The Scottish football authorities claim plans to introduce strict controls on the movement of supporters’ buses would “demonise” fans.
The Scottish Football Association, Scottish Professional Football League and Scottish Women’s Premier League issued a joint statement criticising the “heavy-handed” proposals.
A consultation was launched last week by the UK Government over plans which would, for example, limit where and when vehicles arrive at sporting events.
The statement from the Hampden offices read: “There’s no evidence that this is a significant problem in Scottish football.
“We are concerned by the targeted nature of these proposals, which serve to demonise football fans and interfere unnecessarily in people’s lives.
“In Scotland, there are already appropriate powers held by PHV (private hire vehicle) operators, Police Scotland and other partners to deal effectively with a very small number of incidents by a minority of fans.
“The consultation itself notes that the majority of football fans are law-abiding and do not cause any disturbances when travelling to or from games, yet these proposals would unfairly affect the vast majority of football fans who travel safely and respectfully to and from matches on a weekly basis.
“We don’t support these unnecessary and heavy-handed proposals and we will be making our views clear in the consultation.”
The new guidelines cover “taking passengers to sporting events in Scotland” but have been written by Richard Turfitt, the Senior Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain, who states the rules are already in place in England and Wales.
Although the title of the paper references sporting events, the word ‘football’ is used 35 times in the document and no other sport is mentioned.
The commissioner states his intention is to “limit anti-social behaviour experienced at some football matches” caused by fans travelling by public service vehicles.
The rules include the following guidelines.
Bus operators must notify police of bookings, numbers and the organiser’s contact details at least 48 hours before a game.Vehicles cannot stop within 10 miles of the venue without police permission.Buses cannot stop at pubs unless supporters have a “substantial meal” with alcohol and must get police permission for such stops.Vehicles must arrive between two and one hours before kick-off and leave within 30 minutes of the final whistle.Competitions covered include the Highland and Lowland leagues as well as the major leagues and cups but also “association football matches (other than those specified above) which come within the jurisdiction of the Scottish Football Association”. The proposals also cover games played by Scottish teams outside of the country.
The plans prompted criticism from supporters and politicians after being highlighted on social media by Derek Watson, who is a board member of the Well Society, Motherwell’s fan ownership body.
Watson said: “The draconian proposals put civil liberties at risk. Not only does this propose stricter monitoring of the average football fan, it would have a significant detrimental impact on small businesses and football clubs.
“Pubs in the vicinity of various football stadiums in Scotland rely on the trade of travelling fans to stay afloat.
“Rather than being demonised, fans should be celebrated.”
Motherwell later promised to consult Well Society members before responding to the consultation document.
A club statement added: “We believe it is important that we encourage as many fans as possible to attend matches and to make the experience as enjoyable and welcoming as possible.”
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, criticised the proposals.
The Dundee United fan, who follows the Scotland national team abroad, wrote on social media: “Unworkable, unmanageable, unenforceable. Get it in the bin.
“The clubs these fans support can be a huge force for good & more folk attend matches in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe. Celebrate them, don’t punish them.”
Kilmarnock director and former Labour MSP Cathy Jamieson claimed the plans were “trying to solve problems that largely don’t exist and singling out football fans”.
Alan Brown, the SNP MP for Kilmarnock & Loudon, and a Killie fan, said: “This would be a complete and utter waste of police time and resources. As someone who ran a supporters’ bus for 26 years and still regularly travels to away games via this avenue, it will simply not work – total madness.”
Gillian Mackay, the Green MSP for Central Scotland, wrote: “Supporters and football clubs should be celebrated for the excellent work they do to enhance their communities. These proposed measures are unwarranted, unworkable and out of touch. They should be scrapped immediately!”
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
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