Ian Maxwell thinks ‘using players’ to stamp out unacceptable conduct at football stadia in Scotland is the way forward.
The SPFL released a statement on Friday morning hailing the fact that attendance records across Scottish league football were broken once again.
But the latter half of the press release blasted examples of poor supporter behaviour across the 2024/25 campaign.
Celtic were hit with a notice of complaint for fans using pyrotechnic devices during the club’s final Scottish Premiership clash of the season against St Mirren at Parkhead.
Now, SFA head honcho Maxwell has been quoted by the Daily Record about how players can play a vital role in reducing dangerous incidents inside grounds.
Ian Maxwell recalls Celtic ‘rocket’ incident vs Rangers
Maxwell recalled an incident from the 2023 Viaplay Cup final between Celtic and Rangers when Hoops supporters launched firework rockets into the Hampden sky.
This was after Kyogo opened the scoring to put the Hoops ahead, with Ange Postecoglou’s men going on to win the trophy on their way to a domestic Treble.
And after the game, Maxwell claims the Celtic board told him that Callum McGregor approached the club’s hierarchy to address concerns over the rockets.
He said: “Rangers played Celtic at Hampden and there was a lot of fireworks. There was a video online and a guy had a rocket. They are finding ingenious ways to get these things into grounds.
“I spoke to the Celtic board after it and one of them said Callum McGregor had gone to them and said that was the first time the players had actually talked about something coming onto the pitch.
“At that point you go, ‘I think we need to use the players’.
“The players are a fundamental part of trying to impact on that behaviour because with the best will in the world myself or Neil Doncaster (SPFL CEO) or someone else saying ‘gonna not do that’ just makes people want to do it.
“But if players are going to supporters and saying ‘you are affecting our performance, you are getting in our heads, I’m worried when I’m taking a corner’ then that is a positive message.
“The more we can use that player platform to spread that message and make people aware of the danger then the better.
“It’s a player’s place of work and it’s not right they are taking a corner and there’s all sorts raining down beside them.”
Were Celtic punished for Viaplay Cup final incident?
In short, there was no punishment dished out to Celtic. That’s because the SPFL’s current rules around pyrotechnic devices were not in statute at that time.
Now, the SPFL have the power to reduce ticket allocations for future competitions under their legislation, such as the Premier Sports Cup.
Celtic were given a suspended fan ban for lighting pyro during the Premier Sports Cup semi-final and final last season against Aberdeen and Rangers respectively.
The SFA now have the same powers as the SPFL in this regard after clubs agreed to the motion at the governing body’s AGM on Thursday.
That means pyro offences in the Scottish Cup could mean fines, ticket allocation restrictions or even expulsion from the competition.
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