No love lost: Scottish soccer fans heckle Queen, Royals during minute’s silence
Australian soccer manager Ange Postecoglou has refused to comment when asked about his team Celtic’s supporters chanting throughout a minute’s applause in memory of the Queen ahead of the Scottish Premiership match at St Mirren.
Celtic fans hold up a banner before the cinch Premiership match between Celtic Glasgow and St Mirren at The SMISA Stadium, St Mirren, Britain, Sunday September 18, 2022. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)
Some Celtic fans chanted, ‘if you hate the Royal Family clap your hands’, at Sunday’s match in Paisley, while a banner containing the same phrase could be seen in the away end.
Australian Postecoglou had previously expressed the club’s wish that fans be “respectful” during any tributes.
After his side’s 2-0 defeat, he said, “I addressed all that in two press conferences, I’m not going to do it in three.
“I get why the interest is there, but I’m a manager at a football club, and I sit at press conferences wanting to talk about football.
“We addressed that matter, we did everything we needed to do, it’s time we moved on.”
The Glasgow club became the subject of UEFA disciplinary proceedings after supporters displayed a ‘F*** the Crown’ banner during Wednesday’s Champions League draw against Shakhtar Donetsk in Poland.
There were also disruptions to tributes at some of Saturday’s Scottish Premiership fixtures.
A minute’s silence at Rangers’ home Ibrox was disrupted by Dundee United supporters.
Boos and derogatory chants could be heard coming from the corner of the stadium housing several hundred United supporters, before Rangers played God Save the King.
In a brief statement, United later stated that they had “reached out to advise our supporters of the pre-match arrangements with the expectation that the minute silence would be observed”.
There were similar reactions ahead of Hibernian’s game with Aberdeen at Easter Road, where boos and chants were audible during a minute’s applause.
The Scottish Football Association had postponed all matches the previous weekend following the Queen’s death and gave clubs the option of choosing whether and how to pay respects when games resumed.
In a joint statement with the Scottish Professional Football League last Monday, the SFA said: “This week, as a mark of respect and in keeping with the period of national mourning, home clubs may wish to hold a period of silence and/or play the national anthem just ahead of kick-off, and players may wish to wear black armbands.”
