Atlantica - 01.01.2004, Qupperneq 30

28 A T L A N T I C A
tions like the IRA and the UVF. Inside the
stadium, a sea of colour as bright and
vivid as the scene of any major event
reveals a high number of Irish tricolours
and Union flags – with allegiances fur-
ther emphasised in chants and songs.
As BBC Scotland’s chief commenta-
tor, Rob MacLean has been covering
these games for 15 years. He says: “You
would never describe the atmosphere
as pleasant, but the noise is unbeliev-
able and the first experience of it does
tend to blow you away. It’s an attack on
the senses. At times you can’t hear your-
self think.” Before all games, MacLean
prepares a mountain of statistics and
anecdotal colour, but for the Glasgow
derby, different questions are asked of
everyone involved. “What the commen-
tator can assume before an Old Firm
game is that 90 per cent of the research
won’t be used. The game tends to be
played at such a pace, and at such a
level of intensity, that it takes you all
your time to follow the action.”
Just as the game divides the fans, it
also divides the players, who evince a
variety of extreme responses. Celtic’s
John Collins called it “the ultimate expe-
rience”, and Tommy Burns said playing
in the game had him feeling “exhilarat-
ed and nauseated all at once”. Rangers
import Jorg Albertz said, “Nothing had
prepared me for what it would be like. It
was the best game I’ve ever played in.”
Lisbon Lion Jim Craig was obviously a
footballer with different appetites: “The
worst club match in the world, without a
doubt” is how he describes it.
Former Celtic and Scotland player
Tommy Gemmell may have scored in
two European Cup finals, but he is in no
doubt as to the importance of Celtic-
Rangers games. “Quite simply you have
to win. You are always aware of your
supporters going to work on a Monday
morning and the stick they will have to
take if you lose,” he told me. “The game
needs the same concentration levels as
international and European football, but
yet it is something else entirely. In some
ways, winning the Old Firm game was
more important.”
Despite their rivalry, Gemmell says
the players were friends off the park.
“When I played, the Scotland team was
almost entirely comprised of players
from Celtic and Rangers, so we knew
each other through our trips away. On
the park against each other, though,
those friendships were put to one side.
Having said that, a couple of the other
Celtic players and myself used to meet
for a drink with three or four Rangers
players after the game. Obviously, the
supporters never knew about that.”
NEED A TICKET
The pace of the game is legendary and
many players have been visibly affected
by the game’s intensity. Indeed,
amongst the diehards, most players are
judged almost solely on their contribu-
tion to these games, and one mistake in
the pressure-cooker atmosphere can
make or break a player’s reputation
here.
Throughout Europe, Peter Van Vossen
is respected as a technically accom-
plished forward who played at the high-
est level with Ajax, Feyenoord and
Holland. In Glasgow, however, Van
Vossen is a figure of ridicule for Celtic
fans after missing an open goal from
two yards when playing for Rangers at
Celtic Park in 1996. He never won over
the Rangers fans, and throughout
Scotland, whenever a player fails to
score from an apparently unmissable
position, Peter Van Vossen’s name is
inevitably mentioned.
Douglas Alexander of The Sunday
Times says the Old Firm fixture “can be
“IT’S AN ATTACK ON THE SENSES. AT TIMES YOU CAN’T HEAR YOURSELF THINK.”
THE OLD FIRM
026 Old Firm 104-28.ps 14.12.2003 12:55 Page 28