Scottish Cup Old Firm game moved to avoid clash with Prince Philip’s funeral
The Scottish Cup fourth-round tie between Rangers and Celtic has been pushed back to a Sunday 3pm kick-off, one of several football matches to be rescheduled in order to avoid clashing with the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral this Saturday.
The Old Firm fixture at Ibrox was originally set for 4pm on Saturday, an hour after the start of the ceremonial royal funeral at Windsor Castle. Saturday’s Premier League match between Wolves and Sheffield United, originally scheduled for 3pm, will kick off at 8.15pm.
The day’s other English top-flight game, between Newcastle and West Ham, will be played at 12.30pm as planned. The FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Manchester City is set to stay at its original 5.30pm kickoff time, with the decision to move the Wolves game to 8.15pm taking the tie at Wembley into consideration.
The Scottish Football Association has also rescheduled a number of other fourth-round Cup ties this weekend. St Mirren v Inverness Caledonian Thistle will kick off at 6pm on Friday, with Motherwell v Greenock Morton an hour later. Forfar v Dundee United, live on BBC Scotland, will still take place at 7.45pm on Friday.
Other games to be moved include Stanraer v Hibernian (now Sunday 12.15pm), Aberdeen v Livingston (Saturday 5.30pm) and Kilmarnock v Montrose (Saturday 11.45am). The SPFL has also moved nine lower-league fixtures forward to noon from their planned 3pm kick-offs on Saturday.
In England, a number of EFL clubs announced their matches on Saturday had been moved to 12.30pm kick-offs from their original 3pm slot, though some may opt to kick off at or after 5pm if a lunchtime kick-off does not work for travel reasons.
Grassroots football leagues, which come under the jurisdiction of the Football Association, are understood to have been advised to avoid play between 2.45pm and 4.15pm on Saturday.