Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has declined 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.
Pitch Invasion and Violence
Fans stormed the pitch before the final whistle at Celtic Park as Celtic defeated Hearts 3-1 to secure the league title. Later, thousands gathered in Glasgow’s Trongate area, leading to clashes with police. Two officers were seriously injured after being struck by missiles, including glass bottles, while attending a medical emergency. Police made 14 arrests on the day.
Calls for Legislation
There have been demands to introduce specific laws criminalising pitch invasions, similar to legislation in England and Wales that has been in place since 1991. Speaking during a visit to Glasgow, Mr Swinney said the government would consider the issue alongside a consultation on reforming football banning orders that concluded before the election. “We’ll consider the issues involved in that,” he stated.
Mr Swinney condemned the violence, saying: “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.”
Government Engagement
The First Minister emphasised that the government would continue to engage with local authorities and football clubs to prevent future disorder. He contrasted the lack of planning in Glasgow with Hearts’ proposed celebration in Edinburgh, which would have been organised with the city council. “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,” he said.
Mr Swinney added: “The Government will engage with the football clubs, with the football authorities and with the local authorities to take what steps we can take to avoid this happening, and if there are further legislative steps that we’ve got to consider to make sure that these issues are addressed, then we will do that.”
Political Reactions
Local Labour MSP Paul Sweeney expressed astonishment at the “lack of leadership” to curtail the violence and called for a ban on pitch invasions and “tailgating”—where people without tickets enter stadiums by closely following ticketholders. He proposed creating an organised fan zone at a location like Glasgow Green, which would be easily accessible and reduce risks of vandalism. Mr Sweeney also urged Scotland to follow England in introducing legislation against pitch invasions and tailgating, and suggested clubs should be “sanctioned if necessary.”
He observed: “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 Response
Glasgow City Council rejected the idea of a fanzone, arguing that individuals intent on violence and vandalism would not attend such an area. A spokesman noted: “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.”
The council highlighted Glasgow’s unique record of having a city team win the league every season for four decades, meaning celebrations are frequent. It stated that while it has offered clubs technical support, it cannot bear the full cost. “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,” the spokesman added.
