Scotland escape sanction after anthem is booed anthem

(GETTY IMAGES)

Scotland will not face any sanctions from Uefa after Northern Ireland's national anthem was booed and jeered by the Tartan Army before Wednesday night's goalless friendly at Hampden.

The home fans ignored earlier pleas from the Scottish Football Association to treat "God Save the Queen" with respect. The European governing body's spokesman William Gaillard said that while the game was outside their jurisdiction, there was nothing in their rules which could be used to punish disrespect of that nature. He said: "Friendly matches are in the domain of Fifa [the world governing body], it is not Uefa's responsibility. Unfortunately this is not a new thing but there are no sanctions we can impose."

After the game, attended by 7,000 Northern Ireland fans in a crowd of more than 28,000, the SFA issued a statement claiming it was "disappointed" in the actions of a section of the Scotland support.

The Scotland debutant Darren Barr, meanwhile, expects no hero-worshipping from his Falkirk team-mates when he returns to his club as a fully-fledged international. The 23-year-old defender became the first Bairns' player since John White in 1959 to play for Scotland when he came on as a second-half substitute for Stephen McManus.

Barr did not look out of place in the last friendly match before the World Cup qualifiers begin next month and indeed, came close to making a scoring debut with a near-post glancing header which brought a good save from goalkeeper Maik Taylor.

The Falkirk captain hopes to retain his place for the double header away to Macedonia and Iceland. He said: "Walking on to Hampden was a brilliant feeling. I loved it. It was very special making my debut and it was an honour to get on. There were definitely some nerves but sometimes they get you through a game. I will go back to training at Falkirk and I'm sure the boys will cane me as usual. It will be back to normal. But you want to be doing well for your club because you never know what's round the corner in football."