Three Rangers matches in a row in the Scottish Premiership, three separate assaults on Rangers players.
Against Motherwell last week, Alfredo Morelos had a hot Bovril thrown at him as he was harshly red-carded for celebrating the second goal in a 2-0 win at Fir Park.
In the 3-0 win over Hibs, Borna Barisic was lucky to escape any serious damage after an idiotic Hibs fan launched a glass bottle in the direction of the Croatian full-back.
It was an act of cowardice made worse by the fact that Barisic was laying on the ground poleaxed by the challenge of resident Hibs grunt Ryan Porteous, who simply must see more retrospective action for a disgraceful attempt to injure the full-back.
Porteous’ attitude towards Rangers in the matches he has played against them undeniably acts as inspiration to the neddy hordes who think assaulting a rival player is acceptable.
What’s worrying is that these assaults on Rangers players appear to be getting more and more frequent.
At Pittodrie only a few weeks ago James Tavernier had a pie thrown at him from the stands at Aberdeen’s home stadium.
So far, we’ve yet to hear of any of the three incidents being suitably followed up and put right by either of the three clubs, although investigations may well be ongoing.
These things take time and it is immensely important that Rangers put pressure on these clubs to find and ban these supporters indefinitely before passing their details on to the police.
The punishments handed out for incidents at the tail end of last season do not appear to be enough of a deterrent.
A 21-year-old Hibs fan who assaulted James Tavernier at Easter Road in March was jailed for three months and given a 10-year banning order from Scottish football stadiums.
In April Motherwell handed an indefinite ban to a supporter who launched objects at the Rangers captain during another trip to Fir Park.
This is no suggestion that this kind of thing doesn’t happen to other clubs.
Of course it does and the rampant neddism which scourges Scottish football exists across the domestic game’s landscape, including amongst some members of the Rangers support.
But it is difficult to deny that over the course of 2019 there have been more high-profile attacks on Rangers players than those at any other Scottish Premiership club.
And that’s why the club must be defiant and aggressive in fighting this spate of incidents to ensure that violence against Rangers, the players or the fans, is correctly accounted for.
Because what is it going to take before such a stance is taken? A player being hospitalised because of a supporter? A player’s career being ended? Something worse?
Rangers, the SFA and every other club in Scotland have a responsibility to nip this in the bud before tragedy really does strike.
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