Stewart Fisher: What would Scottish football be like if there was no segregation in the stadium?

Okay, while the distances involved for the travelling support mitigate against a stand off of Las Malvinas proportions, an army of Australians travelled to the Emirates Arena from their nearest Walkabout, if not from Western Australia, without a hint of bother 12 months back.

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The protocol for these Davis Cup ties is identical to that which you would find in almost every other sport you would care to name across the globe. In most instances, in the modern world, tickets are released online, and spectators entitled to the full consumer experience. Exorbitant booking fees and sometimes ticket exchanges are involved, but a transaction is entered into, with the only limitations on what seat anyone is allowed to sit in how much they are prepared to pay for the privilege.

Look no further than rugby matches - at either club, international or World Cup level. While there is no shortage of alcohol consumption taking place before, during or after the match, and plenty of boisterous activity, a certain base level of conduct seems to apply and violent incidents are seldom reported. The same equally applies for Test matches in cricket, or most US sports, such as the NFL. Even in boxing crowds, where the odd unsavoury incident has been known to break out, there is no segregation involved.

The same applies for multi sports events like the Olympics. While there was one unseemly set-to in the stands between an Argentinian and a Brazilian fan at an Olympic tennis match between Del Potro and Novak Djokovic, such incidents tend to be the exception which proves the rule. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, wildly partisan Scottish audiences manage to roar on their heroes yet not disparage their opponents, even if they were representing England.

So why then should football be so different? Especially as - give or take the hooligans of this world - I don't buy the fact that intrinsically football fans are fundamentally less decent than rugby sorts. No, perhaps it is just because they think that, stuck in different parts of the stadium, they think they can get away with it a bit more. Is it just me that wonders what would transpire if it was decided overnight that tickets for all club football matches from now on would go on general sale and everyone would just have to mingle together?

Okay, I get it that many of you will look at the evidence of Saturday and say that this is madness. There is also, of course, the argument that taking away this oppositional, us-and-them element of watching football would merely mean accelerating the stealing of the sport's soul. Surely that is what makes the act of scoring a goal so magical - that pregnant instant before one part of a stadium loses itself in delirium and the rest falls deathly silent?

It would, certainly, represent a huge change. But perhaps that change is coming anyway. Perhaps the truth is that removing segregation could become a civilising influence, encouraging a more grown-up approach to supporting a football team. It is the one solution which won't be brought up at any summits any time soon but is segregation really required at your humdrum lover division match in Scotland? Could it merely be making bad behaviour a self-fulfilling prophesy and allowing the real culprits to remain undercover?

Many thousands in both ends, even in the maelstrom of Saturday's Old Firm match, must have disagreed with much of what transpired in the respective stands in their names on Saturday. While it is hopelessly naive to think football could change overnight from one supporter model to another without a few problems along the way, somewhere along the line - from mingling freely at youth matches where parents could not be more passionate about wanting their own child to prevail yet still applaud good play on the other side - tribalism in football is being allowed to get out of hand.

The sport continues to shoot itself in the foot if it really wants its supporters to be treated like grown ups. If not, the Old Firm derby then how about the example of the recent Marymass Derby between Ayrshire junior out fits Irvine Meadow and Irvine Vics. In the end, someone thought better than to take up the one-off alcohol licence granted for the match, a decision that looked particularly wise when the game ended 4-3 to Irvine Meadow, included a pitch invasion by both sets of fans and an alleged assault of a player.