RANGERS have outlined to UEFA the dangerous treatment that many of their supporters were subjected to at the Europa League final in Seville on Wednesday night in a bid to prevent any repeat at major events in future.
Officials at the Ibrox club have been inundated with harrowing testimonies of heavy-handed policing and disorganisation both before and during the match against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.
Fans have complained about having water bottles and as well as medication – including insulin - and sunscreen taken off them by Spanish police as they were entering the ground in midweek.
Rangers were concerned to learn there were so few kiosks selling water in the 44,000 capacity arena and their fans were having to queue for up to an hour to get a drink.
They were also alarmed when they discovered that water in the toilets had run out due to the volume of demand shortly after supporters had been told to drink out of taps.
One Rangers-supporting doctor who was in attendance reported seeing fans suffering from heat exhaustion and hydration issues during a game that was played in 35 degree heat.
Rangers have outlined their concerns at both the organisation of the final and the treatment of their supporters to UEFA at the official post-match debrief and have also made representations to the Spanish FA.
They are now urging their fans to contact Football Supporters Europe, an organisation which monitors every major final and produces an independent third party report, to pass on their experiences.
The club feel that denying young and elderly fans the basic human right of drinking water was dangerous and have vowed to pursue the matter with all relevant parties going forward after receiving harrowing reports.
Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield also heard about the conditions inside the stadium following the penalty shoot-out defeat and was disappointed to discover fans were so badly treated.
“I never heard anything of it (during the game),” he said. “I had friends and my family in there, my two young kids. I did hear about that (afterwards).
“For a European cup final, for any game for that matter, but especially for a game of that magnitude, you expect a lot better.”
Rangers started liaising with organisers after they reached the Europa League quarter-finals back in March when they submitted an initial risk assessment.
They informed Spanish authorities that they estimated between 80,000 and 100,000 of their fans would be travelling to Seville.
They warned the fan meeting point and Alameda de Hercules was not going to be big enough to accommodate their followers and arranged for the Estadio La Cartuja to be opened. No fewer than 26,000 fans attended that event.
Rangers, who had 45 of their own stewards in the city, agreed a list of everything that could be taken inside the stadium with UEFA, Spanish police and host club Sevilla before the game.
That included battery packs and water bottles with the tops taken off them – but both were removed from the supporters as they arrived at the ground along with medication and make-up.
Rangers were disappointed to see that Eintracht fans had managed to smuggle pyrotechnics into the stadium and set off a series of flares as the second-half got underway.
No Rangers fan was arrested in Seville this week despite tens of thousands of them travelling to Spain for the Europa League final whether they had a ticket or not.
