Liverpool and Rangers supporters will come together at Ibrox ahead of their sides’ Champions League match to support an initiative aimed at helping communities struggling with food poverty.
The clubs face each other in European action on Wednesday evening in Glasgow for matchday four of the UEFA competition.
A foodbank collection organised by Gers Food Banks will be held at Ibrox subway station from 6.30pm, with supporters encouraged to make a donation.
It marks the latest action taken by football fans in Scotland in response to the cost of living crisis facing communities across the country.
The Fans Supporting Foodbanks Scotland group was established in July this year – building on the work undertaken by the Fans Supporting Foodbanks in Liverpool.
The group was formed in 2015 in a collaboration between supporters of Liverpool and Everton in the city.
It has sought to bring fans of all clubs together in order to tackle food insecurity and to challenge austerity.
At the first Old Firm fixture this season, Celtic and Rangers fans joined forces to collect foodbank donations outside Celtic Park ahead of kick-off.
The Celts Supporting Foodbanks group collected donations from supporters on Tuesday evening ahead of their side’s Champions League fixture against German side RB Leipzig.
Labour MP Ian Byrne was involved in the establishment of the Fans Supporting Foodbanks group, in his role as a committee member for the Spirit of Shankly Liverpool supporters union.
Byrne, who has represented the Liverpool West Derby constituency since being elected in 2019, said that he is “extremely proud” of the formation of the Scottish arm of the campaign group.
The MP has also led the Right to Food campaign, calling for the Government to enshrine the right into law.
Ahead of the match at Ibrox, Byrne told STV News that supporters from the Spirit of Shankly will bring a donation for the collection from Liverpool to Glasgow in a “show of solidarity” between the two cities.
“We set Fans Supporting Foodbanks up in 2015 with Liverpool and Everton supporters groups coming together to work with the local communities struggling with food poverty,” he said.
“This simple idea of collectivism built on trade union principals has now grown into a network throughout the UK fighting food poverty in the ground and taking it to Parliament in Westminster campaigning for a Right to Good because hunger is a political choice.
“We are extremely proud of the formation of the Scottish arm of the FSF national network this year and how much it’s achieved in promoting unity and communities coming together overcoming tribal differences which are key parts of the FSF ethos.
“Liverpool supporters from the Spirit of Shankly football union will be bringing a donation from Liverpool to Glasgow in a show of solidarity between our two great cities.”
A member of the Gers Food Banks group told STV News that the growth of the organisation in Scotland reflects the “dire nature” that many people across the country now find themselves in.
He explained that due to “no tangible improvements in living conditions” promised by any major political party, working class people are taking action into their own hands.
It is also “imperative”, he added, that collections are undertaken for the survival of communities.
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