Football is, by definition, nothing without its fans. Of course, the behaviour of a minority of supporters before a game or on the terraces can be problematic – particularly so at emotionally-charged fixtures, such as local derbies. They don’t come much more local than the Old Firm derby between Glasgow Celtic and Rangers, two teams whose home stadia are separated by little more than four miles as the crow flies.
The rivalry between the pair goes deeper than mere geography, however. The bitterness between Celtic and Rangers has been exacerbated by competitive tensions – they are by far and away the most successful clubs in Scottish football, winning the top-tier division on 109 occasions between them, but also a deeper, more pertinent point of difference.
The sectarian element, with Celtic embracing the Catholic church and Rangers a Protestant heritage, leads to some of the more violent and troublesome clashes between the two sets of supporters, with an escalation of the aggression leading to a temporary ban on away fans at Old Firm games.
The Lockout
Although it’s not, sadly, that uncommon for games to be played behind closed doors in modern football – a punishment metered out to clubs whose fans consistently misbehave in the worst way, it’s rare that away fans specifically are the ones barred from spectating.
But that was the extreme decision taken at the end of the 2022/23 decision to eliminate the disorder that had been steadily growing in the number of acts of violence between fans of Celtic and Rangers. Representatives of the two clubs came together in March 2023 to agree to bar away supporters from Old Firm derbies for the foreseeable future, with concerns over the security of fans at the stadium and in policing Glasgow as a whole on match day.
Limited Away Fan Numbers
It was a continuation of a decision taken during the global health crisis, when the numbers of away fans present were capped in order to adhere to government guidelines on stadium allocations. But even after those were lifted, the two clubs decided to restrict the number of away supporters attending Old Firm games in a bid to make the policing of the stadia much easier – just 800 away fans were allowed at clashes between the sides as far back as 2018, which is down nearly 90% on previous capacities of 7,000.
The ill feeling between the clubs intensified during this period, as Rangers ‘unilaterally’ decided to reduce away capacity to 800 without first discussing the matter with Celtic – the Hoops later deciding that their fans wouldn’t be ‘doubly penalised’, and so reduced the ticket allocation for Old Firm games to just 800 for Rangers supporters as well.
Happily, the two clubs came together prior to the 2024/25 campaign and agreed to admit a higher number of away fans for the last two Old Firm derbies – a figure fixed at 5% of the overall capacity of Celtic Park (around 3,000 Rangers fans) and Ibrox (approximately 2,500 Celtic supporters).
They would, however, be forced to miss out on the clashes between the sides earlier in the campaign, while the situation was complicated when Rangers were forced to temporarily move from Ibrox to Hampden Park after the completion of renovation work on their home stadium was delayed.
A Whole Lot of History
You’d do well to name a rivalry in football more ferocious than that of Celtic and Rangers. As mentioned, it’s a feud that goes much deeper than eleven versus eleven on the pitch – you sense that many fans of the two teams would forego league success and silverware in exchange for the thrill of beating their main rival.
They first met in a competitive game in 1888, which offers a glimpse of the longevity of this enduring rivalry. Ironically, those early meetings created the Old Firm nickname – according to some sources, a commentator described the two sides as being like ‘old, firm friends’.
Catholics vs Protestants
Any friendliness that existed between the Glasgow neighbours was soon eroded, however. The fanbases of the teams are separated on almost tribal grounds, with the children of Celtic fans typically attending a catholic school in the city and kids of Rangers supporters enrolled at Protestant schools.
Although something of a generalisation in this day and age, there’s still evidence of that divide even at a young age – is it any wonder that the club’s respective supporters grow up with a distaste for the other? Those religious differences have extended into the operations of the football clubs too. Once upon a time, nominally in the 20th century, Rangers expressly would not sign players of the catholic faith, while Irish players also tended to be shunned unless they were a vocal opponent of catholic ideals.
1989: Rangers Signed Former Celtic Player
That all changed in 1989, when Rangers boss, Graeme Souness, signed former Celtic forward, Mo Johnston, a move that did not exactly ingratiate him to the Gers faithful. Season tickets were torn up and scarves burned; not only was Johnston a catholic, but he had also been a hugely successful player for Celtic – occasionally celebrating provocatively in front of the Rangers fans when scoring for the Hoops in an Old Firm game.
Johnson went on to average roughly a goal-every-other-game for Rangers, so some fans were able to forgive him – although not all did. Since he paved the way, many more catholics have gone on to play for the club.
Players that have moved to one of the Glasgow clubs have spoken of their shock at just how intense the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers is. Henrik Larsson, who played in El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid and De Klassieker, contested by Ajax and Feyenoord in the Netherlands, couldn’t believe his eyes or ears. He said,
I never experienced anything, either before or after, that compared to my Old Firm games in Scotland. That was the best atmosphere and those were the most fierce encounters I ever played in.
There has been more than a century of Old Firm games, and you’d like to think there will be centuries more of them too – hopefully, with away supporters allowed in the stadium to full capacity.
