Ally McCoist stunned by ‘Madness’ ahead of Rangers SPFL clash v Celtic
Ally McCoist has branded the new hate bill in Scotland as “madness” ahead of Sunday’s Old Firm derby between Rangers and Celtic.
A new bill was passed which creates a new offence of “threatening or abusive behaviour that is intended to stir up hatred” on the grounds of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity.
But reacting to the news ahead of the game live on talkSPORT (2 April), Ibrox legend McCoist called it madness and guaranteed that it would be broken during the game.
“We’ve got a hate bill. By the way, a hate bill has been passed in the country,” he said.
“And I can guarantee you, next Sunday at Ibrox, I, along with 48,000 will be committing a breach of that hate bill in the particular Rangers vs Celtic game we are all going to. It is madness.”
Rangers and Celtic rivalry is beyond football
Hate crimes and tragedy chanting are not something that anyone wants to see or hear in football, and the law to punish people who take part makes sense.
However in such a fiery derby and a rivalry which is far beyond football, policing such a law among 48,000 people is essentially impossible.
There will be no Celtic fans in the stands once again, so the chances of any violence or clashes between the fans are incredibly slim.
McCoist knows it’s madness to try and bring into the football world, especially for this game but in an ideal world the hate speech and chants wouldn’t happen either.
Rangers will look to go into the game and win, and do their talking on the pitch so all of this can be forgotten, but it’s something to keep an eye on now.
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart drops new injury issue ahead of Celtic that he spotted.
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