Fans ‘may have died had police prevented invasion’
Force says allowing supporters on to pitch avoided cup final crush
POLICE chiefs have said there could have been fatalities at the Scottish Cup Final if they had deployed enough officers to prevent the pitch invasion.
The force has dismissed an official complaint about its handling of the match between Rangers and Hibernian that ended in scenes of violence and disorder.
The complaint raised concerns about the lack of policing at the match and failure to have control over the pitch invasion and subsequent crowd disorder.
Hibernian triumphed 3-2 to win the trophy for the first time in 114 years, but the post-match celebrations were marred by trouble.
By the beginning of August some 58 people had been arrested over the scenes of confrontation at Hampden.
An SFA commissioned report into the after-match disturbances suggested that there should be a reserve of police available to call on to deal with such trouble.
But a five-page response from the division said that it would not have been feasible “to have hundreds, if not thousands of officers on standby” just in case a pitch invasion involving thousands of fans occured.
The author of the police response wrote: “In the face of thousands of people determined to enter the playing surface, the police and stewards had little or not option in preventing this.
“I can confirm that there were significant numbers of officers deployed to police this event and this was in line with our experience of previous matches... I would also point out that, in my opinion, had there been sufficient officers to deter those in the front rows from entering the pitch, any such action could have had a catastrophic effect had the many thousands of fans at the rear of the stadium surged forward. In such a scenario, a crushing situation would have been inevitable and could have resulted in serious injuries or fatalities.”
The SFA-commissioned report by Sheriff Principal Edward Bowen QC found fault with both sets of fans in terms of their behaviour at the final. Mr Bowen also suggested the government should consider making it a statutory offence to invade a football pitch. The new complaint response explained why police often make arrests after rather than during a match where there was disorder.
“It is the duty of all police officers to prevent and detect crime and police officers are expected to intervene and arrest persons when it is practicable and safe to do so. As such, to make an arrest during a fixture with thousands of supporters within the ground is not always deemed appropriate... as that can lead to further public disorder..”
The complaint response says pitch invasion was the result of the dramatic ending to the final – with the winning goal coming in injury time at the end of the match.
“The result of this was a pitch incursion by many thousands of Hibernian fans who were intent on celebrating their club’s victory, regardless of the safety rules and laws which are designed to prevent such incursions.
“It is also apparent that amongst the many thousands of fans determined to celebrate, there were a core of undesirable fans intent on ‘goading’ the Rangers fans and causing trouble.”
‘‘ Had there been sufficient officers to deter those in the front rows from entering the pitch, any such action could have had a catastrophic effect