How Much Longer Before Scottish Football Lances This Boil

TO THOSE Scottish football fans who do not follow the Old Firm, the perennial Hatfields and McCoys or Capulets and Montagues of the game up here are: “twa cheeks o' the same erse”. “Wan is as bad as the ither” is the verdict on the street.

There are differences too in the approach of the two “families”. The Celtic Family sees themselves as: “The Greatest Fans In The World”, they occupy the moral high ground, convinced of their own superiority.

The two tribes exchange pleasantries

Across the city: “No one likes us – we don't care”, because: “We Are The People”.

Truth is, there are good and bad in both camps – as there are in the support of every Scottish club. The fact there are more hooligans following the Big Two than, perhaps, all the rest put together, simply magnifies the extent of the problem.

This week, after their Champions League qualifier against Linfield, it was Celtic in the dock. Leigh Griffiths picked-up a one-game ban, for his behaviour at the end of the first leg – when he tied a Celtic scarf to one of the goal posts; having earlier been yellow carded - for “time wasting”, when he complained to the Italian referee, after having a half-bottle, which once held Buckfast, and several coins and other missiles flung at him.

You would need a heart of stone not to sympathise with wee Leigh for the booking, but, the ban for intimidating the Linfield fans – yet another chapter in the ongoing saga of Leigh, the daft wee laddie.

Leigh Griffiths - sometimes a daft wee laddie

Celtic also copped a fine from the first leg, after having five players booked. Their tenth fine in the last five years in Europe.

Then came the second leg, and more trouble for Celtic – reported to UEFA for a breach of the competition's kit regulations, seminglyly for having a sponsor's logo on the substitutes' warm-up tabards. Then, the behaviour of the most-Ultra section of the Celtic support, the so-called Green Brigade, further incurred UEFA's wrath. This seems certain, under UEFA's strict liability code of supporter conduct, seems likely to see them writing-out another sizeable cheque to be forwarded to UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Celtic, club and fans, have built-up in recent years, a thick file of what the courts term: “previous” - this means, the club and its fans are being watched; the chances are, misbehaviour by a Celtic player, or their fans, will be picked-up on by referees and UEFA observers, whereas, the same misconduct, by another club or its fans, might be overlooked.

In the bad old days, when it was suggested/assumed that Scotland's referees by and large supported the other side, and that membership of a masonic or Orange lodge was mandatory for elevation to Grade One refereeing status in Scotland, Jock Stein would urge his players to: “take the referee out of the equation”, by NOT giving them cause to perhaps give decisions against Celtic. Maybe Brendan Rodgers should be stressing this, hard, to his squad and backroom staff on a daily basis.

Big Jock - his: "take the referees out of the equation" mantra made sense

I appreciate, as with Leigh Griffiths in Belfast, it is difficult to turn the other cheek, but, it is not impossible.

During Stein's time, Celtic also introduced a fans liaison officer; if memory serves me correctly former Celtic and Scotland left-back Jim Kennedy was the first. He had authority to go along to supporters club meetings and tell them straight, if their behaviour did not meet with the club's approval. Whoever has the job today, he needs to be a bit firmer with some elements, not least the so-caled Green Brigade, who give the impression of being out of and beyond control.

 Jim Kennedy - Celtic's first fans liaison officer

Across the city, there was, at one time, apparently, less tolerance of unacceptable behaviour by fans. I have been told by a former Strathclyde Police Match Commander at Ibrox, he has seen club officials remove and rip-up in front of them, season ticket books belonging to fans who had been caught misbehaving inside Ibrox.

The copper felt this was a bit extreme, but, accepts it cured one or two miscreants – sadly, not enough.

We keep hearing: “It's not a football problem, its a cultural problem peculiar to Scotland”. Maybe so, and, as such, it is not the game's problem.

BUT, if football worked harder at ridding itself of the stigma of unacceptable behaviour, while the problem would still exist – it would no longer exist in football. Football can cleanse itself, however, the will to do this has to be there within the game, and right now, I cannot see that it is.

Fan ownership of clubs is perhaps the Holy Grail. It may happen across all clubs some day, but not any time soon. Meanwhile, perhaps if the clubs brought-in some kind of membership deals, which saved their core support money, and engaged them more with how the club is doing, longer term, behaviour would improve.

For instance, received wisdom has it, the worst examples of offensive behaviour at football tends to surface at away games involving the Big Two. With their massive fan bases, the easiest way for the clubs to distribute the insufficient number of tickets they get for away games, is through the official supporters clubs.

So, if unacceptable singing is heard coming from that section of an away stadium where the club knows Supporters Club A's members were seated, it would be easy to tell that club: “Your behaviour on Saturday was unacceptable – your club will not be getting tickets for the next three games”. The onus would then be on the real fans to self-police the nutters and get rid of them.

Same thing at home games – in fact even easier. Monitor the fans, if supporters club members or, more-crucially season-ticket holders are caught offending: first offence, warn; second offence, suspend; third offence – ban.

Longer term, education is called for. I have nothing against the traditional “folk songs” on the Rangers side – provided they don't have the FTP add-ons. I actually think the Famine Song, while some of it is historically shite, is a very good wind-up of the “Plastic Paddies” on the other side.

On the other side, I have nothing against some of the great Irish protest songs – I love the Fields of Athenry for instance. But, what the hell have these Irish songs got to do with Scottish football? They are ridiculous and unnecessary – both sides, get rid. If that's your “culture”, then it is way past time for a cultural change.

That's for the clubs, BUT, the biggest stumbling block to ridding football of the plook on its countenance of offensive behaviour, is the abject failure of the SFA to do something.

UEFA has, as Celtic keeps finding-out to its cost, a code of strict liability on clubs, to be responsible for their fans' and players' behaviour, good or bad. If the SFA would introduce a similar code, backed-up by points deductions for infractions, the clubs would be forced to act, to rid the game of the lunatics who so besmirch it; to engage more with their fans as I have outlined and to make football-going in Scotland a more-pleasurable experience.

How long must we wait for this to happen?

And, let there be no doubts, bad behaviour at Scottish football is NOT confined to the Big Two and their followers, but, if they can be brought to heel, the "diddy" teams will also clean up their lesser tribute acts.