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Date: 25th July 2026
WHY WE NEED COLLABORATIVE SAFEGUARDING IN SCOTTISH FOOTBALL
The publication of the Scottish FA’s review into the events surrounding the Men’s Scottish Cup Quarter-Final between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox on 8 March 2026, marks a sobering moment for our national game. Commissioned and paid for by the SFA, and deemed independent by them, the review evaluates matchday safety, security, and operational readiness following unacceptable scenes of disorder and disruption. It rightly highlights critical vulnerabilities in planning, inter-agency communication, and stadium management.
While the report’s commitment to establishing facts and identifying operational failures is to be welcomed, and while the review heavily criticises the operational planning of the clubs, the police, and security contractors, the SFA itself largely escapes structural or regulatory blame—despite its oversight responsibilities and historical reluctance to enforce stricter sanctions through its own rulebook.
Many of the findings echo the Scottish Football Supporters Association’s own report on Strict Liability (SFSA, 2020), which is the most detailed Scottish-specific piece of work to be published on the subject for some time. Oddly, although the SFA-hired reviewer read that report, and told us he thought it was a good piece of work, it is not cited or mentioned in the review.
SFSA will be saying more about the details of this review shortly. In the meantime, it is important to focus on the framing issues and broader trajectory. The response from Scottish football’s governing bodies should look beyond reactive disciplinary measures, necessary though those may be. True progress requires a fundamental overhaul of how Scottish football is governed, regulated, financed and scrutinised.
In the wake of high-profile incidents, the immediate impulse of football authorities and media pundits is often to demand rigid, punitive measures or, conversely, to rely on passive self-regulation. The SFSA’s research paper Strict Liability: Tackling the Myths and Proposing Better Pathways recognised and demonstrated that while holding clubs accountable for spectator safety and ground conditions is an essential standard across European football, an uncompromising, ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to strict liability fails to address the root causes of matchday disorder.
Instead of applying blunt statutory instruments that penalise responsible clubs and the vast majority of law-abiding supporters, the SFSA advocates for a flexible, context-sensitive model. Sanctions must be proportionate, transparent, and accompanied by constructive pathways for prevention.
Crucially, the governing bodies must move much further towards what we have called Policing with Community Consent, and establish a robust Good Practice Compact across all divisions. Tackling stadium misconduct cannot be achieved solely through post-hoc bans, fines or notices of complaint; it requires continuous engagement, education, and shared responsibility among clubs, police, local authorities, and supporter organisations. * SFSA Strict Liability report: https://scottishfsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/sfsa-strict-liability-2020-04.pdf
The operational breakdowns highlighted in the March 8 review are symptomatic of a deeper, systemic issue within Scottish football’s administration. As detailed in the SFSA’s ground-breaking fan-led review, Rebuilding Scottish Football (2023), the governance architecture of our game remains dangerously insular, reactive, and fragmented.
Decisions of national significance continue to be made behind closed doors within a narrow framework of club self-interest, leaving the Scottish FA and SPFL ill-equipped to proactively manage complex stakeholder environments. When safety protocols fail, it exposes the structural flaw at the heart of Scottish football: an administrative setup that treats critical friends—including match going fans—as passive consumers or potential culprits, rather than active partners in the game’s stewardship.
Good governance demands openness, independent oversight, and structured consultation. If the recommendations of the Ibrox Independent Review are merely filed away or implemented via opaque internal committees, the game will remain trapped in a cycle of crisis management. * SFSA Fan-Led Review: https://scottishfsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/sfa-fan-led-review-2023-06-WEB.pdf
To ensure that showpiece fixtures remain safe, vibrant, and accessible to all, the the Scottish FA, the SPFL, and the Scottish Government could implement three immediate structural reforms:
First, Establish a Permanent Safety and Integrity Advisory Panel: Incorporate representative supporter bodies directly into matchday planning, risk assessment, and regulatory reviews alongside Police Scotland and club safety officers.
Second, Adopt a Flexible Framework for Matchday Responsibility: Replace informal, opaque mitigation rules with a transparent Good Practice Compact that incentivises preventative action, constructive fan engagement, and localised security strategies.
Third, Commit to Broader Governance Reform: Align overall football regulation with the core principles of the 2023 Fan-Led Review, introducing independent oversight to ensure democratic decision-making that serves the entire Scottish football pyramid and its communities.
Scottish football cannot afford to treat the Men’s Scottish Cup Quarter-Final review as an isolated operational exercise. Only through genuine structural transparency, collaborative safeguarding, and respect for the match going fan can we rebuild trust and secure the long-term integrity of our national game. * SFA Independent Review: https://assets.ctfassets.net/qu0slcxvbwp6/2FAJ2ODLVCMEHxgDmCNhv7/8db6d7caab7042456f4e6c0f9a79e474/Scottish_Cup_Quarter-Final_Independent_Review.pdf
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Simon Barrow is a co-founder and former chair of the Scottish Football Supporters Association. He continues to act as a consultant and was editor and a co-author of Rebuilding Scottish Football. He is a public policy specialist and regularly attends the Cross-Party Group on the Future of Football in Scotland at Holyrood.
Posted in: Latest News, Review of the Game
Tags: Fan Led Review, Manifesto, Scottish football, SFA, SPFL