Dundee United have offered a brief statement in response to their fans’ actions during the minute’s silence to honour Queen Elizabeth II before their 2-1 defeat at Rangers. Supporters were heard booing and chanting “Lizzie’s in a box” during the moment of reflection to commemorate the life of the late monarch.
Matches across the country have included a pre-match tribute to commemorate the passing of Her Majesty, with teams encouraged to take part in a minute’s silence before playing the national anthem. It was the first time most clubs have had the opportunity to come together and mark her death with all of last weekend’s fixtures cancelled as a mark of respect, though some teams played in Europe in midweek like Rangers.
United supporters could be heard chanting “Lizzie’s in a box” for the duration of the silence period while others booed during the 60 seconds. Their actions prompted an angry response from the Rangers fans who held up a mosaic in honour of the Queen in their Champions League loss to Napoli on Wednesday night.
Now, Dundee United have issued a statement addressing the issues that arose at Ibrox. However, they stopped short of condemning their fans for their behaviour.
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The minute had to be cut short at Tynecastle with a minority of Hearts fans booing throughout the stoppage, with some shouts of “f*** the Queen” also heard. Meanwhile, Shamrock Rovers supporters also chanted “Lizzie’s in a box” during their Conference League draw with Djurgarden.
Celtic are also set to be investigated after BT Sport were forced to apologise for banners that read “F*** THE CROWN” were displayed by supporters during their 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in mid-week.
The events will be seen very poorly by the footballing authorities with one of the reasons the sport was cancelled last weekend being concerns that a minority would not behave appropriately while tributes were paid to the Queen. Such fears were borne out on Saturday with the actions of some supporters at Ibrox and Easter Road.