THE Scottish Football Association’s attempts to punish Hibernian and Rangers for the trouble after the Scottish Cup Final in May descended into farce yesterday when an independent panel threw out all charges against both clubs.
Proceedings became farcical after the independent Judicial Panel appointed to decide on the SFA’s complaints against Hibs and Rangers threw out all the charges on the grounds that they were “irrelevant.”
The panel particularly queried why the SFA had not followed its own rule book – under Rule 28 of the Scottish Cup rules, the SFA had not demanded compensation for the damage from Rangers and Hibs.
Instead, the SFA took the case straight to the independent Judicial Panel which refused to interpret the rule book in the way the SFA wanted.
The panel itself recognised that throwing out the charges might seem strange: “It may be thought odd that there is no apparent disciplinary sanction for this event. But that is a matter for the members [of the SFA] to deal with, in clear terms, rather than for the Judicial Panel to innovate by a purposive interpretation of the rules.”
The trouble at Hampden arose after Hibs scored late to win 3-2 and lift the cup for the first time since 1902. Thousands of Hibs fans invaded the pitch, and some Rangers fans also came on and fights broke out.
The SFA asked Sheriff Peter Bowen to investigate, and his report cleared the clubs and the association as well as the police and stewards of any blame.
The SFA’s case against the two clubs ultimately collapsed because of the previous failure of the association’s board three years ago to implement a strict liability rule that would have ensured that all clubs were responsible for the behaviour of their fans at all times in all stadia.
The judgement added pointedly: “From the information which we have, there is a limited appetite for strict liability within Scottish football.”
The first case up was against Hibs. The charge against them was that “you failed to adhere to the Cup Competition Rules, specifically Rule 28 of the Rules of The Scottish Cup” which covers fans damaging stadia.
The complaint continued: “Damage was sustained to Hampden Stadium ... as a consequence of misbehaviour by supporters of your Club.
“That the misbehaviour by your supporters occurred at the conclusion of the above match, whereby a number of your supporters carried out an incursion onto the pitch, and thereafter remained upon the pitch until cleared by Police Scotland and Stewards.”
The charges added that in the course of this misbehaviour by Hibs supporters the pitch, goalposts, LED advertising system and advertising hoardings were all damaged.
Rangers faced similar but fewer charges, and the Ibrox club had protested vehemently when the complaint was issued that the SFA had ignored the behaviour of Hibs fans putting their players in danger.
The SFA’s compliance officer Tony McGlennan argued to the panel that “Rule 28 was a stand-alone provision to deal with the particular situation where, in a cup tie, the supporters (or anyone associated with the club) had damaged the stadium.”
Top Scottish sports lawyer Rod McKenzie appeared for Hibs and made a strong case that the club could not be held strictly liable for the actions of its fans.
The panel found that “Rule 28 initially imposes an obligation on a club to pay compensation (to use a neutral word) for damage in the event that a stadium is damaged during a cup tie by anyone ‘associated with’ the club.
“The panel were surprised that there had been no demand for payment in relation to the damage. That appears to be the principal, or at least primary, purpose of the rule.”
The judgment added: “At the Scottish FA Board meeting in June 2013 the clubs emphatically rejected an amendment of Article 28 which would have given rise to strict liability by providing that clubs ‘ensured’ the ‘good conduct’ of their supporters ‘in any ground’.”
It was that lack of a strict liability rule which was being seen last night as the SFA’s Achilles heel.
Rangers had made no formal reaction when The National went to press but Hibs issued a statement saying: “Hibernian FC welcomes the decision of the Judicial Panel which has dismissed the complaint raised against the Club for the reasons set out in the judgment.
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