The inside story of the Old Firm derby and the Rangers Celtic rivalry 

To be concise, the Old Firm derby between Rangers and Celtic is the ongoing, enduring, perennial battle for football supremacy in Glasgow, with the club coming out on top over the course of the season, usually winning the Scottish title. 

The last team outside the Old Firm to be champions of Scotland was Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1984-85. 

To the uninitiated, a clash between two big football clubs from the same city may seem nothing out of the ordinary, but the Old Firm is more than a game in Glasgow. 

The fixture is the meeting of two football institutions, far more than a team in blue facing off against their adversaries in green and white hoops. 

To the fans, the Old Firm is everything. Winning is all that matters in this passionate, all-encompassing affair. 

The origins of the Old Firm

The Old Firm story and that of the two biggest clubs in Scotland goes far beyond football. 

It chimes with the social history, religion, politics, and culture in Glasgow, the wider west of Scotland, and large swathes of the rest of the country. 

Rangers FC was founded in 1872 by four young lads with a dream. 

Brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, together with Peter Campbell and William McBeath, were new to football, having witnessed the relatively new pursuit in a West Glasgow park. 

Purely out of a love of the game, the Rangers were born, and the team would go on to play their first match in May 1872.  The following year, the club held its first annual meeting and election of officers.

Celtic FC was founded in 1887 by the Irish Marist priest Brother Walfrid. 

In a similar drive to the venture that started Hibernian FC in Edinburgh a few years earlier, Celtic was motivated by the desire to feed and aid the Irish Catholic immigrant community in the East End of Glasgow. 

A fierce, polarised football and social divide would emerge over the coming decades, but in the early days, there was no such enmity. 

Celtic’s first game was actually a friendly against Rangers in May 1888, which they won 5-2. 

Legend has it that the Old Firm label was first coined in 1904, accompanying a cartoon in the Scottish Referee sports newspaper publication. 

It was said that the satirical depiction showed an older gentleman with a sandwich board bearing the slogan, “Patronise The Old Firm, Rangers, Celtic Ltd”.

This was to emphasise the mutual commercial benefits of an already attractive football clash that had captured the imagination of the masses. 

Another explanation was the term of Celtic and Rangers being “old, firm friends” due to the increased frequency of the games and their benefits.

The Irish context to the Celtic and Rangers divide

As said, Glasgow’s social history is integral to the story of this football rivalry, but it is intrinsically linked to matters across the Irish Sea.

It is well known that the immigrant Irish Catholic community formed the bedrock of Celtic, but there was also a largely Ulster Protestant influx to the shipbuilding and linen industries of Glasgow that was drawn to Rangers. 

Inter-communal tensions took hold and in later decades, would be exacerbated by ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland.

While relative peace ensues today in Northern Ireland, the stands at Ibrox and Celtic Park are still proxy battlefields for the enmity, division, and contrasting political viewpoints, largely held by the respective fanbases. 

Sectarianism forms part of this, and while violence is much reduced from decades past, it can still be found, but mostly away from the stadium on a matchday, where the rivalry is a hotbed of football tribalism with added context.

Every week, numerous supporters’ buses leave the ports of Belfast and Larne to make the pilgrimage for home games at Ibrox and Celtic Park. 

Many others travel on flights from across the island of Ireland to watch their team in Glasgow.

Scotland’s most populous city is a much different place nowadays in the 21st century compared to 100 years ago, but the social and political evolution has not had any meaningful impact on the significance and resonance of the Old Firm derby between Rangers and Celtic. 

Its story is Glasgow and Scotland’s story. 

A key driver in the Rangers and Celtic divide was that Rangers supporters were and are largely Scots, Ulster-Scots, and typically Protestant.

The club still espouses a Scottish and British, Unionist identity.

Conversely, Celtic’s identity was drawn from its Irish Catholic roots and the descendants still hold on to this heritage today, generations later, supporting the cause of Irish republicanism.

Many Celtic fans reject Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom and support the case for independence.

It has to be said that the respective support bases are not monolithic blocks, and not every fan will adhere to the ‘given’ labels of identity and politics, but they are accurate descriptors, in general.

Supporters are the USP of the Old Firm rivalry and the Scottish game overall

Moving back to football, the Scottish Premiership cannot compete with the finances, wages and superstars of the English Premier League, but it retains a rawness and authenticity that is now largely absent among the elite, south of the border.

Puerile talk of Rangers and Celtic not being able to compete in the Premier League is ignorant to the realities of how finances dictate everything else. 

Proponents of this argument rarely consider how a club such as Bournemouth could compete in the Scottish top flight if they were on a budget similar to the likes of Motherwell. Imagine that! 

The USP (unique selling point) of the Old Firm and Scottish football in general is the supporters, their raw passion, and how this manifests, and adds to the game. 

The authorities don’t always market this asset or support it in the most advantageous way, but it is always there. 

Scottish football is still largely accessible to its working-class audience (which it is dependent on it) and this should be celebrated. 

One negative aspect of the Old Firm rivalry is that the fixture is possibly diluted somewhat by its frequency. 

Some would say there are too many games, and with four regular league meetings and the realistic prospect of another two in the respective cups, it is not uncommon for Rangers and Celtic to play each other six times a season. 

That isn’t always healthy for the game, but the demands of the broadcasters, self-interest from the league and the insatiable appetite from the fans mean that no change is around the corner anytime soon.

The Old Firm has its flaws and its detractors, but it stands among the very best and most passionate football rivalries across the world.

On the surface, it is just another football game, but we all know it is much more than that, underpinned by a unique conflict of identity, religion and politics.