Mike's Token Weekend Soccer Game of the Week Preview

Since it's midweek, and there's no football (pointy ball) going on, there's really one game to look for this weekend in the world of football (round ball). It's the "Old Firm" matchup between Scottish archrivals Celtic FC and Rangers FC, both of Glasgow. Celtic-Rangers is hard to describe in terms of American rivalries. Take the near monopoly on league success of Ohio State-Michigan, add the proximity of White Sox-Cubs, then pretend that Cubs fans are Israelis and Sox fans are Palestinians. You know, those kind of friendly relations.

Rangers and Celtic have won a combined 91 League Championships, and have met 371 times (Rangers lead 147-133-91). As for the friendliness of the rivalry, Rangers is the team supported by the Protestant community in Glasgow, Celtic the Catholic community. Rangers fans predominantly are from Scotland proper and British Northern Ireland. Celtic is one of the most popular clubs in the Republic of Ireland, and among Irish expatriates in Scotland.

For a taste of the rivalry, consider this. When Rangers signed Scottish International Mo Johnston, fans organized protests, not because he was a bad player, but because Johnston was a Roman Catholic. Thing was, he wasn't even the first Catholic to play for Rangers. By now people are thinking, "This was like in the 1920s, right?" No. This was in 1989! Not even 20 years ago. The terraces at Celtic Park and Ibrox Stadium are still filled with sectarian songs glorifying the deeds of the IRA and the devastation of the Irish Potato Famine, respectively. The rivalry has been marred by fan violence on many occasions. While security has been increased at matches, and the clubs' front offices have put forth messages of tolerance, if you're looking for a riot this weekend to confirm common stereotypes of soccer fans, this is probably the best (albeit still unlikely) chance for one.

As for the match itself, after 7 matches, Celtic sit atop the Scottish Premier League with 16 points from 7 matches. Rangers are in third with 12 points. For this weekend, I'm calling Celtic to take all three points from Rangers, who suffered a defeat last weekend. This is the first of up to 4 SPL meetings between Rangers and Celtic this season, and the first since Celtic beat out Rangers to win the League last season.

(Shown below, an Old Firm match, with Celtic supporters on the left, Rangers supporters on the right, and security-mandated empty seats and lines of police between the factions).