The Shame Game

The Shame Game

Oliver Reed the brooding English actor was well known for his hell raising behaviour when out on a drinking binge. His boozing buddies included George Best, Richard Harris, Keith Moon, Richard Burton, Alex Higgins, Peter O’Toole and even Steve McQueen. A normally shy man, alcohol changed him into something of a wild man. On one occasion he stripped naked and jumped into a large fish tank in the bar of the Madrid Hilton hotel. On another he arrived at Galway airport and was found drunk on the baggage carousel. The man who played Proximus the gladiator trainer in the movie Gladiator died on the second of  May  1999 on the floor of a bar. Some suggested it’s how he would have wanted to go but others spoke of a troubled alcoholic who lost a lot of friends and a lot of work due to his illness. You might wonder why I’m speaking of Oliver Reed on what is ostensibly a football page; well on the day Oliver died there was a gladiatorial event of another kind taking place in Glasgow and alcohol would play a part in the events which unfolded that day.

Celtic had gallantly fought to stop Rangers making it ten league titles in a row in the spring of 1998 but the following season was a troubled one for the Hoops. Under Dr Joe Venglos they had stuttered throughout the season although some fine performance lit up Celtic Park on occasion; not least the 5-1 mauling of Rangers in November 1998 when a certain Lubomir Moravcik first demonstrated his talents to the adoring home fans. However they slipped well behind Rangers in the league and a defeat at St Johnstone in late April meant that Rangers could clinch the title at Celtic Park for the first time in a century should they win. Celtic was hindered by a ridiculously long injury list which saw top team stalwarts such as McNamara, Gould, Boyd, Rieper, Moravcik, Burley and McKinley all out of the game. More than half the regular starting eleven would be missing and Celtic’s threadbare squad wasn’t providing adequate replacements. It was a big ask for this makeshift side to stop what was a powerful Rangers team.

Sky TV scheduled the match for a 6.05pm kick off and this allowed many among the 60,000 attending the game and hundreds of thousands watching in pubs and clubs to indulge their appetite for alcohol. It was a warm, sunny day and the bank holiday weekend meant many were free to drink without having to worry about work the following day. This combined with the usual tensions around the match and the possibility of Rangers winning the title at the home of their greatest rivals created a perfect storm of circumstances.

I recall thinking to myself as I watched the match begin how uncomfortable Celtic’s defence looked in the opening exchanges. Scott Marshall, brought in on loan, looked out of his depth and spooked by the whole experience. Mahe was clattering in with his usual ferocity but Rangers looked pacey and organised. It was going to be a long afternoon. It took just 12 minutes for Rangers to take the lead as the aforementioned Marshall was caught dreaming as Wallace squared for McCann to score. Worse was to follow when McCann fouled Mahe and the Frenchman completely lost his composure. Already on a yellow card he complained bitterly to Hugh Dallas the referee who gave him his second yellow and sent him packing. It seemed a little harsh and the referee, viewed by many Celtic supporters as and no friend of the club, came in for some industrial language from the stands.

Moments later he awarded Rangers a free kick by the corner flag and was seen to drop to one knee as a coin struck him. In scenes no decent football fan wanted to see he was treated on the field for a cut to his head. Seconds after recovering, play resumed and a cross into the box saw Tony Vidmar pushing and pulling with Vidar Riseth. The Rangers player threw himself to the ground and Mr Dallas pointed to the penalty spot. Paul Lambert remonstrated with the referee and even pointed at the whistlers head as if to ask ‘is that because you were hit by a coin?’ The referee was unmoved.

It was another marginal decision but some in the Celtic sections of the ground were feeling hard done by and one or two even tried to get at the referee. In an increasingly frenzied atmosphere, one Celtic fan even fell from the top tier of the stand onto fellow fans below. He was still shouting and waving his arms at the referee as he was stretchered away. Things were in danger of getting out of hand and it took a posse of stewards and Police to regain control and allow the game to continue.  Albertz arrowed the penalty low past Stuart Kerr and it was effectively all over for ten-man Celtic.

The second half was hard fought but another blunder by Scott Marshall allowed McCann to waltz into the Celtic box to score easily. Riseth and Wallace were sent off in the later stages of the game for stupid tackles before a sorry afternoon’s sport finally ended. The Rangers players rightly celebrated with their fans although there was no need for them to mock the Celtic huddle as they did so. This led to some patrons of the normally more sedate south stand to pelt them with more objects as they ran up the tunnel to safety. An ugly game was over but there was more trouble to come in the streets of Glasgow.

I reached the top of Millerston Street where it meets Duke Street in the aftermath of that game only to be greeted by a pitched battle going. Those of you who know the area will know a couple of pubs nearby which are not what you would call Celtic friendly. I spoke to a guy who was in one of those bars that day and he told me a group he described as ‘Combat 18’ (a Fascist group) had been drinking there and watching the game. They were also determined to attack Celtic fans after the game. This they did but the sheer number of Celtic fans pouring out of Celtic Park meant they were always likely to meet strong opposition. The ensuing violence was on a scale seldom seen even by the standards of Celtic v Rangers games. It took the arrival of dozens of policemen, sirens wailing to restore some order on what was a very ugly day in Glasgow.

Over 130 people were arrested in and around Celtic Park that day and the media went into a predictable frenzy. The match was dubbed the ‘shame game’ and Celtic fans and players were heavily criticised.  Rangers came in for some flak for their mock huddle but generally the ugly events inside the stadium were rightly laid at the feet of some of those who followed Celtic. Celtic released a letter to fans the following day threatening anyone involved in the trouble with lifetime bans. The media praised Hugh Dallas for his courage in the face of a poisonous atmosphere and failed to question any of his decisions.

Celtic released a report by a behavioural psychologist which looked at all aspects of the match that day from the match organisation, security, songs played over the tannoy to the fans invading the field to confront the referee. One paragraph in the report talked about the referee’s body language and gestures such as patting a Rangers player on the bottom. This section was seized upon by the press and portrayed as Celtic focussing solely on the referee’s behaviour when it wasn’t the case. It was spun to make it look like paranoia and Celtic trying to blame the official for the ugly events that day. Certainly Mr Dallas could have shown more common sense and compassion with Stephane Mahe and his later penalty award to Rangers was in the soft category but clearly the blame for the trouble that day lies solely with the idiots who threw coins or tried to invade the field. Nothing can excuse that sort of behaviour.

That match in May 1999 was followed just three weeks later by the Scottish cup final between the same two teams. In the aftermath of that game a 16 year old Celtic fan was murdered and another hoops fan was shot with a crossbow. That very evening as the Ibrox club celebrated their win, their Vice Chairman was filmed singing sectarian songs at their function. When a football match is leading to violence and death then it is up to us all to stop and ask what the hell is going on.

There was a lot of soul searching in Scottish football and society about the events of that sunny May 21 years ago. The usual condemnation of some supporters followed and the decent majority were of course appalled. The kick off time was raised as an issue as was the amount of alcohol that some had consumed. Alcohol may lower inhibitions but it often only brings to the surface feeling people already have in them but each individual must take responsibility for their own behaviour and not blame drink, referees or any other factor. We all want football to retain its passion and rivalries; it thrives on the drama and excitement that engenders. What we don’t want is hatred and hostility to lead to the sort of excesses we saw in Glasgow on the day of that so called ‘shame game.’  

Part of the problem in Scotland is that our two biggest and most successful teams dwarf all others and are in effect too big for Scottish football; it is now 35 years since a team out-with the big two won the title. This heightens their rivalry as they have found for most of their history the only viable challenger for the big prizes has been each other. If one is up then the other is down and being second is being nowhere.  Add to this mix the very different cultures and history surrounding the two clubs and it is a recipe for enmity. The sort of prejudices in Scottish society of which they were at one time just one facet have largely dissipated yet the rivalry has a life of its own and an energy which keeps it going. Playing in a bigger league with more rivals of equal stature would I’m sure refocus much of the energy which goes into their rivalry but that is unlikely to happen any time soon. So they are locked together in their loveless embrace and seemingly have no one else to dance with.