Rangers clamp down on sectarian abuse

Registration of supporters' club suspended after a missile-throwing incident

Rangers have suspended a supporters' club for missile throwing and sectarian singing during their Scottish Premierleague game against Hearts last month.

The East Kilbride Supporters' Club has had its registration suspended, while one fan has been banned from attending all the club's matches, after an object was thrown on to the pitch at Tynecastle on November 19. The club launched an immediate investigation after the incident, but were initially frustrated by the attitude of the supporters club, who did not co-operate with their enquiries.

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"The supporters' club in question received only three tickets for the match but claimed they did not know who had used them," said Rangers' head of safety Laurence McIntyre. "This obstructed our inquiries and prevented us from reaching the actual person or persons involved in this incident. We were also made aware of sectarian singing in the same seating area and, as a result of this and the missile throwing incident, the registration of the supporters' club has been suspended. This means the supporters' club's registration has been cancelled and they will not be allocated tickets for any matches.

"The individual who accepted the tickets on behalf of the supporters club has also been banned from attending fixtures. Supporters' clubs and individual fans have to realise that they will be held responsible for the behaviour of those occupying their allocated seats on match days. The club were recently pleased to announce that, following sectarian behaviour at an away match, a supporters' club had co-operated fully and assisted in the identification of six offenders who were subsequently banned."

Rangers travel to Aberdeen on Saturday and McIntyre has appealed for good behaviour from fans ahead of the volatile fixture. He added: "The police were extremely complimentary about the crowd behaviour at the Celtic match. Once again, Rangers fans showed the club in a very good light and demonstrated they are overwhelmingly in favour of the anti-sectarian initiatives we have undertaken together, with considerable success, this season. "We have a number of away matches coming up over the festive period and it is important we build on this success."

Taken from the Guardian/Observer