As baseball season begins, the fires of age-old rivalries spark back to life. Consider that New York Yankee fans have hated the Boston Red Sox fans since the moment Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1919.
The legacy of sportsmanship has always been intertwined with the passions of fiercely loyal fans. From the mountaintops of Nepal to the jungles of South America, athletic events may differ in format, but they all share one feature in common: fans who display their antipathy toward the opponent with cruel banter. It is this mania of the fans that has turned sports into a worldwide franchise, where teams from across the globe engage in competitions with each other. While this fact allows fans to display their sense of patriotism, pride, and loyal affiliation, it has also opened to public view the horrific results of everlasting vendettas and omertas.
A Soccer Rivalry in Scotland
In the U.S., fan rivalries occasionally get out of hand (think: Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants, Yankees vs. Mets); however, deep in the heart of Scotland, in the region of Glasgow, a tribal hostility has existed between two prestigious soccer teams for more than a century like nothing we have ever seen on U.S. soil. The rivalry between fans of the Celtics and Rangers has resulted in numerous counts of felonies and even murders.
Tracing this hostility back to its foundations, each team was established within Scotland for a sole purpose. According to an article in Global Post by Peter Geoghegan, the Celtics was found in 1887 by the Marist Brothers as a way to raise funds, hoping that the flood of Irish immigrants into Scotland in the 19th Century would support a team of Catholic players that excluded Protestants. The Rangers team was nationally established by Scotland itself. With the Celtics rooted in Catholicism and the Rangers in Protestantism, it was evident from the beginning that the teams would clash. In a Slate article by Brian Phillips, it is reported that in 1909, during the Scottish Cup finals between the Celtics and Rangers, fans engaged one another with Molotov cocktails, stones, and fists, to the point where historian Goldblatt said that the match was “the first full-scale football riot.”
No Easy Solution
Despite the problems, Scotland has not been eager to put an end to the rivalry. In a Blechreporter, Yoosef Farah’s article “Celtic-Rangers: Old Firm the Most Heated Rivalry in World Football?” reported that the rivalry is said to be worth $120 million euros in Scotland’s economy. In addition, a Fifa article notes that both teams have competed in a combined tally of 159 league championships and Scottish Cups (the Rangers have an edge with 152 wins to the Celtics’ 138 wins). However, there has been some effort to calm the hostilities between these teams. The ban on alcohol in stadiums was created after the 1980 Scottish Cup finals, where, as described in Independent’s “Rangers and Celtics: Disunited they Stand,” the fans on both sides fought against one another, fueled by hatred and liquor. But more needed to be done to combat the ever-growing hate between team fans.
The BBC’s “A Rivalry Tied Up to Religion” reported that both teams have poured thousands of pounds into a program they hope would end bigotry and sectarianism. Started in 2005, the Old Firm Alliance Initiative, strives to educate youngsters on the ideals of sportsmanship and compassion and on the dangers of bigotry.
Glasgow, a city defined by its national sport, has tried its best to inject a proper optimistic spirit in the fans of the two iconic teams. However, in 2012, the issue seemed moot. In Geoghehan’s article, it was reported that the fan battle was temporarily halted in 2012 when the Celtics were relocated to a lower-tier league due to bankruptcy, thus separating the Catholics from the Protestants. Unfortunately, in September of 2013, British soldiers allegedly joined in the singing of sectarian folks and chanting at Ranger’s Ibrox Stadium.
The Old Firm has caused many to be severely injured. Locked in an inner tribal conflict, Glasgow and the nation of Scotland are fighting to infuse a sense of joy and pacifism in their beloved sport of soccer. Though violence in sports is seen around the world, the crossfire in Scotland is excessive and dangerous due to the history behind it, the eternal animosity it has created, and the failed efforts of the government to resolve the bloodshed.