GLASGOW: Shakhter Karagandy will continue their pre-match sheep-slaughtering ritual ahead of their Champions League play-off second-leg tie away to Glasgow giants Celtic, club boss Viktor Kumykov said yesterday.
The Kazakh champions angered animal rights groups when they killed a sheep at the Astana Arena the day before last Tuesday’s shock 2-0 first-leg win over Celtic.
Since then, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have written to Michel Platini, the president of European football governing body UEFA, urging the former France international to punish Shakhter. In many Muslim majority countries like Kazakhstan, the ritual slaughter of a sheep is seen as bringing good fortune ahead of a major event. The meat from the slaughtered sheep is then often distributed among the poor.
“All I can say is that every team and every club has its own pre-match traditions and rituals,” Kumykov, speaking through an interpreter at a news conference, said ahead of today’s second leg.
“Celtic must have their own. We will try to respect our traditions and those traditions have been in place even before we came to the club,” the Russian said. Asked if the ritual would take place, he replied,”Possibly, yes.”
Questioned as to where he would get the sheep, Kumykov, to a background of laughter, answered: “As far as we know in Scotland the agriculture is very developed so it shouldn’t be an issue to find a sheep.”
However, he insisted that what happened on the field was the key reason why Shakhter were ahead in the tie.AFP
