[BOOCHIR]

Quote

Serbia v Scotland World Cup qualifier switched to a Saturday after hosts claim police fear Scots fans' behaviour
Jan 3 2012 By Alan Marshall

SERBIA have finally agreed to kick off Scotland’s World Cup campaign on a Saturday – more than a month after the fixtures were confirmed.

They agreed only after an assurance by Strathclyde Police that the Tartan Army’s behaviour had caused the switch and not the notorious Serbia fans.

The game will take place on Saturday, September 8 and in a statement the Serbian FA said: “At the request of the police, the match will be played a day later than normal.

“They assure us the change is based on bad experiences they have had with Scottish fans. The letter noted that this is in no way based on the possible behaviour of Serbian supporters but only the supporters of Scotland.

“It stated that this is normal practice because in their previous competition, they played a day later than the other teams.”

Rioting Serbs forced a Euro 2012 qualifier against Italy in Genoa in 2010 to be abandoned.

UEFA ordered a 3-0 win for Italy and the Serbs had to play their next match against Northern Ireland behind closed doors.

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[highlandcowden]

BOOCHIR, on 03 January 2012 - 14:00, said:

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thank f**k,ill be able to make this without any tedious shift swaps now;just need to get someone to work for me the following tueasday now.....

[qos_75]

What? Serbia V Scotland is on Tuesday 26 March 2013. Unless of course they are actually talking about the home game.

[HibeeJibee]

Yeh, it's the home game. With the default days now being Friday-Tuesday, we needed Serbia to agree to the game in September being the Saturday. Strathclyde Police have agreed to subsequent ties v Wales and Belgium being Friday nights, but not v Serbia, one would assume as they don't want the Serbian fans going to and from the game on a Friday night.

[doulikefish]

Serbia did offer to put a ban on there fans travelling,but the strathclyde police still wanted the game on a saturday

[HibeeJibee]

Interesting... Is there something on in Glasgow that Friday, or were they fearing UK-based Serbians coming up and causing trouble if it was in the evening? They must've had some reason for wanting this alone on a Saturday.

[South Lanarkshire Jag]

HibeeJibee, on 04 January 2012 - 15:06, said:

or were they fearing UK-based Serbians coming up and causing trouble if it was in the evening?

This i'd imagine

[craigkillie]

Perhaps it was too short-notice for the police compared to the other Friday games which are in 2013.