Club 1872 met this week with Police Scotland to discuss the upcoming Old Firm match. Amidst concerns that our fans could be targeted, they have assured us that there will be fair and even-handed policing of the match. It is also clear that extra resources have been made available to them to facilitate the possibility of a more direct approach during the match in dealing with unacceptable behaviour.
Police Scotland will be closely monitoring behaviour in and around bus parks and have particularly mentioned that neither alcohol consumption nor anti-social behaviour will be tolerated.
Club 1872 supports Rangers Football Club in its efforts to promote the exemplary behaviour exhibited by the vast majority of our supporters, and to discourage any conduct that may damage the Club’s reputation or put people at risk. We recall the standards modelled by Bill Struth as we encourage every supporter to act as a representative of Rangers Football Club and “all that such a name means”. Policing at home games has been able to be significantly scaled down in recent years to reflect the high standard of behaviour amongst our support. Club 1872 encourages travelling supporters to maintain those standards on Sunday and beyond.
We recognise the efforts of the vast majority our supporters in avoiding any behaviour which could be deemed to be offensive, but we are also well aware that in the past two Old Firm matches our supporters have been subjected to unacceptable behaviour from groups of Celtic fans including hanging effigies and large, organised sectarian displays. We would urge all Rangers supporters to rise above any attempts to provoke behaviour that could lead to police attention. Police Scotland have assured us that incidents like those mentioned will be dealt with by them even if it takes several weeks or months to identify the culprits.
As Rangers supporters we represent our club in the same way that the players, staff and management team do. We are Rangers. Each and every one of us has a responsibility to uphold the Club’s good name. Club 1872 calls upon all Rangers fans to vocally support our team and likewise to support efforts to maintain a safe and enjoyable match-day experience for all. We would appreciate your support in promoting and sharing this message.
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