IN some ways it is a blessed relief that the traditional Ne’erday Old Firm derby is taking place on Saturday, December 30, this year and not on January 1, 2018.
No matter what the result – and bear in mind that most people in Scotland don’t give a monkey’s about the scoreline – it will allow the annual hate-fest and bigot-show to be confined to the memory bank marked “2017” – a year to forget for so many punters, politicians and sports people alike.
The Glasgow derby in Yuletide nearly always used to be played on January 1 or 2 as they were public holidays. From 1983 to 1994, for instance, the match was played six times on Ne’erday itself – a remarkable coincidence, given the League’s entirely unbiased draw system for the old Premier Division, don’t you think?
That 1994 game kiboshed the Ne’erday derby for 17 years, because it featured a disgraceful exhibition of misbehaviour at Parkhead as Rangers won comfortably by 4-2.
When Alexei Mikhailichenko – remember him? – scored to put Rangers three up after only 28 minutes, the Celtic fans turned on their own directors and pies, coins and a Mars bar flew into the box full of Kellys and Whites so that it is now known as the Mars bar game, while there were no fewer than three pitch invasions by individual Celtic fans.
Brought back in 2011, the Ne’erday match saw plenty of trouble – though not as much as the league game in February and the Cup replay at Parkhead in March that year – and this time the police and the Scottish Government stepped in to say “enough is enough.” The SPL duly moved the “festive” match to a midweek evening and – hey, presto! – there was a lot less trouble.
Rangers then spent four years out of the top flight and it wasn’t an issue.
So, The Kicker wondered which brain-box decided to schedule last season’s Old Firm match for December 31, and Brian Whittle, the Tory MSP, was not alone in questioning the timing.
Police Scotland, however, said it was “the best option in terms of the needs of the interested parties and minimising the wider community impact.”
Presumably that is the case again this year, and at least having the match on a Saturday afternoon at 12 noon should help minimise the trouble inside Celtic Park.
Outside it, I’m not so sure and that is why the whole Ne’erday traditional date should be scrapped.
At this moment in time we have an NHS under extreme pressure, partly because stupid local authorities can’t do their job properly and get streets and pavements properly gritted leading to people being injured everywhere.
Police Scotland will always manage, of course, but do we really need the huge amount of extra work that an Old Firm match always causes the police and our medics?
Drink will be taken after the match on Saturday and feelings, as ever, will run high. Far, far better to play the Old Firm game on a midweek evening than risk health and safety for the sake of a “tradition”.
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