Fans of Rangers Football Club have been criticised for gathering in large numbers outside their stadium despite COVID lockdown rules.

Videos from outside Ibrox Stadium showed hundreds of tightly packed supporters being held back by police and security staff as they welcomed players and staff members ahead of the club’s clash with St Mirren, which kicked off at 3pm.

Rangers will win the Scottish Premiership for the first time in 10 years if they beat St Mirren and Celtic lose against Dundee United on Sunday.

A noisy crowd banged on Rangers manager Steven Gerrard’s Range Rover as he arrived at Ibrox as others set off flares, engulfing the front of the stadium in blue and red smoke.

Under Scotland’s COVID-19 lockdown rules, public gatherings are banned and a maximum of two people from two households are allowed to meet outdoors.

NEW:

Large crowds have gathered outside #Ibrox ahead of #Rangers game against #StMirren this afternoon.

🎥 Chris Bett

🔉MORE: https://t.co/msyCLTNzqk pic.twitter.com/ZqZrxOj8Eo

Football games have been continuing, but have been held behind closed doors with no fans permitted inside stadiums.

After videos of the incident were posted on fans’ Twitter pages, like The Away Fans, several pointed out how they were breaking the rules.

One poster said: “Disgraceful disregard to everyone trying to fight Covid and all those families who cannot see their loved ones”.

Another said: “How can you promote that and applaud it when it’s clearly massively illegal and irresponsible.”

Rangers fans as Steven Gerrard arriving at Ibrox today, what a reception the manager received! 👏 pic.twitter.com/1151gA3N6c

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has previously criticised fans for gathering in large numbers.

When Celtic supporters took part in a protest outside the club’s stadium in November, she said: “We have advice against gatherings and every day I stand up here and say avoid crowded places.

“We have a limit on people coming together outside… so it stands to reason any group of people that are gathering together in a crowd are putting themselves and others at risk.

“Whether it’s football fans, rugby fans, any other kind of sport fans or just people in general, please don’t do it.”

A member of the Blues Brothers Rangers and Linfield FC fan group, who spoke to the PA news agency from outside Ibrox, said: “It’s scenes of joy. Ten years almost of pain and watching our rivals win the lot has been hard to take. It’s scenes of relief to stop the 10 in a row.

“We’d expect celebrations to be bigger when Rangers officially do win the title, whether that’s tomorrow or two weeks’ time against Celtic.”

Related posts:

Hunt for mystery person infected with Brazil variant narrows to 379 households Pontins used ‘undesirable guests list to discriminate against Gypsies and travellers’ Computerised image released to help identify body of woman found on beach UK COVID cases continue to fall – just 1 in 4,230 infected in Wales, says ONS Thousands with cancer could be going unchecked – as numbers starting treatment post-lockdown soar Current wave of COVID infections may not peak until December, modellers predict Hours-long queues for boosters for second day running – with lateral flows still unavailable online Why health secretary’s 200k Omicron case claim was back-of-envelope sum not a definitive number Which foods are driving the rise in the cost of living, according to the latest data? What are the COVID rules across the UK and how do they differ between countries? Ex-student told to read classic literature after being convicted of terrorism offence is jailed Arsenal player’s yellow card sparks FA probe after ‘unusual’ bet placed