SFA to probe Scottish Cup final violence

Thousands of Hibernian fans flooded onto the Hampden Park pitch to celebrate their side's dramatic 3-2 victory, but the party atmosphere quickly turned ugly.

Rangers say their players and backroom staff were assaulted during the pitch invasion while rival supporters engaged in fist fights after a number of Light Blues supporters stormed the field after being goaded by the Leith support.

SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said after the match that the incident was an embarrassment to Scottish football.

Now he has promised swift action, with the governing body's compliance officer set to launch his own investigation while the independent commission also looks into the causes of the shameful scenes.

"The Scottish FA has today initiated the process of appointing an Independent Commission to investigate the circumstances of Saturday's Scottish Cup Final disorder," Regan said in a statement.

"A chairperson will be appointed in early course and the commission's remit will be to review all operational matters relating to the event hosting of the final.

"In the interests of transparency, the commission's findings will also be published in full.

"In addition, the Scottish FA's Compliance Officer has also started the process of investigating potential rule breaches from a football regulatory perspective.

"It should be pointed out that as the cup final is now subject to a criminal investigation by Police Scotland, we will share all information gleaned so far with them.

"In the meantime, I would urge all parties involved in the ongoing situation to demonstrate calmness, clarity of thought and responsibility as we proceed towards a satisfactory conclusion".