Old Firm fans - pariahs or tourists?

TWO Highland bars, which were swamped with hundreds of Old Firm supporters illegally drinking before matches against Caley Thistle and Ross County, have avoided losing their licences.

But fears that police are struggling to deal with the influx of supporters from the Glasgow football giants into the region during the season have been raised.

Licensing chiefs issued warnings to the Chieftain Hotel in Inverness and the National Hotel in Dingwall after Rangers and Celtic fans were prematurely served alcohol in both premises in February and August respectively.

The Highland Licensing Board was told that Chieftain landlady Elizabeth Lawson let about 150 Rangers fans into the bar an hour before she was legally permitted to sell drink because she “feared a riot” and her solicitor Lorna Murray said the bar had been “ambushed.”

Councillors also heard that Celtic fans piled into the Ballantine bar run by the National landlord William Fraser 40 minutes before its normal 11am opening time on the morning of their 18th August game against Ross County.

Licensing standards officer Ian Cox also warned there was a threat to public safety at 11.30am in the town because such a large number of Celtic fans had congregated outside the bar, which borders the High Street. They were drinking from glasses and bottles and had also gathered near the war memorial.

Northern Constabulary and Mr Cox decided not to shut down the bars during both incidents because of fears it could provoke trouble and said they were generally well run.

The board, which met in Inverness on Tuesday (2.10), did not revoke either landlords’ licence despite the serious breaches but warned both.

The National was also ordered to employ two stewards for its outside drinking area on future matchdays.

Police inspector Archie Henderson blamed the influx of Rangers supporters on 26th February on social media and absolved the Chieftain of any blame.

He said supporters appeared to have communicated largely via Facebook because their normal watering hole in the city, the Portland Club, was not going be open and decided to head to the Chieftain en masse instead.

Both incidents prompted concerns from Inverness councillor and board member Richard Laird who questioned whether Northern Constabulary was able to cope with the arrival of large groups of Old Firm supporters on matchdays.

“It is becoming a rather worrying trend of travelling football fans coming up to the Highlands and bullying licenced premises into serving alcohol,” he said.

“Is that something we are are going to have to put up with?”

Inspector Archie Henderson admitted it was a “learning experience” but said officers had been dealing with thousands of Old Firm fans for several years during matches against Highland clubs and they had passed off peacefully.

“It is very rare and I would like to think that we should be able to prevent it happening in the future,” he said. “We really haven’t had a lot of problems with travelling supporters given the numbers that have come up here. It is unfortunate that there are two cases here today.”

Mr Fraser apologised to councillors for the licence breach but said he thought he was allowed to sell alcohol at that time because the fans were also buying food. “I am so gutted that I got this wrong,” he said.

But Ross-shire councillor Ian Cockburn called for the Highlands to stop treating visiting football supporters as “pariahs” and said they provided a welcome boost for the economy.

“We have got to stop treating football fans as pariahs and we have got to start treating them like tourists,” he said. “We should have known that this was going to happen. Lets have a look at these problems.”

*An application by Caley Thistle to vary its alcohol licensing conditions at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium on matchdays, including allowing away supporters entry at “quieter” games, will be decided next month.

Northern Constabulary lodged a late submission seeking talks with the SPL club about the move which will include the Caley Jags Family Sports Bar. The board agreed to postpone a decision until its meeting on 6th November.