Old Firm

The History of the Rivalry

The Old Firm is Scottish football's defining rivalry and one of the oldest in the world: Rangers were founded in 1872 by a group of young men who met while rowing on the Clyde, and Celtic followed in 1887, established by the Irish Marist brother Walfrid explicitly to raise money for poor children in Glasgow's Irish Catholic immigrant community. The two clubs met for the first time on 28 May 1888, a friendly Celtic won 5-2; the nickname "Old Firm" followed soon after, though its exact origin is disputed — some trace it to a newspaper's wry remark that the two clubs' players got on like "old firm friends," others to a more cynical read on how reliably profitable their fixture was for both sides. From early on, the rivalry took on a sectarian dimension that has never fully disappeared: Celtic became associated with Glasgow's Catholic and Irish-descended community, Rangers historically with its Protestant and unionist community, and for decades that divide shaped attendance policies, signings and, at times, crowd behaviour. It is a well-documented and uncomfortable part of the derby's history rather than a footnote, and it is one reason the fixture has drawn more sustained attention from Scottish authorities than any other domestic match. On the pitch, two results stand apart. On 19 October 1957, Celtic beat Rangers 7-1 in the Scottish League Cup final — still the biggest winning margin in any Old Firm final and a result still celebrated in Glasgow as "Hampden in the Sun." Very different scenes followed the 1980 Scottish Cup final, which Celtic won 1-0: a pitch invasion and fighting between rival fans broke out after the final whistle, images that were beamed around the world and directly led to the ban on alcohol inside Scottish football stadiums that remains in force today. Rangers and Celtic have combined to win the vast majority of Scottish league titles ever contested, and whichever club is ascendant at a given moment, the Old Firm derby remains the single fixture that defines a football season in Scotland.