DEPORTES DE SCOTLAND

SPORTS IN  SCOTLAND

The most popular sports in Scotland

THE DERBIES IN SCOTLAND

http://wsdownload.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/pdf/2011/03/110317121235_110317_6min_english_football_rivalries.pdf

A derby, in the context of football, is a match played between two football teams from the same city, or near each other.

So, In Britain, famous derbies are games played between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, which are both in north London, Liverpool and Everton, or Celtic and Rangers - two football teams in Glasgow in Scotland. They have a bitter rivalry - and matches between the two often involve heated exchanges.

Alex Capstick, BBC sports reporter says:

"Matches between the Glasgow neighbours Rangers and Celtic usually involve heated exchanges, but the mayhem during the latest clash has been described as an embarrassment to Scottish football. Rangers had three players sent off. Celtic's manager, Neil Lennon, and Rangers' assistant coach, Ally McCoist, had to be dragged apart following an ugly confrontation after the final whistle."

On the other hand, the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, is setting up a summit to deal with the violence. He says the players are role models for society. Supporters will follow their example.

In addition to this, policemen in Scotland say that even cases of domestic violence increase when the two Glaswegian clubs play each other. Even people watching the match at home are more likely to become violent towards their families during or after the matches.

Curiously,  Les Grey, Scottish Police Federation claims:

" If the game hadn’t been on a Wednesday night, we’d have seen a lot more trouble had that been a Sunday lunchtime game or even a Saturday afternoon game. So we’ll be looking at when to play these games. We need to look at the licensing laws. We need to look at the coverage of the games, and by that I’m going to upset a lot people and say perhaps we need to stop televising one or two of them. There’s a direct correlation between what happens during the game and what happens after the game. If I tell you the latest figures just in - I was informed last night that domestic violence incidents jumped 70% on Wednesday evening after the game. That’s a huge jump."