to celebrate.

What a desperate shame, then, that those heartening tales have been somewhat overshadowed by the appalling conduct of the undesirables who attach themselves to every club’s support.

The final Old Firm match of the season in Govan was marred by the outcry over a Celtic fan holding up a mobile phone with 66 – the number of people who died on Stairway 13 in the Ibrox Disaster of 1971 - and mocking the Rangers support.

Last weekend at Tannadice, the Aberdeen player Jack MacKenzie required extensive medical treatment after being struck in the head by a seat which had been ripped out and thrown in the direction of the pitch by one of the Pittodrie club’s own followers.

Then at Almondvale last night the Ross County assistant manager Carl Tremarco was spat on by a Livingston fan after the first leg of the Premiership play-off final had finished 1-1.

All of the individuals responsible either have or will be dealt with by the relevant authorities accordingly. It is important to remember they are just three people out of tens of thousands. Still, those sickening incidents were not a good look for the game in this country.

It is no surprise that our elected representatives have been asked to offer an opinion on the scenes of affray in recent days. John Swinney, the First Minister, condemned both the unofficial “Celtic Title Party” at Trongate last Saturday and the MacKenzie flashpoint when he was campaigning in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election this week.

“I’m very concerned by what I saw,” he said. “I understand supporters want to celebrate the performance of their team. But it can’t be at the expense of other people. Throwing a chair that seriously injures an Aberdeen player and damaging and disrupting the centre of Glasgow shouldn’t happen.”

(Image: Roddy Scott - SNS Group) Swinney stopped short of demanding, as he had back in December following the appalling unrest on Argyle Street before the Premier Sports Cup final, of demanding that clubs have to do more to maintain order among their supporters outside of grounds.

Which was just as well because that had been a ludicrous suggestion. Celtic and Rangers have tens if not hundreds of thousands of supporters. They cannot possibly be held responsible for their actions away from games. The troublemakers might never have stepped foot inside their stadium. If Police Scotland officers are unable to maintain order what possible chance do football club officials have?

Anyway, is it not more of a societal issue than a sporting one? Does Broken Britain not need to be fixed before this sort of vile affray can be banished from our sporting arenas? Steven Ferguson, the County chief executive, was firmly of that view when he spoke after the Livingston encounter in West Lothian. “I think it is a wider problem,” he said. “There seems to be a bit of a culture creeping back into the game.”

Former midfielder Ferguson played for Dunfermline Athletic, County, Ayr United, Brechin City, Dumbarton and Stenhousemuir in the 1990s and 2000s so he is well qualified to offer an opinion on the deterioration in crowd behaviour.

The Celtic fan who mocked the Ibrox Disaster has been banned from Parkhead indefinitely and sacked from his job, the man who is accused of hitting MacKenzie with a seat appeared in court this week and police are currently studying video footage and trying to identify the Livingston supporter who spat on Tremarco.

The perpetrators of these kind of acts – and the throwing of missiles at players on the pitch has sadly become almost endemic in Scottish during the 2024/25 campaign – are routinely punished.

So why do these things keep happening? The low intelligence levels of those responsible probably has a lot to do with it. You will never rid the world of stupid. But perhaps it is time for the powers that be to start meting out more severe sanctions.

A working group looking at how to tackle the increased use of pyrotechnics at matches has concluded that beefing up Football Banning Orders (FBO) – only five of which were dished out in this country between August and February this year – could be an effective deterrent.

(Image: SNS) Amending the wording of the current FBO legislation so that the “no pyro, no party” brigade, a group which has a growing number of members, can be barred from filing through the turnstiles in future is now being examined. It is vital that MSPs push through the changes which are urgently required.

The SFA and SPFL, organisations which are run by the clubs for the clubs, can do their bit as well. The reduced ticket allocations which Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell were hit with for their fans use of flares and smoke bombs at the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals and final last year showed that action was, at long last, being taken in attempt to ensure the safety of spectators.

Will there be more mass coordinated displays before the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final at Hampden this afternoon? Watch this space? If there is, it will underline that, as if it needed to be highlighted, tougher measures are required to maintain order inside Scotland’s grounds.

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