Steve1872 4 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/sports/soccer/in-scottish-soccer-the-rangers-celtic-rivalry-is-rattled-to-its-core.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytimes By SAM BORDEN Published: August 8, 2012 GLASGOW â?? Imagine if the Republican Party filed for bankruptcy only weeks before Election Day. Or if Apple went broke at Christmas. Or if the Letterman show was canceled ahead of sweeps week. . That is what is happening here, in a city long built on a rivalry that crosses religious, commercial and political lines but that has suddenly been rattled to its core. Indeed, while most of Britain is reveling in the glow of the London Olympics, at least half the heart of Scotland is miserable. The source of consternation â?? as it usually is in this city â?? is the Rangers-Celtic rivalry. The two Glasgow-based soccer teams have been fierce enemies for well over a century, but when Rangersâ?? finances deteriorated to the point that they were sold for relative pence on the pound in June, the ramifications of their ensuing exile from the Scottish Premier League â?? the top division of Scottish soccer â?? reached much further than if, say, the Mets were forced into liquidation. (O.K., bad example.) â??It means everything â?? everything â?? to the city, and really the whole country,â? said Carlos Bocanegra, who is the captain of the United States national team and joined Rangers last season. â??Itâ??s an institution. People live and die for the sport; they live and die for their team. Without Rangers being in the S.P.L., itâ??s going to make a huge difference on the league, but also on Scottish culture.â? As a result of their original ownership being dissolved, Rangers were forced to reapply for a place in Scottish soccerâ??s professional leagues. Their first bid, to rejoin the Premier League and essentially return to the spot they had been in before their money troubles, was denied by a vote of the other teams. Another team, Dundee, was promoted from the second division to replace them. Rangers then had no choice but to apply for membership to the lower divisions, and a vote of the other clubs determined they would have to start at the bottom. That means that instead of beginning their season last weekend with the rest of the Premier League teams, they will open this weekend against tiny Peterhead, a club nicknamed the Blue Toon that plays in Balmor, a quaint stadium with a capacity of about 4,000. More important, Rangersâ?? drop also ends for at least three years any regular occurrences of the Rangers-Celtic clash, which previously took place at least four times a season. Losing those games, to borrow a local phrase, is not a wee issue for anyone. A Divide in Glasgow Attempting to explain to outsiders the meaning of the Old Firm, as the Rangers-Celtic rivalry is called, is difficult. There are other heated rivalries in Scotland, including in Edinburgh, where the Hearts-Hibernian clashes are epic. But nothing compares to Glaswegian enmity. The schism runs deep: Celtic fans are, historically, Irish Catholic and in favor of Scottish independence and a united Ireland separate from Britain. Rangers fans are historically Protestant and wear their Union Jacks with pride. Rangers were founded in 1872 but only signed their first former Celtic player in 1989. â??When I was growing up, I went to a Catholic school, and there wasnâ??t one Rangers fan in the entire school,â? said Neil McGarvey, 43, who is involved in the operation of Kerrydale Street, a popular Celtic fan Web site. â??Itâ??s much more mixed now â?? my boy goes to a Catholic school, and there are maybe 5 percent Rangers fans now.â? Not surprisingly, emotions over the rivalry often boil over. Murders and countless assaults have been blamed on Old Firm tensions over the years, and the Scottish police have worked vigilantly in recent years after studies showed an increase in domestic violence on days when the teams played. Businesses, too, are loath to favor one side. As has been the case for decades, the teams share a primary sponsor, the beer brewer Tennentâ??s. As many have noted, for a company to sponsor one team or the other would be fiscal suicide because half the consumers would probably boycott. â??Itâ??s a rivalry thatâ??s on so many levels,â? Grant Russell, a reporter for Scottish Television, said in an interview. â??It just all kind of comes together in this one game.â? â??And now,â? he added, â??it seems it has gone away.â? Bocanegra said that Rangers players knew there had been questions about the clubâ??s finances but had no idea of the situationâ??s gravity until they began reading about it earlier this year. The former owner, Craig Whyte, never spoke to the players until he went into the locker room one day in February, Bocanegra added, at which point Whyte announced that the team was going into administration â?? the British equivalent of bankruptcy â?? because of mounting debt and millions of pounds in unpaid taxes. Then, he left. The players were shocked. Bocanegra is one of three Americans on the team, along with Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya, and they have enjoyed being part of one of soccerâ??s greatest battles. When asked, Bocanegra often tells his American friends about what happened after one of his first Old Firm games, which Rangers won, 4-2. After the match, Bocanegra and some friends went to a pub for dinner. Bocanegra thought he had slipped into the restaurant without being identified as a Rangers player, but when the waiter brought his meat pie to the table, Bocanegra looked down and laughed. The chef had carved into the top: â??4-2 YES!â? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve1872 4 Posted August 9, 2012 Author Share Posted August 9, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/sports/soccer/in-scottish-soccer-the-rangers-celtic-rivalry-is-rattled-to-its-core.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytimes Derek Rae, a commentator for ESPN, had a similar tale about calling his first Old Firm match on radio in 1987. He, too, went to a pub after the game and was having a drink when a fan approached. “Your commentary was not bad, son, but who do you support?” the fan said. Rae, who is from Aberdeen, rightly pleaded that he was neutral. The fan snorted. “I’m not having that,” he said. “Are you a Celtic neutral or a Rangers neutral?” Rangers fans point to that sort of rabid (and worldwide) interest in the teams as a reason the punishment they received was shortsighted. Yes, if a team goes broke, as Rangers did, starting from the bottom is the traditional penalty. But Rangers are not merely another team. Even with the Old Firm in place, the Scottish Premier League cannot match the quality and popularity of England’s Premier League or other top European groupings, a fact reflected in the huge financial gap between Rangers and Celtic and the other 10 teams in the league. Either Rangers or Celtic has won every league title since the 1985-86 season, and their value to the other teams was immeasurable. At the most basic level, Rangers or Celtic fans were generally responsible for any large crowds at Scottish league games, filling up the stadiums of the other teams whenever they played an away game. ‘A One-Horse Race’ The Old Firm was the marquee television attraction, too, and one of the most scrutinized aspects of Rangers newco — as the new team has been labeled in Britain — was what effect their drop to a lower division would have on the value of Scottish soccer’s TV rights deal. Originally, there had been talk the Scottish league’s rights might fetch about £80 million (or about $125 million) over five seasons; when Rangers were dropped, the rights price fell, too, said Neil Doncaster, the league’s chief executive. Worst-case predictions had been for a deal of less than £60 million over the same span, and ultimately an agreement was salvaged for a price worth less than £10 million below the original number, but only after broadcasters were granted rights to show Rangers’ bottom-division games in addition to regular Scottish League games. Even with that deal in place, there are still concerns over ratings without Rangers in the top league, and whether advertising and marketing dollars will diminish. “There will be less money coming into the game over all as a result of all the ordeals,” Doncaster told reporters. Then there is the expected lack of competition. Without Old Firm matches, “Celtic will win the league by Christmas,” Chris Graham, an operator of the Web site The Rangers Standard and a sort of unofficial spokesman for Rangers supporters, said through gritted teeth. “It will have gone from a two-horse race to a one-horse race, and who wants to watch one horse run?” The decision to banish Rangers to the bottom is a fascinating debate from a business perspective, particularly when one considers the bailouts that major sports leagues in the United States have orchestrated. Major League Baseball essentially turned the Montreal Expos into a league-run team in 2002 before the franchise moved to Washington. In basketball, the N.B.A. purchased the New Orleans Hornets in 2010 after George Shinn, the owner, had financial troubles. And in hockey, the N.H.L. has owned or overseen operations of several teams, most recently the Phoenix Coyotes, which it has owned since 2009. In each of those situations, the league did what was necessary to keep a team afloat and preserve the integrity of its overall product. Did Rangers’ former ownership swindle their fans and opponents? Of course. But does that mean the whole of Scottish soccer should be thrown into flux? “A lot of clubs live right on the line financially,” said Russell, the Scottish TV reporter. “Clubs are really going to feel the pinch. We could lose a few clubs, possibly.” To that end, an official with Kilmarnock, a smaller Scottish Premier League team, has already estimated the team will lose £600,000 (about $940,000) without Rangers in the top division, and there has been speculation that the result will be a wholesale change in Scottish soccer. Doomsday prognosticators say the league will crumble and look more like a semipro operation by the time Rangers make their way back to the top flight, which will take no fewer than three seasons and could take more as several Rangers players have seized on contract loopholes to leave for new teams. More conservative observers believe a reorganization may be necessary, with one or two teams possibly going out of business. It May Never Be the Same Whatever happens, it is a jarring opening to what is supposed to be the best time of year in this part of the world. The Olympics will be over soon, replaced by the beginning of the soccer season, a time of joy and wonder and dreams in most of Britain. But not here. Rangers fans will traffic in the unfamiliar this season, hosting tiny clubs at their Ibrox stadium (capacity 51,082) one weekend and fighting over seats at a tiny away stadium the next. Celtic, just down the road, will turn their home in Parkhead into the site of a season-long coronation and revel in a rival’s downfall. The clubs could meet in one of several in-season tournaments or decide to stage an exhibition, but it will not be the same. It cannot be. In truth, said the Rangers fan Graham, the rivalry may never be the same. And perhaps neither will this country’s most popular game. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltersgotstyle 316 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 The source of consternation â?? as it usually is in this city â?? is the Rangers-Celtic rivalry. The two Glasgow-based soccer teams have been fierce enemies for well over a century, but when Rangersâ?? finances deteriorated to the point that they were sold for relative pence on the pound in June, the ramifications of their ensuing exile from the Scottish Premier League â?? the top division of Scottish soccer â?? reached much further than if, say, the Mets were forced into liquidation. (O.K., bad example.) If you are going to compare us to a New York team it has to be the Yankees 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy steel 0 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Total pish. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 4,138 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Rather interesting a read and perspective. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.