By Macaroon 23rd May 2018
Celtic Casuals
One of my most memorable days out with the Celtic Casuals was a Wednesday night match against Rangers at Celtic Park on May 1, 1985. This fixture was originally scheduled for March of that year but had to be postponed.
These were the days of ski hats and sportswear, with plenty of Sergio Tacchini and Fila attire. We had positioned ourselves at the edge of the jungle, next to the old Rangers End, so we could see and taunt our rivals. The usual chants echoed back and forth as we spotted the Rangers ICF on the other side of the segregation. As the match began, a bottle of Irn-Bru was thrown from the Rangers supporters and shattered right in front of a copper. At that time, there was no mesh fence separating the jungle from the old Rangers End, which stirred up some tension, and we tried to push forward.
Two minutes into the match, Celtic were awarded a penalty, which Roy Aitken scored. However, the spot-kick was ordered to be retaken, and Aitken missed it.
In the 60th minute, Alan McInally scored for Celtic to make it 1-0. Shortly after, in the 71st minute, Ally Dawson was sent off for an off-the-ball incident involving Mo Johnston. This left Rangers with only nine men, as Davie Cooper had been sent off earlier in the match. we were were ecstatic and letting the Buns know about it. However, late into the game with approaching the last 10 minutes Rangers are awarded a penalty after a handball in the box by Roy Aitken. Ally McCoist steps up to make it 1-1. The end result. This result was hard to absorb as we had not beaten Rangers in a long time. Furthermore, the result basically hands Aberdeen the league. So an interesting game leading up to a so called “riot”.
Leaving the Ground
Our plan was to head to the Barrowlands and attack Rangers as they approached the London Road side. As we leave the ground and onto Janefield Street the Celtic fans numbered quite around 10,000. As we reached halfway down Janefield Street a small number of the supporters were giving us abuse, perhaps looking to take the result out on us. There was a small chant of “casuals get to f*ck” and “Celtic and Casuals don’t go” this was nothing new and normally fizzled out and the tension receded as predicted. Nothing happened.
Horses
At this point, a Celtic fan appears to have stepped back into a horse and agitated it, which prompted a loud cheer from the crowd. Meanwhile, the Strathclyde Police Mounted Division seemed to take that as a disturbance developing, although all involved later denied this. The officer in charge, orders five mounted police horses to charge through the crowd, leading to chaos. The horses strangely turned at the top of Janefield Street and charged back down, causing a 100-yard brick wall with railings outside the flats on Janefield Street to collapse under the weight of the crowd. People were led into neighbouring houses for safety, and women and children were lifted onto balconies. The street had become a bottleneck. This “balaclava-style” charge through the overcrowded street was completely unnecessary, resulting in many injuries, with innocent supporters being arrested and many casualties lying on either side of the road.
Aftermath
Results of Police Inquiry published December 1985 exonerate police – no action was to be taken. Witness statements from residents in Janefield Street had witnessed a ‘peaceful’ but crowded exit onto the street and only saw a cavalry style charge by the police.
No police or anyone connected to the incident was ever brought to justice. It seemed to us that it was simply more convenient to blame the Celtic casuals. Even the Celtic board at the time seemed to be happy to go along with this story. This was to be known as the “Janefield Riot” the only riot we are aware of that night was caused by the police themselves.
Holywell Street 
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