Celtic and Rangers have appealed against the Scottish FA sanction ordering the two clubs to play their next home Scottish Cup fixture behind closed doors. The Old Firm sides have also challenged the £100,000 sum they were ordered to pay the opposition club for that match. The punishment ruled a second match would be behind closed doors if there is any trouble at a Scottish Cup fixture until the end of next season.
It followed their quarter-final meeting last season that ended with fans from both sides clashing on the pitch at Ibrox. Police Scotland arrested 43 people following the scenes that left officers injured as missiles and pyros were launched. An appeal hearing will take place on October 26.
This was the first Old Firm game at Ibrox since 2018 where Celtic were given the full Broomloan Stand, meaning there were around 7,500 away fans at the game, while some broke into the away end before kick-off too. That figure was in place to comply with Scottish Cup rules on ticket allocations. The league match between Rangers and Celtic the previous weekend had around 2,500 away fans after an agreement between clubs to give around five per cent of stadium capacity to away teams for this fixture.
That followed seasons of reduced allocations, or at times no away fans at games. Celtic progressed to the semi-finals with a 4-2 shoot-out victory over Rangers after the goalless draw at Ibrox, which sparked a pitch invasion from both sets of supporters. Some visiting fans spilled onto the playing surface to celebrate after the winning spot-kick and supporters from the Rangers end charged towards them with fireworks thrown back and forth.
A total of 43 arrests have now been made after the scenes at Ibrox. Following the punishment, Celtic said they were "shocked" by the "disproportionate punishment". Rangers then allocated just 300 tickets to Celtic for their League Cup match at Ibrox this month.
The Ibrox side said that decision had been made based on the independent report that was commissioned following the Scottish Cup quarter-final in March. They added that since that fixture in March "there have also been further pitch invasions involving Celtic supporters". Celtic rejected the proposal, and it resulted in the SPFL intervening, with the determination being that no away fans would be permitted at Old Firm matches this season in the Scottish Premiership and League Cup.
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