Scotland's First Minister John Swinney has refused to commit to criminalising pitch invasions at football games following what he described as "astonishingly poor behaviour" by a minority of Celtic fans during their title-clinching match on Saturday.
Chaos at Celtic Park and Trongate
Fans stormed the pitch before the final whistle at Celtic Park as their side defeated Hearts 3-1 to secure the league title. Thousands later gathered in the Trongate area of Glasgow, where clashes with police erupted. Missiles, including glass bottles, were thrown at officers who were attending a medical emergency, resulting in two police officers being seriously injured. Police made 14 arrests on the day—10 at Trongate and four at the stadium.
Calls for Legislation
There have been renewed calls to introduce specific legislation to criminalise pitch invasions, as has been the case in England and Wales since 1991. Speaking to the Press Association during a visit to Glasgow, Mr Swinney said the government would consider such a move alongside a consultation on reforming football banning orders, which closed before the election.
"We'll consider the issues involved in that," he said. "Obviously, we've undertaken a consultation around football banning orders that concluded just before the election. We've got an opportunity to consider that further after the election and the Government will do so."
First Minister Condemns Violence
Mr Swinney condemned the violence, stating: "At the weekend, there was astonishingly poor behaviour by a small minority of fans that were at the sporting occasion. Most of the fans that were there were there to celebrate the football, to observe their teams and caused absolutely no issues whatsoever. But a minority created real difficulties with the invasion of the pitch and then also with the scenes at the Trongate."
He added: "Any violence in our society is unacceptable and the violence that we saw at the weekend, which involved serious injury to police officers who were attending to a medical emergency involving a member of the public, is completely and utterly unacceptable."
Disorder Among Old Firm Fans
Disorder has become a recurring issue among fans of both Old Firm sides in recent years, including regular unplanned title celebrations at the Trongate. Questions have consistently been asked of the government about what can be done to prevent such incidents.
The First Minister said the government will continue to engage with local authorities and football bosses, pointing to the planned celebration of Hearts fans in Edinburgh, which would have taken place if the team had won the trophy. "Hearts, for example, engaged with the city council in Edinburgh and arranged a programme that would be designed to ensure an orderly celebration of the success of the club, if that had happened," he said.
"There was not a plan here in Glasgow for that and that resulted then in, I suppose, the acceptance that there was going to be some gathering at the Trongate and, based on the weekend, that was completely unacceptable."
Labour MSP Calls for Action
Local Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said he was "astonished" by the "lack of leadership" shown in curtailing the violence. He pushed for a ban on pitch invasions and an end to "tailgating," where people without tickets enter stadiums by staying close behind ticketholders. Mr Sweeney criticised the "disorganised hemming in" of fans in the city centre and called for a new approach, including a proper, organised fan zone at a location like Glasgow Green.
"Why don't we go further and actually create a proper, organised fan zone?" he asked. "Somewhere like Glasgow Green, easily accessible, with large spillover areas, enough distance between nearby buildings and premises so that the risk of vandalism is low."
Mr Sweeney called for Scotland to follow England by introducing legislation to ban pitch invasions and tailgating, and said clubs should be "sanctioned if necessary." He added: "It's almost like the young team culture of previous generations has now been imprinted onto football identities rather than local territorial identities, and we're seeing some of the sort of delinquent behaviour, or anti-social behaviour, manifesting around football clubs, and I think that's a disappointing trend."
Council Rejects Fanzone Idea
Glasgow City Council rejected the idea of a fanzone, stating: "It simply isn't credible to think that people who want to fight among themselves, vandalise buildings and infrastructure and throw bottles at the emergency services will attend a fanzone – or that any responsible organiser would consider letting them in."
A spokesman added: "Glasgow is unique in Europe in that a team from the city has won the league every season for the last four decades. This means we are likely to have fans celebrating in most years and, while the city has offered clubs senior technical support, it is clearly not possible for the council to bear that cost. We have been working with the city's two biggest clubs for the last year to look at how we reduce unacceptable ad-hoc celebrations. Although the behaviour of a minority of supporters on Saturday was deplorable, the numbers attending Trongate and Merchant City were significantly down on previous years."
