A Fight In The North; Riot police move in as hooligans force players

Aberdeen 0 Rangers 1 Kjaer McNaughton McGuire Whyte McAllister Dk Young Guntveit Dn Young Winters Dadi Mackie Klos Ricksen Moore Amoruso Vidmar Konterman De Boer Ferguson Caniggia Flo Arveladze Subs: Thornley for Dadi 79, Anderson for McGuire 83, Clark for Mackie 85.

Not used: Esson, Tiernan.

Referee: M McCurry.

Subs not used: Christiansen, Mols, McCann, Ross, Hughes.

Booked: Flo 66.

Attendance: 17,846

THE most disturbing football violence inside a Scottish stadium for several years marred last night's Scottish Premier League match between Aberdeen and Rangers.

A fixture with a history of simmering hostility boiled over inside Pittodrie Stadium - resulting in the match being interrupted for 17 minutes while 100 police officers in riot gear were deployed to restore order.

Rangers fans had thrown coins at Aberdeen forward Robbie Winters before Aberdeen supporters spilled on to the trackside from another section of the stadium to confront Rangers fans. Two people were taken to hospital after the trouble.

There were isolated, sporadic outbursts of trouble in the city centre in the hours before the game. Almost uniquely in recent Scottish football history, though, there was major hooliganism inside the stadium itself.

The trouble began after 26 minutes of relatively incident-free play when Winters went to take a corner in front of an area of the stadium occupied by the Rangers support.

Several coins were thrown at him and referee Mike McCurry raced over in an attempt to calm the situation, while Rangers defender Lorenzo Amoruso walked over and gestured to the travelling fans to calm down and behave. His efforts were in vain because as McCurry bent to lift coins off the pitch, Winters was clearly hit again on the back of the head and bent over in pain.

Outraged Aberdeen supporters swarmed over empty seats in the Richard Donald Stand to be nearer the trouble but, aston-ishingly, a second flashpoint erupted at the other end of the ground.

A group of Aberdeen fans flooded out of the South Stand and on to the trackside before briskly walking fully 40 yards to goad and physically attack Rangers supporters at a segregation fence near the half-way line. A handful of Rangers fans spilled over to retaliate before stewards broke up the two factions and the home supporters jogged back to where they had been sitting.

McCurry had seen enough, and ordered the players back to the dressing rooms for their own safety. The crowd of 17,846 was then left in uncertainty over whether play would continue, with the stadium announcer periodically warning fans to return to their seats or face the game being abandoned. There was then the dramatic sight of 100 police wearing riot gear funnelling into the stadium from one corner to form a cordon along the front of the South Stand - which was split by the segregation fence separating the 4,000 Rangers supporters from the Aberdeen fans. The cordon remained in place for the rest of the game.

Only then was McCurry, after discussions with Aberdeen security officer John Morgan, convinced that order had been restored and the players' safety was assured. Fully 17 minutes after play was halted the match restarted with an Aberdeen corner in the area - now heavily- policed - where Winters had been hurt.

The Scottish Football Association and the Scottish Premier League are certain to hold their own investigations into the trouble and both clubs can expect disciplinary action - with Aberdeen perhaps facing the greater penalty for allowing fans to spill on the trackside intent on violent confrontation with the visiting support.

Supporters of the two clubs have been jabbing at each other for more than two decades now but - unlike heavyweight boxers - this long and bitter feud has generated neither respect nor mutual admiration between them.

The violence which scarred this game was the most visible in the fixture's poisonous history, having a UK-wide audience courtesy of the glare of Sky's cameras.

One observer last night reflected that he had been watching Aberdeen matches for nearly 50 years and had never seen scenes like those which soiled the first half. As the dust settled there was hysterical - but depressing nonetheless - talk of fences being introduced to grounds as a result.

Rangers fans' tendency to throw missiles has been at the heart of Aberdeen supporters' complaints for years. They go to Ibrox and get pelted with coins, pies and drinks. Assaults are commonplace in the streets outside.

But it takes two to tangle. Rangers fans and even players have been attacked in visits to Aberdeen, and regard the city with about as much affection as they would Kabul. Last night's events will have merely provided spicy new material for moronic fanzine articles and websites to celebrate before the next barney.

Aberdeen and Rangers fans' mutual animosity is so entrenched that the inevitable security measures which will be put in place after this - SPL chief executive Roger Mitchell last night said the game would never again be played at 5.35pm, when pubs have been open for hours - may reduce the incidents of actual violence, but not affect the embittered mentality of those intent on baiting their rivals.

Ironically, the match had not been preceeded by the expected hostility towards Alex McLeish. The new Rangers manager, who spent 17 years of his playing career with Aber-deen, had anticipated a poisonous reception on his first return to Pittodrie with Rangers but many of his old club's supporters applauded him as he walked from the players' tunnel to the dug-out.

The game itself was unremarkable. Rangers were 16 points behind Celtic at kick-off but claimed three back through Amoruso's 34th- minute goal. A short free-kick was rolled to him and the Italian worked the ball on to his left foot and whacked a shot past the motionless Peter Kjaer. Amoruso and Ronald De Boer were Rangers' most effective performers in a display which was notably more industrious than the one at Shielfield Park last Tuesday.

Claudio Caniggia had the ball in the net at the back post from a Tony Vidmar cross, but was clearly offside. Arveladze then drilled a low shot into the side net but after Rangers enjoyed early possession, Aberdeen edged their way into the play. Aberdeen were dogged in their attempt to harry Rangers, their commitment evident from Darren Young's robust early challenges which left De Boer and Fernando Ricksen prostrate on the turf. Ricksen was jeered at every touch by supporters with vivid recollections of his karate kick challenge on Darren Young here in November 2000. McCurry, the referee that night, must have been delighted to have been allocated this fixture again.

Winters missed a chance with a header, as did Eugene Dadi. Aberdeen also penned Rangers in for spells in the second half, although De Boer had a header cleared off the line. Aberdeen's attempts to battle for a point were admirable, but in no other respect was this Saturday night all right for fighting.

Copyright 2002
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