The Glasgow Derby, as it is now known, was a fixture that was born in 2012 after the troubles the blue half of the city had with the taxman.
Pre dating that, the derby was named “The Old Firm”. The fixture dates back to 1890 when the sides first met in a Scottish Cup tie which Celtic won 2-1.
But today sees the anniversary of one particular game between the two Glasgow clubs.
22nd September 1894. Celtic 5-3 Rangers. It was a league tie against the two and by all accounts it was a fiercely contested match. Goals from Divers (2) Cassidy and Madden (2) sealed the victory for the Hoops.
The Celtic Wiki reports that after half time with Celtic leading 3-1, the referee had to pull both sides of players together, “Before resuming, the referee called the players together and warned them against a repetition of rough play.”
Now we are talking back in the day before tackles on goalkeepers, tackles from behind and I would imagine, over the top tackles would still be allowed so I shudder to think what possessed the ref to address the rough play he witnessed.
Interestingly, there did seem to be as element of sectarianism reported at the match with the Glasgow Observer claiming that, “The language some of the Rangers players used was most disgraceful – “Fenian”, “Papist” “Irish” all being hurled with of course the most vulgar accompaniments.”
Quite incredible when you think that sort of diatribe was being used back then but it is only now that the press and the club seem to be willing to tackle it.