Celtic and Rangers appeal Scottish Cup stadium bans and £100,000 fines

Celtic and Rangers have appealed against sanctions requiring each club to stage its next home Scottish Cup tie without spectators, BBC Sport reported on Friday. Both are also contesting £100,000 fines imposed following crowd trouble at last season’s quarter-final at Ibrox. The Scottish FA has arranged appeal hearings for Monday, 26 October, with both the financial penalties and stadium restrictions being challenged.

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The disciplinary action followed clashes between supporters on the pitch after Celtic advanced from the quarter-final through a penalty shoot-out. Alongside the immediate stadium closures, both clubs were warned that further unacceptable behaviour could result in another home game being played without fans. Both had admitted the original Scottish FA charges before deciding to challenge the resulting sanctions.

Neither club had issued a comment on its appeal, according to the BBC report. When the punishments were announced, Celtic argued that the penalty was excessive in relation to the number of its supporters who entered the pitch. The club said it did not defend pitch incursions and had repeatedly acted against them, while maintaining that the panel should have distinguished between different behaviours and considered the circumstances.

Celtic also stressed that it had been the visiting club at Ibrox, rather than the host responsible for stadium safety arrangements. Rangers’ initial response was to say it would assess the disciplinary outcome in full before deciding how to proceed. The appeals now bring both clubs’ challenges before the governing body, following those earlier responses to the penalties.

Police Scotland have made 43 arrests following the disturbances after the final whistle in March, the BBC reported. Police officers and stewards were injured, and objects and pyrotechnics were thrown. A separate independent review commissioned by the Scottish FA identified a foreseeable danger of crushing, linking that risk to ultra-group supporters pushing past police and stewards.

The appeals come amid wider restrictions on attendance at meetings between the Glasgow rivals. Earlier this month, an agreement was reached to exclude visiting supporters from all Old Firm derbies in this season’s SPFL competitions. That arrangement concerns away allocations in SPFL matches; the sanctions being appealed concern the clubs’ next home ties in the Scottish Cup.