Scottish Football Association chief executive Ian Maxwell has confirmed the governing body expects to publish its review into the Scottish Cup pitch invasion scenes within weeks.
The chaotic scenes occurred in March following Celtic’s penalty shoot-out victory over Rangers in the Scottish Cup showdown between the Glasgow rivals.
Celtic won the match 4-2 on penalties, with Martin O’Neill’s men celebrating in front of their supporters who occupied the full Broomloan Stand for the first time in eight years.
Away crowd numbers had been slashed to just 750 almost eight years ago, but an agreement between the clubs saw those numbers increased this season.
2500 Rangers fans attended Celtic Park at New Year, while more than 2000 Celtic supporters were at Ibrox in the Premiership fixture seven days before the Scottish Cup meeting.
Maxwell told Sky Sports: “We will be publishing something within the next couple of weeks. We are just waiting on the final review coming from the review lead.”
He added that disciplinary matters would be handled separately, stating: “Any action from a disciplinary perspective will be dealt with by Martin Black, our compliance officer.”
The pitch invasion conversation was further amplified when Celtic fans entered the field before the final whistle during the club’s title-clinching 3-1 win over Hearts, with Daizen Maeda and Callum Osmand scoring the decisive goals late in the game.
Maxwell stated the SFA would support the criminalisation of pitch entry, saying: “We would support criminalisation of entering the pitch, yeah. I think that is only part of the solution.”
He continued: “We need to work with the clubs to look at our rules – whether we can look at sanctions under the current rules, or amend our current rules so that people know that kind of behaviour is unacceptable.”
When questioned about strict liability measures that would see clubs punished for supporter behaviour, Maxwell said: “It’s not necessarily what it’s called, it’s what we are trying to achieve.”
He elaborated further, stating: “We need to work as football to achieve that in the best possible way. We need to look at our rules, change and update our rules, if that is the case and work with clubs to do that.”
Maxwell was firm that football should lead the response rather than outside authorities, adding: “I think it’s right that football takes charge of its own domain and looks at implementing rules we can do without influence from others.”
About the Author
