‘I’ve missed Rangers the most’ the view from the fanbase as supporters adjust to behind-closed-doors games

Last Sunday, their team registered a comfortable 3-0 win over St Mirren in the first home league game of the new Scottish Premiership season, a fixture that is usually eagerly anticipated but was very different this time due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its ongoing consequences.

Every other Saturday, or often a Sunday as modern football dictates, prior to the lockdown in March earlier this year, the ferry terminals at Belfast and Larne would be packed with a strong contingent making the familiar journey across the Irish Sea and onward to the south side of Glasgow to cheer their favourite team.

This would be supplemented by those in lesser numbers who choose to take the more convenient air travel option.

Fans from all over Ulster are represented on any given weekend throughout the season - Shankill, North Belfast, East Belfast, Bangor, Ards, Portadown, Ballymena, Coleraine, Donegal...the list goes on.

A reluctant but inevitable acceptance of life amid the pandemic means that, for the time being, fans all over the UK and beyond have no other option but to watch on TV as Steven Gerrard’s men seek to build on a positive domestic start.

News Letter Sport spoke to Craig Adair, a season ticket holder from the Tandragee & District RSC.

When asked what it meant to him to be locked out of the first home league game of the season and beyond, he responded: “It’s terrible, especially given how last season ended.

“You’re champing at the bit to get back.

“During lockdown, apart from not seeing those closest to me, I’ve missed Rangers the most.

“Pubs and restaurants being closed hasn’t mattered much.

“When the fixtures are announced, the first home game is one that you really look forward to, to get back to Ibrox.

“I’m glad that it has returned but to say I was sad at not being there is a massive understatement

“It was a bit surreal (watching the St Mirren game from home) but the Rangers TV coverage was excellent, better than I’d expected in what was a solid win...but it just wasn’t the same.”

Adair, 33, can still recall the 1992/93 season, during which he attended his first Rangers game - a 1-0 victory over Motherwell at Ibrox thanks to John Brown’s goal.

“I’ve gone along with my Dad ever since and got my first season ticket in 2008 for the Broomloan Road stand, before transferring to the Copland Front the following season, where I’ve sat since then,” he said.

It is that rich tradition and loyalty down the generations that runs through the fanbase in Northern Ireland...as it does in Glasgow, throughout Scotland and further afield.

It blossomed through decades of the 20th Century, it endured through the demotion to the Scottish Third Division and back. It will get through this pandemic and the unprecedented situation that we are currently living in.

Football without fans is just not the same but it is better than nothing, for now. The same goes for Ibrox and its passionate partisan fanbase but they will follow on.

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