Inquiry into crowd violence

Riot police move in as the crowd turn ugly at Pittodrie

An inquiry is being launched following crowd violence between Aberdeen and Rangers fans at Saturday evening's Scottish Premier League match.

The game at Pittodrie was halted after just 20 minutes when Aberdeen forward Robbie Winters was struck on the back of the head by a coin, apparently thrown from the Rangers section of the crowd.

As police moved in to calm the visiting fans, about 20 Aberdeen fans climbed on to the pitch and ran towards the Rangers section.

Some Rangers fans then broke from their section determined to meet them halfway, but police officers managed to keep the two groups of supporters apart.

A mindless minority of morons engaged in behaviour which will sicken any true football fan

Roger Mitchell, SPL chief executive

Referee Mike McCurry ordered the players from the pitch as police reinforcements arrived in full riot gear.

Two fans were taken to hospital injured and those that remained were warned on the public address system that the game would be abandoned if there were further interruptions.

Aberdeen safety officer John Morgan said: "Obviously, with serious crowd disorder, the referee took the decision to take the players off the pitch."

Venom in the stands appeared to have subsided as the game restarted after a lengthy delay.

Rangers went on to win the match by one goal to nil.

The intense rivalry between fans of the two clubs stems from the 1980s, when a tackle by Neil Simpson on Iain Durrant left the Rangers and Scotland midfielder with cruciate ligament damage.

There have been a number of heated incidents on and off the field of play, but nothing had yet compared to Saturday's events.

Lorenzo Amoruso appeals for calm

Scottish Premier League chief executive Roger Mitchell immediately branded the supporters involved as "mindless morons".

Mitchell announced that a detailed investigation into the events will be held by his organisation on Monday.

"We were particularly concerned about the potential for incidents at this game.

"And, as a result, in the days leading up to the match, Iain Blair - our director of administration - was in contact repeatedly with the police and security advisors from both clubs," he said.

"We triple checked that all necessary steps had been taken on Friday afternoon.

"Despite the strenuous efforts of police, security staff and club officials, a mindless minority of morons engaged in behaviour which will sicken any true football fan.

Fan bans

"We utterly condemn the behaviour of the small minority in both sets of fans.

"It may be, although it is too early to be certain, that future matches between Aberdeen and Rangers will be required to kick off in the early afternoon, as is the case with Old Firm matches."

Senior figures in both clubs say they will not hesitate to ban any fan found to have been involved in this latest incident.

The events follow similar trouble over the past two weeks at both Cardiff and Chelsea.