Rangers fans have been sent a patronising warning by an Australian politician ahead of the club’s controversial visit to play Celtic in the Sydney Cup.
The New South Wales government are funding the Old Firm trip Down Under as Australia opens back up post-Covid, a move that has not gone down well in Scotland.
Both Rangers and Celtic fans are largely against the idea – despite the millions the “friendly” will rake in for both clubs – but for different reasons.
Rangers fans specifically do not want to work with a club that claims they’re “not half of anything” and conveniently unveiled the competition during a spell of bad news at Parkhead.
Rangers too don’t want to be a sideshow in “Ange’s homecoming” and the entire thing has led to protests – some more shameful and embarrassing than others – as fans let their feelings on the friendly known.
To add insult to injury, here’s some Aussie politician from the NSW government swearing at Old Firm fans and demanding they don’t misbehave when they make the trip. Don’t you just love this idea?
Rangers and Celtic fans fired warning from Aussie sports minister
“It’s not 1984, it’s 2022, and we love passion, we love noise, but we want safe environments that people can come to,” said NSW sporting minister Stuart Ayres [Herald].
“We’ve got a long runway, the event’s in November, we’ll do a lot of clear messaging around ticket sales and expectations of fan behaviour: come along, have a great time, just don’t be a d***head.
“We’re a well-experienced city when it comes to running large-scale, major events. We’ll engage with the clubs, we’ll take advice from them around preparations.”
Well, mate, you’ve opened something of a Pandora’s Box with this nonsense and whilst people have to take responsibility for their behaviour, the Old Firm is anything but friendly.
Even if you’re paying millions of pounds to convince Rangers and Celtic directors to pretend otherwise.
Meanwhile, a Premier League fan has gone viral for pledging his allegiance to Rangers and landing a blow on Old Firm rivals Celtic.
