For 20 Years He Patrolled the Streets of Glasgow. He Took On Hooligans,Calmed Red Rum, and Policed the Miners' Strike. Now, Aged 33, Fergus, the Oldest Police Horse Ever, Is Reunited with the Officers Who Rode Him

The Herald › May 28, 2005

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Summary

It happened without warning. In the hothouse of Hampden, on that notorious cup final day of May 10, 1980, two tribes went to war. Even as the victorious Celtic players, still panting, went up to receive their medals, their delirious fans began to pour over the chain-link fencing and onto the pitch. At the other end, the Rangers fans rose to the challenge.

The atmosphere in the national stadium, containing around 90,000 people, thickened with fear and violence.

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For 20 Years He Patrolled the Streets of Glasgow. He Took On Hooligans,Calmed Red Rum, and Policed the Miners' Strike. Now, Aged 33, Fergus, the Oldest Police Horse Ever, Is Reunited with the Officers Who Rode Him

Chief Inspector Walter Hogg, sitting on his horse Chieftain outside the stand, heard the urgent voice on the Tannoy: "Where's the police? Where's the police?" Then an officer on foot came running towards him. "The boss wants you in, " he shouted.

"Bloody great!" said Hogg, a former cavalryman, and turned to the three other mounted officers beside him. "Come on, we're going in." They clattered into the ground, where the ferment of a full-scale pitch invasion confronted them. "Get your shillelaghs out, keep stirrup to stirrup, " ordered Hogg.

Nerves jangling, the four officers drew their sticks and lined their horses up for the charge.

Hogg knew it was all psychological. He had to win first time. He looked for the densest part of the fighting, lined up and shouted: "Canter!"

The mounties charged. In the melee the horses were jumping over bodies, wheeling, splitting the crowds at speed. It was an extraordinary re-enactment of the timeless, one-sided battlefield clash of horse and footsoldier. From the safety of the stands, as if at some terrifying medieval pageant, the Lord Provos...

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