The Scottish Cup Final: Rangers v Hibs

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Taking a forward off(Waghorn) and replacing him with the useless Clark was a mistake whilst we were 2-1 ahead.

Hibz substitutions were effective. Ours weren't

Waghorn was spent. Down with cramp twice before going off. Frankly he wasn't any better than Clark before going off.

[jhunter 0]

 

Must admit i am amazed that our fans didn't react en masse and considering the number of actual children in that morass of scumbags on the pitch the real permanent harm didn't come to anyone

 

and where were the riot/mounted police at this point?

Edited May 23, 2016 by jhunter

[ian1964 10,417]

ALEX MacDONALD, the legendary former Rangers player, led calls last night for Hibernian to be kicked out of European football as the Ibrox club aimed a withering blast at Rod Petrie, the Easter Road chairman and Scottish Football Association vice-president, and demanded an independent inquiry into the violence that scarred the William Hill Scottish Cup final.

 

MacDonald was involved in the pre-match entertainment ahead of Hibernian’s historic 3-2 win and was appalled by the disgraceful scenes following the final whistle in which Rangers players and staff were attacked on their way off the field by supporters of the opposing team.

 

His demands for Hibernian to be banned from participating in next season’s Europa League were followed by Rangers making an explosive statement in which they defended the actions of their fans caught up in on-field violence and lashed out at all manner of individuals from Petrie to Police Scotland, the SFA and Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister.

 

MacDonald was a member of the Rangers team which beat Moscow Dynamo to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in Barcelona in 1972 and found itself excluded from European competition for two years as a result of a post-match pitch invasion.

 

“Hibs should be kicked out of Europe for what happened on Saturday,” he said. “It was absolutely shocking.

 

“We were banned in 1972 when our supporters were attacked by the Spanish police and there is no comparison between that and what happened at Hampden.

 

“Rangers players were assaulted. It was diabolical. Thank God none of them were seriously injured.

 

“What are the authorities going to do about this? Hibs don’t deserve to represent Scotland in Europe after the behaviour of the fans.”

 

Rangers stated their position on the official club website and targeted Petrie over his insistence the disgraceful scenes were down to “exuberance”.

 

“Rangers finds it incomprehensible that no-one, either from within the Scottish FA or Hibernian Football Club, has condemned Hibernian’s supporters following the violent scenes at the end of yesterday’s Scottish Cup final when Rangers players and members of our backroom staff were physically and verbally assaulted,” read the statement.

 

“We have not even had the courtesy of any contact whatsoever from Hibernian to ask after the wellbeing of those who were attacked by their club’s supporters.

 

“There must be a full independent investigation into the shameful scenes at Hampden.

 

“No matter how many times Hibernian’s chairman and Scottish FA vice-chairman, Rod Petrie, and certain other biased commentators wish to play down Saturday’s mayhem and violence, the truth must not be distorted. What unfolded on Saturday cannot and must not be put down to exuberance. That is a complete insult to Rangers, our supporters, and those individuals who were intimidated and attacked.

 

“It was clear to most of those who watched in horror that the Scottish FA’s security procedures failed when Hibernian’s fans went over the top in their thousands.

 

“We acknowledge that a tiny minority of Rangers fans also encroached on the pitch, but only after having been faced with prolonged and severe provocation in order to protect our players and officials, who were being visibly attacked in front of them. Any club’s supporters would have done the same.

 

"This is the second time in a year that Rangers fans have had to endure attacks by another club’s supporters.

 

“It must also be said that it was not at all helpful to see leading members of the Scottish Government, including the First Minister, whose parish is Govan, passing comment on social media without any attempt to condemn the behaviour of Hibernian’s fans.

 

“Rangers demands that players, staff and fans be protected from the violence and hatred of supporters of other clubs. Rangers fully expects the SFA and Police Scotland to take action to provide our people with a safe environment.”

 

Alan Stubbs, the Hibernian manager, moved to set the record straight after his side's parade around Leith and claimed the Easter Road will accept any punishment that may come their way.

 

“No-one at this football club - the players, everybody - we don’t condone it whatsoever, we don’t condone any of the scenes afterwards," he said.

 

“Whatever happens, we will have to take it on the chin as a club.”

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14509420.SFA_urged_to_kick_Hibs_out_of_Europe_as_Rangers_demand_full_inquiry_into_cup_final_violence/#articleContinue

[ian1964 10,417]

Disabled fans at Hampden blast police after fears they would be trampled during pitch riot

 

07:26, 23 May 2016

Updated 07:26, 23 May 2016

By Gary Ralston

 

DOZENS of disabled fans were left terrified as rival supporters stormed the pitch and police have been accused of doing nothing to help the vulnerable.

 

THE chairman of the Rangers Disabled Supporters Club has branded policing of the Scottish Cup final “pathetic.”

 

Wheelchair-bound Billy Paterson said his members feared for their safety after Hibs fans ran across the pitch to goad them in the South Stand at Hampden.

 

Paterson, 51, told how up to 40 disabled fans and their carers finally made their way to safety, only to fear they would be trampled by mounted police sent in to quell the chaos.

 

Read more: Every Rangers player on pitch was attacked or spat on by Hibs fans during Hampden riot

 

Paterson, from Fraserburgh , said: “The reaction of police and stewards – what little there was – was pathetic and far too slow.

 

“We attempted to move towards the exit at the end of the game, only to be confronted by hundreds of Hibs fans who ran to goad us and other Rangers fans.

 

“Police and stewards stood and did nothing. Police continued to video-record Rangers fans in our end of the ground when all of this was going on behind them.

 

“We were shouting at them to react, but they blanked us and continued to film. The police made no attempts to help.

 

“Other Rangers fans came down to the front, in support of us. Our members were pretty scared.”

 

Disabled fans eventually had a path cleared towards the tunnel between the south and west stands where they traditionally exit, only to be confronted by mounted police.

 

Read more: Hampden riot: Rangers launch scatter-gun attack on Hibs, the SFA, football pundits and Nicola Sturgeon

 

Paterson added: “The mounted police took forever to arrive, at least a good 10 minutes after the pitch had been invaded.

 

“Police horses charged through the tunnel as we were making our exit at either side and it was dangerous and uncomfortable.

 

“When you’re in a wheelchair and they are coming through at a fair canter, it’s not unusual for horses to slip on concrete.

 

“To cap it all, when we did eventually get to the car park, they refused us permission to leave. The delay only increased the risk of us leaving the stadium at the same time as Hibs fans.

 

Read more: Do you know these thugs? Task force set up to hunt down hooligans who marred Rangers v Hibs Cup Final

 

“There should be a full investigation. What’s the point of police and stewards if they do nothing when required? Whoever was in control of planning got it badly wrong.”

 

Read more at http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/disabled-fans-hampden-blast-police-8029606#Mj13r6owvQgQ6QzY.99

[JFK-1 1,675]

 

I take exception to this part of it.

 

DOZENS of disabled fans were left terrified as rival supporters stormed the pitch

 

That implies Rangers fans were from the start storming the pitch in the same fashion and in equivalent numbers Hibs did which is nothing like the truth. The Rangers fans were a miniscule percentage of all bodies on the pitch and wouldn't have been there at all if not for THOUSANDS of the Hibs menagerie invading the pitch and charging towards the Rangers end.

Edited May 23, 2016 by JFK-1

[ian1964 10,417]

Football: Thousands take to the streets to celebrate Hibs' long-awaited Scottish Cup triumph

May 23rd, 2016 - 12:10 am Martin Hannan

No comments

 

IT had been a long time coming, but yesterday Edinburgh turned green and white to welcome home Hibernian with the Scottish Cup, so dramatically won against Rangers on Saturday.

 

Crowds some 10 deep in places lined the streets from the City Chambers to Leith Links as a gold-coloured open-top Lothian Buses special conveyed the players and staff of the club on a victory parade that Hibs haven’t held for the Scottish Cup since 1902.

 

Flanked by club owner Sir Tom Farmer, chairman Ron Petrie and the baton-wielding High Constables of Leith, Lord Provost Donald Wilson told the civic reception: “History was made yesterday.”

 

Such was the cheer he received that Lord Provost Wilson repeated: “History was made yesterday.”

 

He then joked about there being 32 Lord Provosts since the last time Hibs won the Cup, and quipped “let’s not wait so long for the next time.” He added: “There’s a great buzz in the city and it’s a great day of celebration, a great day to celebrate because at last it’s here.”

 

There will be repercussions following the pitch invasion and violence at Hampden and yesterday there was a report of fighting in Leith, though some Hibs fans hooted with laughter when told by The National that Rangers fans had started a petition to have them kept out of European football. “Show me a poor loser,” said green-swathed John Clarke, “and I’ll show you a loser.”

 

No-one at that point knew that Rangers had issued a strongly worded statement attacking Hibs, the SFA, the media, the Scottish Government and particularly First Minister Nicola Sturgeon for failing to condemn the “mayhem and violence” that followed the match.

 

The statement said: “Rangers finds it incomprehensible that no-one, either from within the Scottish FA or Hibernian Football Club, has condemned Hibernian’s supporters following the violent scenes at the end of yesterday’s Scottish Cup final when Rangers players and members of our backroom staff were physically and verbally assaulted.

 

“We have not even had the courtesy of any contact whatsoever from Hibernian to ask after the wellbeing of those who were attacked by their club’s supporters.”

 

It added: “It is to be hoped all of Scottish football will share Rangers’ disgust and any attempts to attach blame to our supporters for the disgraceful and violent behaviour, which led to our players and fans fearing for their safety, will not be accepted or tolerated by this club.”

Not that any one in Edinburgh knew or cared about Rangers and their statement which, very embarrassingly for the Ibrox club, had to be amended after the named journalists proved they were innocent of the charge of playing down the incidents.

 

As the Hibs contingent boarded the bus outside the City Chambers, there was only joy on the faces of supporters and players alike. It should be recorded that a few sporting souls in the maroon colours of Hearts also joined in the celebrations – but not too many. On the bus, the players who know they have just become football’s equivalent of immortals took selfies and other picturesto create unforgettable memories.

 

Down the High Street the bus proceeded, and across North Bridge, fans flooding in behind the police vehicles behind the bus as they went.

 

On Leith Walk itself, fans waited patiently until the police outriders in front of the bus came into sight and a rolling cheer swept down the Walk like one giant wave of sound.

 

At Leith Links, an impromptu mass rendition of club anthem Sunshine on Leith written by lacked only the presence of sun for perfection as the skies briefly clouded over. The most popular song of the day? “When Hibs go up to lift the Scottish Cup, we’ll be there, we’ll be there.” For many thousands of happy Hibees yesterday, at last the song had meaning.

 

http://www.thenational.scot/sport/football-thousands-take-to-the-streets-to-celebrate-hibs-long-awaited-scottish-cup-triumph.17885

[jhunter 0]

Not that any one in Edinburgh knew or cared about Rangers and their statement which, very embarrassingly for the Ibrox club, had to be amended after the named journalists proved they were innocent of the charge of playing down the incidents

 

did it?

 

its still there and the names are still on it.

[ian1964 10,417]

Keith Jackson: Rod Petrie's defence of the indefensible is a disgrace ... he must apologise or be stripped of SFA blazer

 

KEITH reckons the Hibs chairman has made a Rod for his own back with his comments following the disgusting scenes after the Scottish Cup final on Saturday.

 

NO sorrow. Not this time.

 

But having waited 114 years to savour the unbridled joy of Scottish Cup glory, no sooner had it consumed them than they had immersed themselves and their football club in an altogether different emotion.

 

Deep, deep shame.

 

On many levels, it was perhaps understandable that so many of these supporters temporarily lost the ability to control their own emotions when the final whistle sounded and all at once they were released from a curse which had haunted them since 1902.

 

But the consequences of their actions will be remembered for just as long.

 

Shame? There is no more appropriate word for it and not just because the pitch invasion made all of Scotland cringe.

 

It was a shame, a terrible shame, and for none more than Hibs skipper David Gray whose performance was heroic from his first tackle until the injury-time header which sealed his club’s most monumental win.

 

Gray deserved this moment of history. He also deserved the honour of walking his team up the steps to lift the oldest trophy in the game without the embarrassment of doing so against a backdrop of thuggery and carnage.

 

Gray should be remembered as the captain who conquered one of the longest running hoodoos in football.

 

His Cup-lifting portrait should hang in the memories of all who witnessed this triumph as a permanent reminder of sporting achievement.

 

Instead, it will be impossible to look at this crowning moment without also being bombarded by grotesque flashbacks of all that is ugly and shameful about football in this country.

 

Gray does not deserve to be tainted by association but that’s precisely how it will be.

 

How dare these unruly morons rob him of any part of this glory?

 

They ought to feel ashamed not just for vandalising Gray’s postscript but also that of their team and manager for that matter. Alan Stubbs, it must be said, handled the entire post-match crisis with a statesmanlike touch.

 

This was his triumph, too, but instead of being able to savour and relish it, it felt as if he was attempting to justify his own joy.

 

When the first wave of invaders made it as far as his dugout, Stubbs did not indulge them.

 

Rather, he ushered them away and pleaded with them to return to the stands.

 

Unlike them, Stubbs had the awareness to realise the damage which was being done.

 

When he spoke afterwards he was defending his right to feel proud of his players and of their achievement while also acknowledging that it had been tarnished by the disorder which followed and that there should rightly be a price to pay.

 

By confronting the ugly truth, the composed and considered Stubbs excelled himself.

 

His oafish chairman, on the other hand, caused Hibs even further embarrassment by describing the events of the day as harmless “exuberance”.

 

Rod Petrie, let’s not forget, is not just the man in charge of Hibs but also the vice-president of the SFA. And he was glibly playing it all down while, yards away, a stoney faced chief executive Stewart Regan was facing the cameras to express a level of unqualified mortification on the association’s behalf.

 

If Petrie has any self awareness or (to use that word again) shame, then he will apologise for his crassness and especially for appearing to cast aspersions on claims Rangers players and backroom staff were assaulted.

 

Sources at Ibrox insist not one of their players escaped up the tunnel without being spat on, kicked, punched or shoved and it’s understood manager Mark Warburton and assistant David Weir were incensed by Petrie’s comments.

 

In fact, if Petrie does not go public with his remorse and regret then he should be carpeted by Regan on a charge of bringing the game into disrepute and stripped of his Hampden blazer.

 

Regan, too, has questions to answer because once again this was a scandal which occurred on his watch.

 

Also – just like Petrie – Regan gushed with praise for the police and stewards almost as if it was a default position when, in fact, there should be serious misgivings over their lack of numbers and cohesion.

 

Regan says there were 1000 of them on duty but where exactly were they all hiding when the madness began to descend?

 

The cordon around the perimeter of the pitch was paltry and easily breached.

 

Such slackness in security would never have been allowed had Rangers been playing Celtic in the final.

 

That was one thing. So huge was this invasion that perhaps no amount of stewards in high-vis jackets could have prevented it.

 

But, having been caught on the hop by this green-and-white tsunami, it seemed to take an eternity for those in charge to get a handle on the seriousness of the situation never mind bring it under any kind of control.

 

What seemed extraordinary was the apparent failure of the authorities to recognise

immediately the need to keep Rangers fans from retaliating.

 

In fact, it seemed to surprise them when thugs from that end did indeed seize the open opportunity to run amok and a critical situation threatened to become a catastrophic one.

 

It is fortunate that a full-scale riot did not ensue. That the violence was restricted to sporadic clashes was an enormous relief as well as a victory for good fortune over good strategy.

 

The fact of the matter is, Police Scotland got lucky.

 

Eventually, when a sufficient number of their officers had been deployed, they were able to drive the Hibs supporters back.

 

Yes, it was a welcome relief to see some sort of order restored by those brave boys in blue but the initial rabbit-in-headlights reaction by their superiors was not impressive at all.

 

All of which makes the appraisals of Petrie and Regan seem ill judged.

 

The question now is, what should be done about it all.

 

It is likely that the match commander Alan Murray will have some explaining to do because the Scottish Government should be all over the dangerous failings of the police.

 

As for what should be done to Hibs? This will likely have to wait until Hampden Park is no longer a crime scene and the criminal investigation has been completed.

 

Also, the SFA will be restricted in what sanctions they can dish out because of a lack of strict liability legislation but that does not mean they will escape unpunished.

 

It’s too early, though, to say if that will come in the form of expulsion from next season’s competition or denial of a Europa League place.

 

No, for now, all that is certain is their shame. Even when they won the Cup they still Hibsed it.

 

Read more at http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-rod-petries-defence-8027128#KeCXPV059pFSb1CE.99

[jhunter 0]

Regan says there were 1000 of them on duty

 

sitting on their arses wasting tax payers money

 

the police were a disgrace on saturday, filming the Rangers end while this was going on apparently

[aweebluesoandso 290]

Good piece by Jackson, nails where the blame really lies, firmly at Hibernian's door. The Police were a joke, too little too late, The Stewards tried their best but were overwhelmed by Hivs thugs, Petrie is a absolute disgrace and should be sacked from the SFA.

Edited May 23, 2016 by aweebluesoandso