The announcement that Celtic, Rangers, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers will play each other in the “Sydney Super Cup” next November was a fair old shock to anyone who follows football, either in Scotland or Australia.
While an Ange Postecoglou return was greeted warmly in Sydney, the idea of Scotland’s biggest rivalry being played out for laughs on the other side of the world went down like a cup of cold sick in Glasgow.
This morning, with Celtic hosting St Mirren at home and Rangers travelling to St Johnstone, banners were held up by fans protesting their clubs involvement, creating a unique situation in which the hardcore elements of both supports actually align.
While the outrage was shared, the angle from each set of fans is actually quite different.
If you’re a Celtic fan – for full disclosure, I am – it’s a real kick in the teeth. It proves that the powers-that-be at the club are just as happy as ever to leverage our passion for profit, using fans to sell a fixture that almost all fans hate.
And don’t be fooled: everyone knows that the principal draw of Celtic vs. Rangers is not the football, it’s the fans.
The advertising reflected this. Notably, Optus Sport tweeted about it with a photo of Scott Brown and Andy Halliday wrestling with each other in a game from a several years ago.
Not Kyogo Furuhashi, our star striker, or even Tom Rogic, our Socceroos midfielder, but an ancient photo of a stoush between two players who don’t play for either team anymore.
Celtic themselves pushed the Ange’s homecoming aspect. Their press release on the tournament didn’t so much as mention that Rangers would be part of it, though it did name drop Scott McDonald, who hasn’t been at the club since 2010, and Jackson Irvine, who played a grand total of 45 minutes in the Hoops almost a decade ago.
Even the narrative of the Ange homecoming doesn’t really work. If it did, it wouldn’t matter who Celtic were playing, and if we’re being honest, the game would probably have to be in Melbourne, where Ange is actually from.
Were it Celtic vs. Melbourne Victory at the MCG next November, that narrative might make a little more sense and, indeed, probably wouldn’t cause so much consternation among the Celtic support.
The banners in the North Curve, Celtic’s standing section, went heavy on the issue of association with Rangers, reading: “We’re not half of anything unless there’s money to be made – shove your ‘Old Firm” friendly up your arse”.
To decode the dialect of Scottish fitba for a second, this refers to a tweet posted by Celtic’s official account in March 2021, in which they sought to distance themselves from the traditional ‘Old Firm’ dynamic by tweeting “We’re not half of anything” and “One Club since 1888”, a reference to Rangers’ liquidation in 2012.
The ‘Old Firm’ quotation marks are telling too: the term itself doesn’t exist at Celtic Park, with fans having essentially retired the derby in 2012 when the original Rangers club disappeared. Celtic’s official media outlets use ‘Glasgow derby’ to refer to games with Rangers, though I’ve long preferred ‘El Glasigo’.
The Rangers fans banners took a slightly different tack. “Money over Morals, no Derby friendlies” read their offering, which also spoke to their unwillingness to be associated with Celtic, but also to the naked cash grab aspect.
For Gers fans, the problem is as much that they have been relegated to Ange’s sideshow, the Generals brought in to play the Globetrotters.
Rumours in Scotland have it that Celtic will receive $11m for the game and Rangers less than half of that, which implies that Rangers’ place in the world now is as a marketing vehicle for their most hated rival’s manager, the Generals brought in to play the Globetrotters.
That said, it was remarked upon that the $5m that Rangers will get is still more than their entire TV deal to play in Scotland for a season.
That is true: the SPFL’s TV deal is horrendous and values the competition roughly the same as the Romanian top flight, despite Scotland being rated by UEFA as the 9th best league in Europe and Romania the 25th best.
Unfortunately in the two horse race of Scottish football, getting an extra $5m doesn’t help much if the other horse gets $11m, and Rangers couldn’t play a glamour friendly anywhere in the world against anyone else and get close to what they will get for playing Celtic in Australia.
It speaks also to the markedly differing financial trajectories of the two clubs.
Celtic have a player trading business model that has seen them post a profit most years and post a smaller loss during Covid than almost every other major football club. They get players on the cheap and sell them onto Premier League clubs.
Rangers have never posted a profit since they were reformed in 2012 and indeed have lost tens of millions, with repeated share issues required to fund the club. Rangers have made one major player sale since 2012, and that was this January gone.
If you were looking for a reason why they are willing to travel halfway around the world to accept second billing to their hated rivals, that’s it there. Rangers need the cash.
Beyond the internal dynamics of both clubs, there is a unity between fans that this is a terrible idea.
It’s a lose-lose for everyone: the fanbases of both teams are used as marketing for a game that they don’t like and won’t attend; the teams have to travel around the world for a meaningless fixture and the Aussie fans who pay their hard-earned to get in will see a plastic version of a rivalry, because the actual reasoning for the rivalry, the fans, won’t be there.
It will be thousands of gawkers waiting for a kick-off that won’t come.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
This is stupidest move I have ever heard of , to come down in mid season when these two clubs have crowded schedules in a desperate money grab. That would be the main objection they have to this. Rangers are not even a drawcard in Australia, they would have been lucky to have two thousand at their previous games in Australia, and while they were fanatical they were also cheapskates going for concession tickets in the general admision instead of paying for the overpriced supporters area where they were all in. Rangers, AEK, Blackburn neither looked to have many supporters here.
Dave Kenny
Guest
A very biased piece, and Mike misses the entire reason for the Rangers support wanting to have no association with Celtic Football Club. Celtic Football Club enabled and ignored what is probably the largest pedophile ring to be operating in sporting history, over a number of decades. Similar to the workings of the RC church, a founder of this club, to avoid liability, they have denied, obfuscated and ignored their dozens (hundreds) of victims, despite 8 # pedophiles having now being charged and sentenced, that were in their employ. To avoid liability, they recently changed the name or their famous "Celtic Boys Club" to "St Patrick's Boys Club" and claimed that club and boys club, were separate entities. However, after years of fighting for justice, a Scottish judge ruled only last week, that CFC was responsible for the heinous crimes and lives destroyed, and has permitted a class action law suit proceed, from 22 of the many victims. That is the reason Rangers want nothing to do with these people, and we have told our club that 'money over morals' will not be accepted, we will not deal with a club that enabled and protected pedophiles for decades.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Stu - there is a type of belief amongst us that seems to say if you like football you should like this and support that over there. If you don’t you are not a football fan. That’s a very narrow path. There is also a strong case made for offering blind support once you have committed and it isn’t seen as a two way relationship. If you found out your partner was a mass murderer or rapist, you aren’t obliged to support them just because you made a commitment some years before the revelation. Finally, there is the entertainment part of the bargain and you summed it up quite nicely. It’s about perception of what is entertain,ent and what is good value and each to their own.
stu
Guest
Buddy, what I like about your post is the recognition of ones own ability to decide what entertainment is good for themselves. No-one needs to be told what to spend their hard earned cash on. If a league, movie, stage show etc has value then people will buy it. The word 'Value' to the individual is the key.
chris
Guest
Yes everything is fine here. Thanks for the concern though Garry Jr. Much appreciated.
At work
Roar Rookie
True, although you'd expect a lot of people in Scotland would watch the EPL just as much, if not more than the SPL, whereas the NRL has zero competition.
Terry Polious
Roar Rookie
Wow that got really personal, really quickly.
Garry Jr
Guest
Jane's children play football and league, why on earth are you talking about AFL? Is it medical? Is everything alright at home?
chris
Guest
FIL don't be too hard on them. How would you like it, if for 6 months of the year you had to watch the 18th re-run of the 1994 GF between whoever, as your only AFL game globally? Christo can you answer that? What do bored AFL fans do in the 6 months when nothing is on for them to watch? Hanging around football blogs like you and "Jane" do, is not healthy for you.
Jane
Roar Rookie
Real mature, someone makes a comment you do not like, and you insult them. Believe it or not my son plays Football/soccer, we live in Rockhampton and travel hours for a game. Yes my daughter plays League but that is because she wants to play with all the other Indigenous girls and they ALL play League. I am genuine about Aust Football being the winner because they do not really fill satdiums anymore, I am sorry that the facts are so hard to swallow.
Ad-O
Guest
Their reserves will look like Barcelona 2010 compared to the A-League.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I confess I saw the announcement, went “Ho hum” and moved on and wasn’t expecting to read anything about it for months and only got here tonight after a long and soggy day. There isn’t a football team in the world that I’d pay to see out here playing a friendly fixture regardless of rivalries and fans etc. However, having read the comments about plastic fans etc it got me thinking about what I would go and see and I suddenly remembered that the Green Bay Packers are playing a game in the uk next season and if it coincides with a trip, I would try and secure some tickets. If they came here for pre season or an NFL game I would also pay to go and watch. Now, I am not from the USA, have never lived there but love the game and have supported the packers from afar for over 40 years. By our definitions, that is a very plastic situation but I don’t see it like that. When I was at University we had some exchange students who taught us about the game and we taught them the basics of football. In order to learn more, we started watching it, first at cinemas and then later on television. My best friend and I wanted to follow or support a team and we deliberately chose just about the weakest team at the time and also one that played in the frozen wastes in the state of Wisconsin. I have never managed to see the team live at a stadium although have been to a few nfl games and I would be genuinely excited if they came down under. Does it therefore follow that if you are a fan of either of the Glasgow sides or perhaps a lover of Scottish football, you’d get excited and look forward to the visit? Would you really care what supporters of A League or NPL teams thought of you? Does it really matter? The question on my lips relates more to the thought processes of the leaders of our game and whether they believe that having these clubs here will generate more interest in the local league – there I take issue!
Patrick Sinat
Guest
Whilst I agree with pretty much all of this brilliant blog, the last paragraph is slightly inaccurate. Celtic fans here want nothing to do with the Olf F*rm rivalry. Rangers fans claw onto it because it keeps them relevant
Brian
Guest
$5m for Rangers still seems unders even if Scotland has less people then Sydney. Consider the NRL rights for example
Coastyboi
Guest
If you folks want a REAL, family-driven, bother-in-law derby, then tonight’s Victory verses Macarthur battle is for you. Tonight, Ante finally meets Tony on the pitch. Brother, sweet brother.
YT9273
Guest
You're clear about your allegiances but clearly can't leave them at the door to report with a modicum of impartiality. This diatribe read like a moonhowler blog; I think you got a full house in 'Sevco' bingo. Lol @ 'reformed in 2012'. Consumed by hatred. Bitter, bitter man.
Mike Meehall Wood
Editor
Certainly do! Been to plenty of Sydney FC games, plus Olympic and APIA on occasion. Love it.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Population of Romania = 20 million. Population of Scotland = less than Sydney. Hope that helps understand the relative tv deals.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Maybe instead of throwing out some cheap and childish insults, you could actually respond to Jane's point?
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
There's two words that are poles apart. Arnie and organise. He couldnt whip up a bunfight in a bakery the way he's tracking at the moment.