It should have been a day when the positive side of local football was portrayed to the world — instead, it’s good name was dragged through the mud by an, unfortunately, not too silent minority.

The annual Boxing Day fixture between Linfield and Glentoran had all the colour and excitement that it normally brings and pitted the two biggest and best clubs in the country against each other in sporting battle.

But this particular Big Two grudge match will be remembered for the ugly scenes in the stands which forced referee Michael McLaughlin to temporarily stop play while the PSNI were called in to prevent any further trouble as fireworks, bottles, broken seats and other missiles rained down on the pitch from the North Stand which housed the Glentoran fans.

The east-Belfast side had at that point been losing 3-0 to their cross-town rivals and 40 or 50 so-called supporters vented their fury by trying to attack players and match officials on the pitch and Linfield fans in the adjacent Kop Stand.

There was retaliation from the Bluemen, but the bulk of the trouble disgracefully emanated from the away support. That no-one was seriously hurt is a miracle and Glentoran, quite rightly, should be severely punished.

Other questions have to be raised though.

How did these mindless thugs manage to smuggle fireworks and bottles into the ground when a security firm was employed by Linfield Football Club, surely to

prevent just that? As I walked in I saw no-one searched.

Some people say you can’t search everyone. I say, why not?

If it means delaying the kick-off, so be it. We would much rather be getting home a bit later than have to watch hooligans ruining such a big occasion.

And bearing in mind that this is such a high-profile fixture, with a history of trouble, why was there no police presence inside the ground?

It took them until five minutes after play had been stopped to get there and two minutes to put an end to the trouble.

Had they been between the fans, there is an argument that would suggest the thugs in the stands may have had second thoughts about breaking through a hearty but altogether useless line of stewards.

So on a day when: the title race was thrown wide open by a goalscoring talismanic grandad in Glenn Ferguson; Glentoran’s record-appearance maker Colin Nixon misses a penalty to equalise the Blues opener; Linfield go down to ten men as Robert Garrett is sent-off and Blues boss David Jeffrey makes an uncharacteristically understated entrance and exit, we are left discussing the scum in the stands whose actions play into the hands of those who can’t wait to stick the boot into Irish League football.

Merry Christmas. I hope you’re pleased with yourselves.