SFA arrange double dose of punishment to Hampden pitch ahead of Celtic’s semi-final tie

After the heavy criticism that the Hampden pitch has received this year the SFA have arranged a double-header on the pitch ahead of the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

When Ange Postecoglou’s side take to the pitch on April 30 it will be the fourth match played on the pitch in the space of nine days with the other games on April 22, 23 and 29.

Today the SFA announced:

Tickets are now on-sale for the historic Women’s Scottish Cup Semi-finals which are set to take place later this month. 

Rangers play Motherwell in the first Semi-final on Saturday, 22 April with the match kicking off at 12:30pm.

Glasgow City take on Celtic the following day with the same kick off time. 

It is the first time the revamped competition has featured matches played at the National Stadium. The Final will also be played there on Sunday, 28 May.

It seems very unusual that the venues for the women’s semi-finals are only being announced a couple of days before they are played. Last season both semi-finals were played on the same day at the Falkirk Stadium.

Back in January all four clubs involved in the Viaplay Cup semi-finals complained about the condition of the pitch with intensive work carried out before the final on February 26.

Inverness Caley Thistle and Falkirk get to play their semi-final the day before the Glasgow Derby, with all respect the aggregate attendances at the three other matches at Hampden is unlikely to be over 30,000 which adds more justification to playing those matches elsewhere.