February 12 – Holy Goalie Folly | On This Football Day

February 12 – Holy Goalie Folly

IN terms of football rivalries, it doesn’t get anymore intense than Rangers versus Celtic. With hundreds of years worth of sectarianism behind it, the Old Firm clash is more than just a game for both sets of supporters, so any controversial behaviour during the game is always met with one heck of a reaction.

Today in 2006 Celtic’s Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc made a series of gestures in front of the Rangers fans and found himself in the middle of a storm of controversy.

Before Celtic’s 1-0 win at Ibrox, Boruc was alledged to have made three hand gestures to the Rangers fans. No television camera’s picked up the incident (although clips, like the one below, have turned up on Youtube), but police reports and witness statements claimed Boruc’s handiwork involved a couple of obscene hand actions followed by a blessing as he laughed at the Rangers fans.

Said Rangers fans were not impressed and many of them complained to Strathcylde Police, leading to Boruc being cautioned for a breach of the peace in August 2006.

This ruling rippled through Scottish society, as the Roman Catholic Church condemned the actions of the Police, leading for the Crown Office to claim that they had only taken ‘very limited’ action against the man who was now being nicknamed ‘the Holy Goalie’.

After being cautioned by the police, one would have thought that Boruc would take it easy next time he took on Rangers, but that’s not how he rolls, as he again crossed himself in front of the Rangers fans, causing more outrage. Celtic were quick to defend him claiming that: “the police have said they have no problem with Artur Boruc in this regard and neither does Celtic Football Club.”

These days the Pole remains enemy number one amongst Rangers fans and even among some of his own team-mates if this week’s rumours of a bust-up are to be believed.

See what else was going down in the football world today here and come back tomorrow for some more controversial goings-on.