The First Minister has been warned by a senior police officer that a top-level meeting today must produce “concrete” proposals if the violence at last week’s “Old Firm” fixture is not be repeated. Les Gray, the chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, urged the participants to address the long-term human and financial cost to society of Rangers v Celtic football matches.
However, there were clear indications last night from Scottish government sources that much of the meeting will deal with the short-term aim of avoiding trouble at the next game between the two Glasgow clubs — the CIS League Cup Final on March 20 at Hampden Park.
The “summit”, hosted by Alex Salmond, follows the sending-off of three Rangers players at Celtic Park last week and an altercation between Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, and Ally McCoist, the Rangers assistant manager, at full time.
Strathclyde Police asked the First Minister to host the meeting, claiming that tensions at “Old Firm” games have led to violence, drunkenness and general disorder across the West of Scotland.The meeting will be attended by Mr Salmond, Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Minister, Shona Robison, the Sports Minister, the chief executives of the clubs, police officers and executives from Scottish football organisations.
Mr Gray, who has called for “Old Firm” matches to be banned or played behind closed doors, told The Times that the Federation saw the meeting as an opportunity to address some of the major issues relating to the fixture.
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He added: “It is now up to the two clubs, the Scottish government and Strathclyde Police to come up with concrete, workable solutions that will restore the fixture to that of a major sporting occasion only. Nobody doubts the passion that surrounds these matches, but public safety must remain paramount.” He said the costs to society of recent disorder were unacceptable.
However a senior source close to the First Minister said the meeting would concentrate on the next game, saying: “Everyone will have to be on their best behaviour and show that the two clubs are coming together to put their best foot forward on March 20.” The source added: “There will also be a long-term focus on developing the existing initiatives against sectarianism involving the two clubs.”
It is clear that the First Minister will also be looking for some public demonstration from the clubs that they “stand together” against the scenes at Celtic Park last Wednesday night.
Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Conservative leader, challenged the meeting to deal with another consequence of “Old Firm” fixtures. Ms Goldie said Strathclyde Police had reported that an “Old Firm” league game two weeks ago resulted in nearly twice as much domestic abuse as on an average Sunday.
She said: “We must not turn a blind eye to this problem and I very much hope the summit proves to be a turning point in the fight against an unacceptable element of Scottish society.”
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The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, which was not invited to the meeting, said it was wrong to see Glasgow football violence as sectarian. Peter Kearney, a Church spokesman, said: “This is a policing issue. There is nothing particularly remarkable about this in terms of post-match rivalry and violence. What happened there is just a taste of what happens elsewhere.
“It may serve some parts of the media to suggest that there is a cauldron of violence in Glasgow and football violence in Scotland is off the global scale, but in reality it is no more of a policing challenge than games in Merseyside or Manchester.”