To start, this isn't about pointing fingers at one group alone. It's about event management and the safety of everyone at Hampden. What we saw on Sunday felt like the result of an accumulation of poor decisions and missed chances to act before things spiralled.

Signs were obvious

You could see it building from early on. People streaming in without tickets, flares in circulation, vandalism to toilets and seats, graffiti — all of that should ring alarm bells for stewards and police alike. When those kinds of indicators are present, the priority has to be to stop escalation, not wait and react when it becomes a mess.

Shared responsibility — but leadership matters

To be fair, organising a big game is complicated. The clubs, the SFA and the police all have roles to play. But that’s exactly why someone needs to take clear, decisive charge on the day. If contingency plans aren’t agreed and acted on, the default becomes chaos. You can argue no single trigger caused it; I’d say that’s precisely the problem — multiple small failures added up.

Why pre-emptive action counts

Good policing at big matches is often about presence and timing. Bringing forces to key points early, acting on bad intel and removing obvious risks before kick-off can calm a crowd. Watching what happened on Sunday, many of us who’ve been to Hampden before felt it could have been handled better. That feeling matters — supporters don’t cry wolf unless there’s something to it.

Look, we may not agree on every detail. But agreeing that safety should come first is easy. Whoever is responsible for planning needs to learn from this and make sure the next time warning signs aren’t met with indecision. If that means clearer protocols, better coordination or swifter intervention, then so be it. The alternative is repeating the same mistakes.

Written by Broste64: 15 April 2026

Tags: transfers