SATURDAY 10 MAY 1980 is the day that got drinking banned from football matches in Scotland and on the supporters buses going to games.
In a Scottish Cup Final remembered for all the wrong reasons of the rioting afterwards, Celtic won the Scottish Cup for the 26th time by beating Rangers 1-0.
Rangers losing a Scottish Cup Final and there was a riot afterwards, sounds a wee bit familiar doesn’t it? It might have been a different Rangers but it was the very same mindset and the events that day after the match pretty much mirrored what happened after Hibs beat the new Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final in 2016.
Back to the 1980 Final, George McCluskey scored the only goal of the game in extra time. It had been a good game well fought by two teams determined to give their fans something to cheer them up, Celtic in particular for the League had been thrown away in a shockingly unprofessional fashion. As usually happened, all the cliches about “problems in Scottish society” were trotted out by vote-seeking politicians but the bottom line remained Celtic 1 Rangers 0.
Celtic had gifted the league to Aberdeen and when they won the title their fans celebrated by invading the pitch at Easter Road.The Hibs fans saw no reason to turn that into a riot. A few dozen Celtic fans ran onto the park at Hampden to celebrate and this was the excuse the revolting mob at the other end needed and the riot that followed shamed the game in Scotland.
The next season the Celtic fans sang to them “We chased you all over Hampden” but that was the end of having a drink at the games.
Where you at the 1980 Scottish Cup Final? If you were and fancy sharing your memories of the game, and indeed that season, on The Celtic Star today please email your recollections to editor@thecelticstar.co.uk and we’ll get get it onto the site.
