THE Scottish Government has confirmed it is looking at all options, including sweeping new council licensing powers for stadiums, to help stamp out sectarianism around football.
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said “nothing is off the table”, including legislation to make clubs strictly liable for fans’ behaviour.
It follows a wave of incidents at recent games, including coin-throwing, Rangers fans calling Kilmarnock boss Steven Clarke a “fenian b******” and abuse directed at former Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers after he quit for Leicester.
Police Scotland’s new deputy chief constable Will Kerr, who spent almost 30 years in Northern Ireland, last week said he was shocked at the “consistently thuggish behaviour”.
The Sunday Times reported SNP ministers are considering tougher licensing powers for councils in a bid to improve public safety at games.
Possible sanctions include ground closures and forcing home games to be played away. A more extreme, and legally difficult, option would be strict liability for clubs, where sanctions could also involve fines, annulment of results, playing matches behind closed doors and docking points.
It is understood any changes will take many months or years.
Mr Yousaf, a Glasgow MSP, said: “When it comes to tackling unacceptable conduct at football, governing bodies and individual clubs must take serious measures to tackle this unacceptable behaviour.
“However, it would be foolish not to consider what additional action could be taken and we will continue to consider the full range of options.
“I will listen to ideas from across the Parliamentary Chamber, be it strict liability or exploring what can be done within current licensing laws, nothing is off the table.”
Labour MSP James Kelly, who led the cross-party repeal of the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, said: “There is a challenge to the clubs and football authorities to come forward with constructive proposals to ensure responsible behaviour. Previously I have not endorsed strict liability or licensing. However if the clubs and authorities do not engage positively I would need to consider these approaches.”
The Scottish Government said it regarded “the vast majority of football supporters” as well-behaved, but that there remained a problem Ministers were determined to tackle.
It said it would continue to work with Scotland’s football clubs and authorities, Police Scotland, and other partners “to determine what further action could be taken” and that Ministers have made clear that they will consider a full range of options.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel