Old Firm and coronavirus: How to avoid more disgraceful scenes, by Brian Taylor

This week a new challenge emerged to those endeavours, a new problem from the world of football. That problem continues to pose concerns, not least over whether the sizeable gatherings outside Ibrox and in Glasgow’s George Square might be repeated, perhaps at the upcoming Old Firm match.

I watched Celtic draw with Dundee United last weekend, a result which guaranteed the Premiership for Rangers. Football fans will perhaps understand that my first thought was that my team, United, now had virtually no chance of securing a top six place in the league, and thus avoiding a possible relegation battle.

READ MORE BRIAN TAYLOR: This is not a civil war in the SNP. This is more vicious and more visceral

However, the wider consequences soon emerged as Rangers fans mustered to celebrate their team’s success, in clear breach of rules prohibiting mass gatherings.

Condemnation was swift from the First Minister, Opposition leaders and the police. While praising Rangers’ sporting achievement, they declared that the supporters’ actions were unacceptable and dangerous. They reminded us bluntly that closely packed crowds had the potential to spread disease and even death.

Let us be clear. Parliament has the democratic power to prescribe rules. Within those rules, the police have a duty to proscribe behaviour which threatens the peace and, in this case, the health of citizens. Law and order must be maintained.

The question is how. What is the truly effective way to prevent repetition? To do that, we need to understand the motivations underlying the behaviour we all witnessed.

Otherwise, we risk making matters worse, we risk reinforcing a negative stereotype. To say this is in no way – I stress, in no way whatsoever – to condone the behaviour on display. It was dangerous and, potentially, deadly.

Nicola Sturgeon has warned the Old Firm

Firstly, I would broadly exculpate the police. You will hear it said either that they over-reacted or that they should have made far more arrests.

The police did not create the situation. The fans gathered instinctively, emotively, no doubt prompted by social media. The police had to deal with events as they found them.

An over-zealous response would have risked provoking the crowd, amplifying the challenge to public order. Precisely the opposite of what the police were seeking to achieve.

Secondly, consider the intrinsic nature of football support. We are dealing here with fans, or fanatics. For many, their life is defined by their vigorous adherence to their team. They exult in victory, they despair at defeat.

This particular triumph for Rangers followed a decade without winning the league title; a decade in which they had to rise from the lowest rank in Scottish football. In winning, they thwarted their greatest rivals.

More generally, many fans regard their support for their team in an antithetical fashion to rival clubs, or even to society more generally. It is no accident that many supporters sing “nobody likes us, we don’t care”. Their contrived self-image is as a beleaguered tribe, standing together against an external foe or an uncaring world.

That is true of the most fervent of fans generally but it is particularly true of the Old Firm. Their adherents will often define themselves in contradistinction to the other side. Which can present a challenge for neutral observers or, indeed, for politicians seeking to intervene.

Grimacing wryly, Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs this week that half of Glasgow presumed she was partisan for one side of the Old Firm while the other half presumed exactly the contrary. She was, she stressed, unconcerned about the colour of the shirt.

It was also notable in Rangers’ official statement that they immediately drew attention to what they regarded as “an unbalanced approach” adopted towards their half of the Old Firm.

In that same statement, Rangers insisted they had taken every step to pre-empt and deter such behaviour. It might be pertinent to note here that broader support for that analysis is distinctly limited. Further, even if they were doing all they could, then those efforts demonstrably failed.

Crucially, however, Rangers supporters will agree with their club. They will discern bias against them which others do not spot. Such a standpoint is not entirely unknown on the other side of the Glasgow sporting divide, nor indeed in football more generally. They are not known as fans for nothing. Once again, that does not remotely exonerate the behaviour we witnessed.

However, it is also the case that there are many Rangers fans who will regret the scenes witnessed, who will seek to dispel any bad odour lingering around their club’s remarkable success. As The Herald reported, supporters’ groups have raised thousands of pounds to repair damaged benches in George Square.

Equally, though, those of us who are football fans need to reflect that many, perhaps most, people in Scotland are not.

READ MORE BRIAN TAYLOR: Sturgeon’s inquiry performance was thorough, respectful, controlled and capable

Remember Brenda from Bristol? On being told that a further General Election was pending, she replied: “You’re joking! What, another one?!”

Translate that from Brenda’s broad Bristol accent into Scots, and you have it pat. For many in Scotland, their reaction to another controversy in football is ennui. They find it weary, stale and flat; full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.

In that light, we now need action which will be effective, rather than simply voluble. Perhaps a promise of substantial celebrations deferred, linked to the warning that the Old Firm game may have to be cancelled. Perhaps a reminder of possible sanctions by the European football authority.

It will not be sufficient for that message to be delivered solely by politicians. Still less, by the police. That will not work with the truly zealous.

Football leaders must douse their instinctive indignation and urge compliance. Consistently and without equivocation. In tandem with politicians and the police. It may be exasperating that such effort is required but anything else risks further failure. Understand, then act.

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.