Bonus Feature: Celtic - Rangers

As mentioned previously with my weekly weekend update post, I watched Celtic and Rangers play in a Scottish Premier League fixture besides just following Oxford, Nurnberg, and Newcastle. For those that don’t know the background Celtic and Rangers, cross-town rivals of Glasgow, Scotland, here is a brief background of these two teams that I posted previously on another blog–

“Not only are they cross-town rivals in Glasgow, always the top teams in the standings, and the most supported teams in the Scottish Premier League, but on top of all of that their matches pit together two longtime rivaling groups – Irish Catholics (Celtic) and loyal to England Protestants (Rangers).

There is not a rivalry in sports that even comes close to Celtic and Rangers. Visiting players routinely have had death threats yelled at them by fans, saying something to the effect that if they score, they’ll be killed. (Some fans of course do this to get into the players heads, some probably are actually serious.) Rioting, maybe better described as all-out brawls have happened at the stadiums. People have died because of encounters after matches. Don’t even think about going into a Rangers pub wearing any green, or a Celtic pub wearing any red or blue. For that matter, don’t even go into some neighborhoods wearing the other team’s colors. While it has gotten better in recent years, fans still have to be seated in separate sections of the stadium on match days. This may sound more or less normal, but there is also a ten to fifteen seat buffer zone between the two groups, with security guards stationed every two rows on each side of the buffer area.”

I’m a large fan of the rivalry in general, but if I’m pushed to take a side, I’ll take Celtic every time. Firstly, I love the fire that former Celtic player, but now manager Neil Lennon has for the game, even now on the sidelines. Also personally, I favor most things Irish and politically believe that the Irish isle should just be one country – not the UK Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. However, although I favor Celtic, I do not wish harm on Rangers. That may be especially poignant as of late as Rangers have gotten in deep financial problems, ones that potentially threaten their existence as a club.

Glasgow Rangers in fact have gone bankrupt, going far into the red as far as profits and operational budgets go. If any good news can reported, it is that a handful of buyers have come forward to buy (or buy out) the club. (The ESPN Soccernet article on this can be found here.) I really hope that they can find a buyer to save the club. If that doesn’t happen, the league in Scotland will not be the same – and one can say that Celtic will not be either. Although it may open the door for another team to rise up to replace Rangers’ success, Scottish football has been built upon the Old Firm (the collective nickname for Celtic and Rangers). Celtic would continue just fine as a club, but they wouldn’t have the same motivation each season. Now, the main goal is to beat Rangers, with the secondary goal of winning the league. Celtic–Rangers runs deeper than any other rivalry, but could you imagine the Real Madrid losing Barcelona as a rival, the New York Yankees losing the Boston Red Sox, Jack Nicklaus not having Arnold Palmer, or Ali not having Frazier?

Well this past Sunday, as the two teams met at Rangers’ home park of Ibrox Stadium, they didn’t let the off the pitch drama affecting the Rangers administration play any hand in the beautiful game on the playing field. With Rangers being docked ten points for going into bankruptcy, Celtic was going into this match hoping for the win which would clinch the league title for them. However, Rangers had other plans.

And apparently so did the match referee…

These Glasgow derbies can often be very nasty, keeping the referees very busy. Well this past Sunday was no exception. Rangers scored in the 11^th minute to go up 1-0 early and looked poised to possibly score again in the 29^th. One of Rangers players was making a run at the ball at the edge of the box to make a play on goal, however Celtic defender Du-Ri Cha brought him down. It was a half tackle, half tangle of the legs – an offense that most referees would have given yellow, very few given a red. Well the match’s referee was one of those few. Cha was sent off with the red and Celtic were down to ten men. The play on the pitch was left at 1-0 going into the halftime interval. However, Celtic manager from arguing with the referee at halftime, was disciplined, being sent from the sidelines to the stands. Apparently, there is also some questionable refereeing on this decision too, according to ESPN Soccernet.

The first notable event in the second half was yet again another poor refereeing call. Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama tackled one of Rangers defenders and was sent off as well with a red. Wanyama came in fiercely with the challenge but kept the spikes of the boots down and got all ball initially. At the very most, it should’ve been a yellow just from the velocity of the tackle. I couldn’t understand how the tackle was even a foul when it happened or on the multiple replays that were shown. In any case, Celtic was now down to nine men.

The two man advantage for Rangers eventually played out and they scored their second and third goals in the 72^nd and 77^th minutes respectively. Celtic kept fighting but were all but out of the match being down three goals and down two men. They kept trudging on though and they would make things interesting.

In the 88^th minute, Rangers defender (and US National team defender) Carlos Bocanegra committed a foul on a Celtic striker in the box, giving a Celtic a penalty. Bocanegra was also given a red card, a punishment that to be fair most referees wouldn’t have given out. Again, yellow probably was more appropriate. Celtic midfielder Scott Brown converted the penalty and Celtic were then at least on the board.

Celtic would get another goal however in the second minute of stoppage time. Celtic defender Thomas Rogne knocked a hard header in the goal to make things interesting at 3-2. Although they fought back well, it was too little too late. Rangers won the game 3-2.

Celtic will have to wait at least another week to clinch the league title. Rangers on the other hand get a nice victory that for at least the short term will distract fans from the problems in the league offices. This was the last Celtic – Rangers fixture of the season, but hopefully not the last one ever.