Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fourth-oldest football club in Scotland, Rangers was founded by four teenage boys as they walked through West End Park in March 1872 where they discussed the idea of forming a football club, and played its first match against the now defunct Callander at the Fleshers' Haugh area of Glasgow Green in May of the same year. Rangers' home ground, Ibrox Stadium, designed by stadium architect Archibald Leitch and opened in 1929, is a Category B listed building and the third-largest football stadium in Scotland. The club has always played in royal blue shirts.
The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded in Scottish culture. It has reflected and contributed to political, social and religious division and sectarianism in Scotland. As a result, the fixture has had an enduring appeal around the world.
Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of 50,817.
Sectarianism in Glasgow takes the form of long-standing religious and political sectarian rivalry between Catholics and Protestants. It is particularly reinforced by the fierce rivalry between Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C., the two largest Scottish football clubs sometimes referred to as the Old Firm, whose support base is traditionally predominantly Catholic and Protestant respectively. A 2003 report for Glasgow City Council indicated that people clearly believe "sectarianism is still prevalent in Glasgow", but that members of the public were divided on the strength of the relationship between football and sectarianism.
"Billy Boys", also titled "The Billy Boys", is a loyalist song from Glasgow, sung to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia." It originated in the 1920s as the signature song of one of the Glasgow razor gangs led by Billy Fullerton and later became viewed to reflect the long-running sectarian religious hatred directed by some Protestants against Catholics in the city. It is associated in particular with Rangers F.C.
Graham Spiers is a Scottish sports journalist who writes for the Scottish edition of The Times newspaper. He has won Scotland's Sports Journalist of the Year award four times.
Donald Russell Findlay KC is a Scottish advocate. He has also held positions as a vice-chairman of Rangers Football Club and twice Rector of the University of St Andrews. He is now chairman of his hometown football club Cowdenbeath.
The "Famine Song" is a song sung by some Ulster loyalists in Ulster and Scotland and is normally directed at Catholics and, in Scotland, Irish people, those of Irish descent or those with perceived affiliations to Ireland. It is also sung by fans of Scottish football club Rangers due to rival Celtic's Irish roots. Set to the tune of "The John B. Sails" popularised by Carl Sandburg, the lyrics of the song make reference to the 1840s' Great Famine of Ireland. The song is often heard at loyalist marches in Northern Ireland. "The Famine Song" has received criticism due to the racist and sectarian nature of its lyrics and, in some cases, those singing it have received criminal convictions.
"Follow On", also known in certain cases as "Down In The Valley With My Saviour I Would Go" and "I Will Follow Jesus", is a Christian hymn written in 1878 by William Orcutt Cushing. The music for it was composed in 1880 by both Robert Lowry and W. Howard Doane.
The 1980 Scottish Cup Final was played on 10 May 1980 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and was the final of the 95th Scottish Cup competition. Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers contested the match, which Celtic won 1–0 after extra time. Rioting after the end of the match, involving both sets of supporters, resulted in the sale of alcohol being banned at sporting events in Scotland.
The supporters of Celtic, a Scottish football club, were estimated in 2003 to number around 9 million worldwide. Numerous fan magazines and supporters' websites are dedicated to the club, and there are in excess of 800 supporters' clubs in over 60 countries around the world.
The Bouncy or The Bouncy Bouncy is a sports celebration which involves jumping up and down on the spot while chanting the word "bouncy" or "Let's all do the bouncy" over and over again. It is mainly done by fans of Scottish association football club Rangers, Australian club Brisbane Roar, Swazi team Eleven Men in Flight F.C. and the Northern Ireland national football team. The Bouncy was first performed in 1984 as a terrace song at Rangers' home ground Ibrox Stadium. In 1990, the then Rangers head of security, Alistair Hood jokingly suggested that Ibrox Stadium should have seatbelts installed to stop fans doing The Bouncy. The action was brought to the attention of a wider audience when Rangers fans were seen doing it in the City of Manchester Stadium in the 2008 UEFA Cup Final against Zenit St Petersburg. In recent times, the bouncy has become commonplace with fans of League of Ireland Side Limerick FC.
Rangers Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Glasgow.
The 1971 Ibrox disaster was a crush among the crowd at an Old Firm football game, which led to 66 deaths and more than 200 injuries. It happened on 2 January 1971 in an exit stairway at Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland. It was the worst British football disaster until the Bradford City stadium fire in Bradford, England, in 1985. This was followed by 97 deaths in the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, England, in 1989.
On 17 October 1987, Rangers faced Celtic in a Scottish Premier Division fixture at Ibrox Stadium, during the 1987–88 season. The match finished 2–2, but is best remembered for the sending off of three players and the subsequent Court case that took place as a result.
There has been an extremely long history of the involvement of Christianity and association football. In 16th-century England, Puritan Christians opposed the contemporary forms of football, due to its violence and its practice on Sunday, the Sabbath day of rest. However from the 19th century, Christians espousing the movement of "Muscular Christianity" encouraged the game for its physical and social benefits. Several of England's leading clubs, including Everton, Manchester City and Southampton, were founded by churches, as was Celtic in Scotland. There have also been leagues set up specifically for Christian clubs outside of the normal national league pyramid.
The 2016–17 season was the 137th season of competitive football by Rangers.
Club 1872 is a supporters group for fans of the Scottish football club Rangers.
Between the 1930s and 1970s, the Scottish football club Rangers had an unwritten rule whereby the club would not knowingly sign any player who was a Roman Catholic. This was because Rangers were viewed as a Protestant, British unionist club, in contrast to their Old Firm rivals, Celtic who were viewed as an Irish Catholic club, although Celtic never adopted a discriminatory signing policy. Rangers' policy was ended in 1989 when they signed ex-Celtic striker Mo Johnston, under manager Graeme Souness.
The Aberdeen–Rangers rivalry refers to football matches and related activity involving the Scottish football clubs Aberdeen F.C. and Rangers F.C.