Nevertheless, it can still be argued that the Rangers management had an opportunity

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The profound sense of shock induced by the disaster led many fifa 15 coins to hope that the historic sectarian antagonisms which marked west-central Scotland and found most vivid expression through football would cease, or at least diminish. There were indeed signs of a softening of the Old Firm rivalry in the immediate after- math of the tragedy when the joint efforts of the two clubs encouraged some supporters to make conciliatory gestures. Players and officials of both clubs attended memorial church services for the victims at St Andrews Roman Catholic Cathedral and at Glasgow Cathedral. Both clubs gave generously to the Lord Provost of Glasgow’s Disaster Fund, and later in January took part as a Rangers and Celtic ‘select’ team in a special match in aid of the fund held at Hampden Park, Scotland’s national stadium.

However, it was not long before old hatreds resurfaced. Rangers’ league cham- pionship challenge faded quickly after the New Year of 1971 but they won through to the Scottish Cup Final in May where their opponents were Celtic. The typically enormous cup final Hampden crowd of over 120,000 produced an ‘Orange versus Green’ occasion as charged and acerbic as ever. Sectarian anthems and battle hymns rang out from the packed terracing with undiminished fervour. This was a rivalry the depth of which bore no comparison with the high-profile derbies of English football. The short-lived nature of Old Firm fans’ conciliatory attitudes in 1971, for example, presented something of a contrast to that exhibited by Liver- pool and Everton fans in the wake of Hillsborough.

Nevertheless, it can still be argued that the Rangers management had an opportunity, in the aftermath of the disaster, to address the question of sectarian- ism and declare their intention to sign Catholic players as well as Protestants. The club had come under pressure to do this since the events of Newcastle in May 1969 when Rangers fans rioted during and after their team’s defeat in a Fair Cities Cup semi-final. The consequent glare of national (British) publicity resulted in the club’s all-Protestant character being widely and critically scrutinized. This marked a turning point: until then Rangers had not been held to account in a significantly public fashion. The club was now seen by opinion-formers and commentators to be decidedly out of step with the changing times and changing social values, although the continuing strength of religious identity and sectarian attitudes and assumptions in Scotland should not be underestimated.