The 2023 Scottish Cup Final will have a new kick-off time of 5.30pm the Scottish FA announced today.
🏆 The Final of the 2023 Men's Scottish Cup will kick-off at 5.30pm on Saturday, 3 June.#ScottishCup
— Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) May 3, 2023
Amid concerns from their broadcast partners Viaplay and BBC Scotland that the Celtic v Inverness Caley Thistle Scottish Cup Final would clash and therefore lose audience share with the FA Cup Final – which this year for the for first time ever will feature both Manchester giants, City and United, they lobbied the Scottish FA for a change of kick-off time and they actually wanted an EARLY kick-off.
It appears that both clubs – Celtic and Inverness Caley – wanted the traditional 3pm kick-off time to remain so today the Scottish FA has made a decision and decided to please almost nobody by opting for a 5.30pm start for the 2023 Scottish Cup Final on 3 June.
Looking at the mainstream media they are reporting concerns that if the game goes to extra-time and penalties (wishful thinking on their part) the poor old Inverness supporters might struggle to catch the last train back to the Highlands city – yet there is no regard at all for the thousands of Celtic season ticket holders from Ireland who will want to be at the game but will have to get down to Stranraer to catch their ferry. Now that is going to be tight.
Of course the Inverness fan could opt to go on a supporters bus rather than the train, or Scotrail could perhaps run a later train to accommodate their customers but the options with the ferries are much more limited and those affected seem to be given little or no regard by anyone, with the honourable exception of Celtic SLO John Paul Taylor who was mindful of the impact any change to the 3pm start time would cause.
It’s worth pointing out that the bar-owners will be delighted with the later start-time as with the supporters who will enjoy pre-match refreshments without the need to rush away to the game. Maybe Police Scotland will be annoyed by the additional workload that a 5.30pm start will cause them, although there’s very little chance of any trouble at a Celtic v Inverness match regardless of the outcome.
The Scottish FA made their announcement via their official website this afternoon. It reads as follows:
The Scottish FA can confirm that the 2022/23 Men’s Scottish Cup Final will take place between Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Hampden Park on Saturday, June 3, with a 5.30pm kick-off.
We would like to thank all parties for their support in ensuring a slot commensurate with Scottish football’s showpiece occasion. The match will be broadcast live on BBC One Scotland and on Viaplay.
Having got this news both clubs were quick to release their own statements. Celtic first, again via the official club website.
In response to the Scottish FA’s announcement that the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden on Saturday, June 3 between Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle will have a 5.30pm kick-off, Celtic Football Club has issued the following statement.
“We are hugely disappointed that the Scottish Cup Final has been moved from its traditional 3pm slot, something we don’t believe was necessary, or in the best interests of both sets of supporters.Â
“Additionally, there was no meaningful consultation with Celtic on this matter, in terms of assessing the many issues affecting supporters attending the match – something which is also extremely regrettable.”
And, surprise surprise, Inverness Caley Thistle were playing the statement game too, again via their official website they put out this communique…
Following on from today’s SFA Cup Final announcement and the rescheduling of our match to 5.30pm on Saturday June 3rd, the club is obviously very disappointed. We believe the showpiece Scottish occasion should have remained at 3pm.
We made this known to the SFA last Thursday and we reiterated our view in writing on Sunday following our Semi-final win at the weekend. It is certainly not in the interest of both sets of fans and as we know, our own supporters will be greatly inconvenienced by the travel challenges they now face.
Unfortunately we could not effect the final decision to move the match. We were awaiting the match details and now hope to make ticket information known in the next 24 hours.
Â
