HAMPDEN GREEN BRIGADE TIFOS: THE SFA FINALLY GET SOMETHING RIGHT
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- May 21
- 3 min read
Credit where credit is due, I didn’t expect that The SFA would cooperate with efforts by The Green Brigade to have a tifo display at this weekend’s Scottish Cup Final.
However, they’ve done exactly what the Celtic Board have failed to do with fans groups in recent weeks and actually come to an agreement.
So, according to an announcement by the Green Brigade last night, we can look forward to not one, but two different displays across the Celtic end this Saturday.
Cooperation and Dialogue: A Blueprint for Celtic and the Green Brigade to Follow
The Green Brigade’s statement is short and simple: asking fans to raise their individual poly sheets for the pre-kick-off display as the teams emerge from the Hampden tunnel. It then asks fans to “fly the flag” at the beginning of the second half.
Whilst the statement doesn’t elaborate on the specifics, it’s clear that such initiatives could not happen without the cooperation and approval of those running Hampden.
I’m sure the displays will be as spectacular as they always are. Love or loathe the Green Brigade, you can’t deny that their tifo game is absolutely top-level.
This does raise the awkward question though: Why are fan groups like the Green Brigade able to reach an understanding with The SFA, who we all know have no great love for our club or our fans, yet such agreements remain as distant a prospect as ever when it comes to doing similar at Celtic Park?
The simple answer would be to say that this agreement reached between fans and Hampden’s office bearers suggests that it may be the Celtic Board rather than the Green Brigade who are the ones with the problem here.
Personally, I think it’s a bit more complicated than that.
With Rangers getting knocked out of the tournament early on this season (thanks again Queen’s Park for one of the funniest moments yet in the ongoing “Banter Epoch”), The SFA will want to do all they can to make this final a spectacle that captivates TV audiences.
Also, with the FA Cup final already taking place last week, there is the prospect of the game drawing a wider TV audience than usual, especially from down south.
So, those governing our game will want there to be as much color, as much atmosphere and as much impactful imagery on display as possible.
The Green Brigade provide all of the above.
Going forward, this should be, to use business parlance, Scottish football’s USP, our Unique Selling Point.
We can’t match the talent on the field when it comes to the English Premiership, but unlike those increasingly soulless, overpriced, tourist-trap, hollow shells they call stadiums down there, Scotland still has passionate, engaged fans who can create that atmosphere.
Celtic tried to replicate this with their own heavily sanitized, corporate approved, tifo display last Saturday on trophy day. I think it’s fair to say it went down like the proverbial lead balloon.
Hopefully, when the board see a proper tifo this weekend, they will return to the negotiating table and sort out their differences with the Green Brigade and other fan groups.
Because as this weekend’s Scottish Cup Final will, I believe, prove, fan involvement isn’t just good for stadium atmosphere and team morale, it’s good for business and viewer engagement too.
