Rangers fans warned by Australian sports minister ahead of Old Firm clash
Rangers and Celtic supporters have been sternly warned by New South Wales sports minister Stuart Ayres ahead of their overseas Old Firm game.
The two Glaswegian rivals will play the very first Old Firm derby outside of Scotland in November as both sides head to Australia for the Sydney Super Cup.
Ayres is keen for the eight-day event to be a resounding success but reassured that the behaviour of supporters would be a crucial part of making the event work.
Speaking at a launch event for the competition, Ayres said, as quoted by Rangers Review: “It’s not 1984, it’s 2022, and we love passion, we love noise, but we want safe environments that people can come to.
“We’ve got a long runway, the event’s in November, we’ll do a lot of clear messaging around ticket sales and expectations of fan behaviour: come along, have a great time, just don’t be a [swear].
“We’re a well-experienced city when it comes to running large-scale, major events. We’ll engage with the clubs, we’ll take advice from them around preparations.”
Money machine
The supporters of both clubs have been vocal in their discontent at the Old Firm being played in Australia but there looks to be no stopping the plans going ahead.
Rangers against Celtic has always been a landmark day in Glasgow and Scottish sport in general but you can’t imagine the same buzz being created in a friendly on the other side of the world.
For fans already down under, it’s a rare opportunity to see their club in action, not through a television screen in the middle of the night but even those might admit that an Old Firm not at Ibrox or Parkhead doesn’t seem right.
With both clubs being drawn together in the Scottish Cup semi-final and games between the two already at four or five per season, this friendly seems rather unnecessary except for one reason, money.
The cash injection from this tournament perhaps makes the trip worthwhile but that comes at the expense of the fans which is always a tricky subject to contend with.
In other Rangers news, BBC Sportscene pundits have been reacting to the latest Ibrox developments this week.