Rise of the 'fanatics' has changed the landscape of sport as we know it... but decency must be allowed to prevail

The late-night confrontation between Rangers officials and irate supporters in Austria on Thursday evening put the tin lid on a week in which the rise of the empowered, angry sports fan has once more been on full display.

Patrick Stewart, the Rangers chief executive officer, and Kevin Thelwell, the club’s sporting director, were both filmed being confronted in a Graz hotel by vocal and finger-pointing supporters who had evidently had their fill of the Russell Martin regime. Hours earlier Rangers had lost yet again, going down 2-1 to Sturm Graz in the Europa League.

Thelwell was seen to openly engage with one supporter, and indeed, finally pacify him. Stewart, meanwhile, perhaps wisely stood well back while the confrontation went on. All appeared to end peacefully, though for a few moments there was menace and even a threat of violence in the air.

The incident was nothing new. On the contrary it was yet another example of a growing phenomenon across all sport: fans who believe they have full entitlement to say whatever they wish, and harangue whomever they wish.

In football, rugby and even tennis, brash and opinionated supporters are having their say, often in the very faces of the performers. The sluice-gates are well and truly open.

Last weekend’s Ryder Cup provided a further reminder of it. In the febrile atmosphere of Bethpage in New York, Rory McIlroy was abused and pilloried by mouthy US golf fans, with his wife even being struck by a large cup of fizzy drink. Europe’s golfers ran the full gamut of hollering and goading, producing an atmosphere best described as toxic.

Yes, this was mere loud partisanship, but it spoke of the now prevailing spirit of Barstool Sports, in which aggressive and rowdy opinion is expressed with entitlement and on a high voltage.

More than ever, professional sports men or women — and their gate-keepers, the club directors — fear the power and volume of ‘fanatics’.

In Scottish football, Rangers and Celtic are both currently contending with disillusioned, disgruntled fans, and neither club is at all convinced they themselves will emerge as the winner.

It is perfectly conceivable that Rangers supporters — by their absence and protests — will force the club to sack Russell Martin. This is nothing if not fan-power. One more onfield hiccup — maybe against Falkirk this weekend? — and Rangers are going to be facing a tsunami of fan resentment.

Celtic, meanwhile, are also wrestling — and currently losing — with the Green Brigade who are agitating for change in the club’s boardroom.

With Celtic Park threatened with becoming a morgue during Thursday night’s match against Braga due to a fan ‘silent protest’, the club hurriedly fixed a meeting for Monday with dissenting supporters, in return for the protest at Thursday’s game being called off.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen fans are not standing on ceremony, still dewy-eyed over the Scottish Cup win at Hampden in May. On the contrary, five months on, many of them are urging the dismissal of Jimmy Thelin following their abysmal start to the season.

Dave Cormack, the Aberdeen chairman, faces a major problem. Cormack has always been adamant that Thelin is at Aberdeen for the long haul, for the total rebuild, and the Scottish Cup triumph appeared to reinforce that wish. Yet can he resist the growing tide of supporters who are demanding the departure of the embattled Swede? It may be that he cannot.

The fact is that, 25 years ago, angry fans were just a noisy inconsequence. But not so today. Football fans in 2025 have a rhetorical and financial muscle which — perhaps quite rightly — makes their clubs respect them and even fear them. Fans today can more often than not have their way.

Yet fan power and influence can be a mixed blessing, as Rangers will surely attest. The club, having embraced ‘fan media’ and invited them into press conferences, was then embarrassed in 2021 when those same supporters were found to indulge in sectarian antics in what they had thought were mere fun posts on Twitter.

Rangers were lampooned over the incident, and it had a moral to it. If you engage fan media then you run the risk of edgy, boorish or even downright outrageous behaviour. Stewart Robertson, then the Rangers managing-director, realised his mistake and recoiled in horror.

One high-profile Scottish media pundit coined the phrase ‘internet bampots’ to refer to the new breed that was out there. Fans can very often be ‘fanatics’ and that can mean over-the-top behaviour which many people would deplore. Fan media can be a minefield.

Yet in many cases fan power and influence are to be welcomed and even encouraged. There are many perceptive and witty supporters who have insights and observations to match or even better those of us who occupy the high pulpits of so-called ‘legacy media’.

Not for nothing have outlets like the BBC encouraged the comments and input of ordinary supporters on their websites. Rich seams of knowledge and historic context are often found.

The rise of social media, with all its volume and impact, has given the ordinary supporter a remarkable power. His or her voice is now heard, and with force. There is a citizen journalism out there — ‘everyone is now a pundit’ — which is here to stay.

The question is, can articulacy and decency prevail… or are the boors simply taking over?

Personally, I think fan media is for the good. Perhaps naively, I believe the good guys will prevail over the dolts and the blowhards. Time and again I meet Scottish football fans — men and women — who are sharp and insightful about their clubs. Their voices deserve to be heard.

And with it comes fan power. The power to hire and fire. Football club directors and managers, be warned.