Iconic Moments in Football No.35
This week’s iconic moment comes from the Scottish Premier League in a match between Rangers and Hibernian on 30th December 1995.
Rangers completely dominated the match from start to finish, winning the game 7-0. Gordon Durie scored four of the goals.
Even though he scored four goals, it wasn’t Gordon Durie who made the headlines of the back pages the next day. That particular honour was given to Paul Gascoigne, who was given a yellow card in the most extraordinary of circumstances.
Referee Dougie Smith was running downfield, keeping up with the action. His yellow card fell out of his pocket and he blew the whistle to stop play so he could retrieve it.
Paul Gascoigne spotted the card on the floor and always game for a laugh, Gazza couldn’t resist waving the card at Smith, pretending to caution the referee!
In what was probably the harshest yellow card of all-time, referee Dougie Smith took the yellow card from Gascoigne and promptly waved it back at him. He clearly didn’t see the funny side of things as he cautioned the Rangers man.
Everyone inside Ibrox couldn’t believe what they had just seen. Even Hibernian’s Joe Totorlano tried to get Smith to reverse his decision but to no avail. It was as if the man in the middle had a complete sense of humour bypass!
Gascoigne had joined from Lazio in the July of that year, moving to Ibrox for a club record £4.3 million. By the end of his first season in Scotland, 19 goals in all competitions, picking up PFA Scotland Player’s Player of the Year and SFWA Footballer of the Year in the process.
Rangers ended the season winning the League and Cup Double. It was their eighth League Championship in a row. They would win the Premier League title the following season to match rivals Celtic’s record nine League titles in a row.
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