While Scottish football’s two most notable rivalries involve clubs from the same city – Rangers vs Celtic and Hibernian vs Hearts – things can be pretty feisty when a Glasgow team plays an Edinburgh team.
That was the case this afternoon as Hearts beat Celtic 2-0 in controversial fashion at Tynecastle Park, and Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart was at the centre of the action.
What happened between Joe Hart and the Hearts fans?
In the 43rd minute of the game, Joe Hart was caught on camera appearing to call Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland a “s****bag” for not taking the penalty his side had just won for a handball by Tomoki Iwata.
Once Jorge Grant had put the home side in front from the spot, Joe Hart went over to get the ball from the Hearts fans. He got the ball back, but not in the way he wanted it.
Footage shows one fan throwing the ball back into the goalkeeper’s face. Unsurprisingly, Hart does not take too kindly to this, fronting up to the fans before turning away.
As he does, however, another ball is thrown at him and Hart turns once more to face up to the home fans. Eventually, the goalkeeper has to be led away by his teammate Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Hearts fans giving it to Celtic goalie Joe Hart after they scored this afternoon… 😭pic.twitter.com/Nm40IsHCjq
— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) March 3, 2024
A controversial afternoon at Tynecastle Park
The incident involving Hart did not spring up out of nowhere – it was a game full of incident on Sunday afternoon. Celtic had won an early penalty but Adam Idah’s effort was saved by Zander Clark, and then Celtic’s Hyun-Jun Yang was sent off for a dangerous challenge on Alex Cochrane.
The handball that resulted in the Hearts penalty was also controversial to say the least, and the incidents would not stop there, Shankland having a goal ruled out for a tight offside before he got the second goal that put the game to bed.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was critical of the officiating, calling it “really, really poor” and “shocking decision making.”