Celtic have responded to Rangers pulling tickets for an upcoming women’s Old Firm clash at Ibrox – and have been unable to even say the Ibrox club’s name.
Rangers had released a statement revealing that the club would be cancelling any Celtic fan ticket purchases for the upcoming clash at Ibrox later today.
Now, the Parkhead side have bitterly bitten back with Old Firm tensions running deep even amongst the Rangers Women and Celtic Women set-ups.
Rangers cut Celtic Women tickets ahead of Ibrox clash
Rangers took the decision to cancel Celtic’s allocation after a series of purchases made for the match raised suspicions in Govan.
Intelligence from both sides of the Old Firm suggested “groups of ‘risk’ supporters” had purchased tickets, increasing the threat of public disorder at the unsegregated clash.
After liaising with Celtic and Police Scotland, Rangers took the decision to pull the Parkhead club’s allocation due to an increased need for policing at the stadium.
The event was initially supposed to be police-free, with Rangers’ security team taking action due to Celtic being “unwilling” to do so themselves.
“A unique selling point of the women’s game is the unsegregated, family-friendly atmosphere, with many children attending these matches,” reads part of a Rangers statement.
“Taking all of that into account, Rangers’ security team decided it would be unsafe to allow these ‘risk’ supporters into the stadium, and with Celtic unwilling to cancel just their tickets, the decision to cancel all tickets was taken.”
Celtic: ticket call “hugely disappointing”
Now, Celtic have responded themselves in a sour statement about Rangers’ decision, adding add extra fuel to the fire of the clash between the Women’s sides at Ibrox.
Describing the situation as “hugely disappointing”, in the body of the statement Celtic couldn’t even bring themselves to say Rangers, describing the Ibrox team as “the home club”.
An excerpt from the Celtic statement reads:
“At a time when so many are working so hard to promote and support the women’s game in Scotland, the decision to deny access to so many fans is hugely disappointing, even more so given that there were a number of options available to the home club to allow our fans to safely attend in a stadium of such capacity and given the expected crowd.”
The Rangers Women finished third in the SWPL last season but can go seven points clear of second place Celtic with victory at Ibrox this season.
