2016 Scottish Cup Final - Hibernian FC v Rangers

[Dominique Malonga]

Watching the full game jut now. The amount of times our players came out of a 50-50 with the ball was unbelievable. I'm only 23 mins in too. The desire shown was absolutely fantastic.

[lichtie23]

Any chance Stokes comes back next season?

[Half Rice Half Chips]

Watching the full game jut now. The amount of times our players came out of a 50-50 with the ball was unbelievable. I'm only 23 mins in too. The desire shown was absolutely fantastic.

I don't think Gray or McGinn lost a 50-50 battle all day. Actually, 50-50's not an entirely accurate description, many times they came out with the ball against 2 or more opponents. So, they were more like "33-67" or "25-75" balls! Sevco were arrogant going into the final from fans to management to players. They went into the final thinking all they had to do was show up to collect the cup and Hibs would roll over to have their bellies tickled, and they weren't ready for the battle.

[Ira Gaines]

Kenny Miller was about the only player for Rangers who didn't look out of their depth on the day. Won a fair few balls for himself and had one of the games where he was doing the work of multiple men.

[Cameron1875]

You know he's gonna score he's gonna score..... na na na na na na na na na na

[Cameron1875]

Oh my bloody god. Brilliant, just brilliant.

[Half Rice Half Chips]

Any chance Stokes comes back next season?

His display on Saturday might have persuaded Rodgers to keep him.

[The Grass Is Greener.]

I thought we might have got a return from EGB for this.

[Fraser Fyvie]

I thought we might have got a return from EGB for this.

 

The North Korea mods will just ban him again.

[The Grass Is Greener.]

The North Korea mods will just ban him again.

 

Winning the Big Cup just isn't the same without him.

[Mon Dieu]

This is an incredibly long post about the scenes after the final whistle.
I want to vent a tiny bit of frustration before I start bouncing off the walls and post about everything else!
 

I am not defending any part of the pitch invasion, the goading of opposition players & supporters or allegations of assault. I am separating these incidents as they have already tarnished every match report and damaged every article about this memorable match. The spoiling of the after-match should have been treat as a spoiler in the aftermath. Instead, the media & social media have consigned a historic moment to the footnote of hysteria.
 

Empty-headed elements of both supports chose to mar, scar and tar one of the greatest moments in our history. 
 
Firecrackers/fireworks, smoke bombs and vociferous sectarian singing: completely overlooked and ignored — something we have come to expect from the security, police and media. Still, the handful of 'fans' that stepped over the line to meet & greet the The Rangers fans deserve punishment - as do the equal amount of brain-dead The Rangers fans that responded. By passing the halfway line solely to goad their players and fans, we stepped over the line in every manner possible. I don't know if the allegations of 'assault' are true, as evidence has mostly pointed towards 'nonsense'. If true, this will no doubt bring shame to the club and the supporters who were there to enjoy the occasion they deserved. This will also bring punishment, which both clubs should accept. The sectarian chanting from the overwhelming majority of their support, along with the smoke bombs & firecrackers, appear to have been completely omitted from news reports. The Rangers commended their horde whilst Hibs have condemned all of the hooliganism. If the The Rangers end wasn't already empty, scenes could have got far more ugly.
 
The thousands on the pitch made up a cocktail of the elated, drunks, elated drunks and cocks - but mostly it was made up of selfish supporters. Every Hibs fan wanted this moment and it was given to us, but many decided to take a piece of it for themselves and in turn stole it away from those waiting in the stands. Sadly, those fans will be happy at their lump of Hampden turf, their piece of Hampden net and their chunk of Hampden flesh because they had no interest in the players, staff and supporters that were waiting for the well-earned honour of the lap of honour. This also includes the The Rangers players & supporters, who deserved a medal presentation just as much as the winning players & supporters. Instead, an underserving crowd celebrated on their own when they continued to remain on the pitch. Despite the beckoning from their own support and the blaring of the loudspeakers, these fans saw to seize their moment away from everyone else. Most of these fans will cling hard to their blades of grass and brief moment of trending on social media; they probably won't remember much of the day or occasion itself.

 

During a game where everything on the pitch ran uncharacteristically smoothly and without controversy, an element of fans brought the rough and unwelcome controversy onto the pitch themselves. This detracted from the occasion itself and the 'over-exuberant' celebrations allowed the 'over-exuberant' decision to limit the official celebrations.
 
Of course the overwhelming majority on the pitch were celebrating; this shouldn't have been allowed by the authorities and security in the first place, who bizarrely didn't have anywhere near the amount of security required for the final whistle - even after Hibs scored a 92nd-minute winner, there wasn't a change in the amount of stewards nor was there any police presence to prevent a pitch invasion. I can only assume that the authorities were allowing this to happen to prevent crushing or suchlike in the stands as there would be no other reason to have left the Hibs end completely vacate of security. That doesn't excuse why there was still nothing between Rangers fans and Hibs fans. The police weren't the eventual reason for Hibs fans returning to the stands, it was only the beckoning from fellow fans in the stand that had them returning to their seats.
 
This is not an excuse for the actions of supporters, nor an excuse for the 'fans' that wanted to taunt the opposition rather than celebrate the win. Quite simply, the post-match celebrations were packed with this reported 'over-exuberance', but filled with empty heads and presided over by absent security. To say the security response was slow is a vast understatement, but this is due to the ineptness of the SFA; responsible for organising security via the ineffective and skeletal stewarding and not because of the police response. The police response was controlled and reserved to ensure that the crowd fizzled out, but it is baffling that no measures were in place to prevent, suppress or even gently buffer the Hibernian support. Of course the supporters were directly at fault for charging the pitch, something which resulted in a decision not to allow a 'proper' cup final celebration & lap of honour. However, an apparent failure to anticipate a pitch invasion by Hibernian supporters is not excusable. The police presence during the game disappeared as quickly as the Rangers fans, after Hibs scored the winner. You could have fit the Hampden pitch between each steward around the stadium. Security is there to prevent actions as well as respond to actions, but they did neither of these. 

 

Alleged incidents that occurred from both sets of supporters could have been prevented if the most predictable of pitch invasions was prevented. Pitch invasions are wrong and in this instance, it caused the authorities not to allow the Hibs players near their fans after the presentation. Still, the majority of the people on the pitch were celebrating, rightly or wrongly, with a minority goading The Rangers fans which resulted in the majority of 'only a minority' reacting by entering the pitch for fisticuffs - or taking trophy children for the Stranger Dangers.
 
If there is to be a balanced and fair response, Hibs will be fined for fans damaging the pitch/goal along with fans entering the pitch and fighting; the SFA will punish themselves and the security/police for their skeletal & inadequate security, response and organisation. The Rangers would receive a particularly heavy fine for the sectarian chanting before, during and after the game; fans entering the pitch and fighting with Hibs fans, perhaps even for igniting the trouble that was sparked by Hibs fans goading them. Thankfully most of the zombie horde were 'walking away' before the final whistle, this avoided Hampden scenes that the Scottish media were drooling for - and repeatedly reported were occurring anyway, like they were trying to summon the Beetlejuice of moment-killing. They succeeded, in part, as the subsequent reports were about a 'marred' moment in history; really they were just trying to deflect from the emotional and mental scars Hibs Hibs-ing a Hibs-ing had caused. The hysteria that I've read from the media has largely been fuelled by social media claims, which is never a good mix. It has been almost as parodical as the The Rangers statements afterwards. You'd think Hibs fans had assaulted the embodiment of integrity. The only body of integrity that should be assaulted is the SFA for their hysterical handling of security via the stewarding/police. The true embodiments of integrity, Rod Petrie & Leeann Dempster, are the only people that have come out with their dignity so far...
 
I'm glad that the glorious game itself was untouched and unspoiled; it was far more dramatic than the frenzy on pitch & paper afterwards.

 

[Dominique Malonga]

I don't think Gray or McGinn lost a 50-50 battle all day. Actually, 50-50's not an entirely accurate description, many times they came out with the ball against 2 or more opponents. So, they were more like "33-67" or "25-75" balls! Sevco were arrogant going into the final from fans to management to players. They went into the final thinking all they had to do was show up to collect the cup and Hibs would roll over to have their bellies tickled, and they weren't ready for the battle.

Spot on. So many times they emerged with the ball when they had no right to win it.

[The Grass Is Greener.]

Most Hibs fans are fine.

 

You're an arse.

 

Bet we won't see you tomorrow night.

 

I'm here

 

Indeed.

 

I'll face the music either way later as always.

 

 

You're nowhere to be seen, though.

 

[Lyle Lanley]

:lol:

[Fraser Fyvie]

Lolitaire

[H Wragg]

Has Lee Wallace been paraded with his black eye yet?

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Had to get up at 0500 to get the bus into work today. Got off and was wandering through Chestnuts Park in Tottenham and some lad is lying on top of a picnic table outside the café with half a dozen empty cans of Polish lager around him. I was still half asleep at the time but I'm 90% sure it was Martin Boyle

[DeeTillEhDeh]

**** are still greeting all over the place having full blown heads gones.

Has a Scottish football club, or any club for that matter, ever made such a complete arse of themselves.

Horrible c***s.

I am sure Celtic have at one (or several?) times.

Competition for the title of Victim FC.

[Shandon Par]

P & B quotes in The Record today. 

[Mad Capsule]

P & B quotes in The Record today.

Offt. Seriously? Hopefully they've included some from The Grass Is Greener. Some boi.