Women's game can be family friendly - rivalry does not have to mean violence

Women’s football is approaching a crossroads. As the fanbase continues to expand, the game is being pulled in conflicting directions: those who want to enhance atmospheres and build rivalries and those who want to protect it from the perceived evils of the men’s game.

Last weekend, Rangers hosted Celtic at Ibrox for the first time. This should have been a landmark moment for the Scottish game but instead the talk centred on the home side’s decision to cancel all away tickets a day before the match.

This was because intelligence received by both clubs suggested groups of ‘risk’ supporters in a significant number had purchased tickets from the Celtic allocation.

Away supporters are not currently permitted at men’s games at either Ibrox or Celtic Park. Rangers offered Celtic the chance to cancel just the tickets deemed a ‘risk’, but they refused.

Rangers said this was due to be a ‘police-free’ fixture, but that Police Scotland had indicated they would need to deploy a sizeable resource at short notice should Celtic fans be allowed to attend.

A sentence in the club’s statement summed up the mindset of many: ‘A unique selling point of the women’s game is the unsegregated, family-friendly atmosphere, with many children attending these matches.’

Supporter safety is of course paramount but there perhaps needed to be more consideration of possible issues well in advance of the game.

Here is one option both clubs could have considered: Rangers give Celtic a dedicated away end with segregation. Police Scotland deploy a resource capable of ensuring the safety of supporters.

Would that not have been possible? Is the idea of a women’s game needing a police force the problem? Rangers v Celtic is an intense and complicated rivalry. Nobody