DO you know that if Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent and Andy Halliday acted in the street as they did at Celtic Park on Sunday they would be arrested?

And if Scott Brown goaded someone in a pub, as he did on the pitch at the weekend, he would face a 10-year stretch.

I know this because such nonsense has been doing the rounds since the Old Firm match. You would laugh if it wasn’t so tragic.

The reason the three Rangers players aren’t facing jail is because of their job. They are professional footballers who happened to be playing in a match.

Sometimes, people get hurt. It’s part of the game and is allowed, unlike slide tackling a granny in Princes Street.

Similarly, if you and a pal were to take an indirect free-kick inside Marks and Spencer, the security guard would be within their rights to ask you to leave. Because, you know, it’s not a football pitch.

In football, if rules are broken, players, such as Morelos, will be either booked or sent off. And if they do escape the referee’s attention, these days they will be retrospectively dealt with.

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It’s also not assault when a player throws an elbow into an opponent’s face. It’s not very nice but that’s sport for you.

Rugby is the same. So, too, ice hockey. In fact, this happens in most team sports. People lose their temper, act stupidly, get dealt with, and life carries on.

And if for a few seconds a player puts his hands up in an act of celebration in an area of the pitch where he is standing, then anything bad which later happens in the world is not down to him.

Yes, even if it was in front of the opposition supporters.

And yet there are Celtic fans calling for Morelos to be put in the Bar-L for “assault”, while Rangers fans can’t believe Brown has not been put on a boat to Van Diemen’s Land. They have so much in common.

When did football fans of these two great clubs of ours become so sensitive that every gesture, foul, half-attempt at a punch, snarl or swear word has them fainting like a princess in an old black-and-white movie after being told her husband has been shot.

Those who follow Celtic and Rangers are known to be offensive themselves at times. Just ask anyone who supports other teams.

Glasgow Times:

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Oh, and when chatting to the fans of Dundee, Aberdeen, Partick Thistle or Stenhousemuir, ask them what they make of the fall-out from a game which had flashpoints worthy of discussion but was hardly close to the shameful scenes it was made out to be.

They seem to manage to watch a game which has gone against them, have a bit of a moan and then get on with their lives.

On Twitter, Police Scotland were tagged in a tweet about the three Rangers players mentioned above. Because our under-funded and over-worked coppers have got nothing better to do than interview Andy Halliday for not quite getting into a fight.

What we need is a strong SPFL and SFA; someone to come out and say something along the lines of “look, there were a few dodgy moments but let’s get on with it”.

Instead, Brown is up on a SFA charge of “not acting in the best interests of association football”. Pot meet kettle.

Brown smiled and did a little dance. I hope they have a black cap in a Hampden cupboard.

Glasgow Times:

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And Gerrard faces a one-game ban for something he said to Bobby Madden. I don’t know what it was, the Rangers manager may well have lost his cool when speaking to the referee, but surely the man is allowed to have his say.

Those who run our game have also lost the plot. They have bowed to public pressure instead of being the adult in the room.

Brown did nothing wrong and I’m guessing Gerrard didn’t cross a line. What is worse is the SFA are unable to explain their decision in plain English.

All they have done is give legitimacy to the bloggers and tweeters who believe the world is against them.

Why is it so impossible for one of the chiefs to deal with this in a proper fashion, rather than this public pandering.

Our game has always been on the immature side but the last few days have been worse than infantile.