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Definition
Ibrox, the stadium where Rangers played and the new club TheRangers/Sevco currently play. The term Castle Greyskull comes from the “He-Man” animated cartoon series, but has lost popularity in recent years, since it was noted that the “Sorceress” who lives there is actually a goodie not a baddie. However it is one ugly building so more than fits Ibrox in that sense but nothing more.
One of the highlights of the term was in January 2006 when a weathergirl (Kirsty McCabe) on Reporting Scotland was presenting to the weather report, and jokingly referred to Ibrox as “Castle Greyskull“!
She briefly gained some measure of notoriety following the forecast as she had recommended to Rangers fans heading to their game to “wrap up warm if they are heading for Castle Grayskull”!
It was all in humour, but unbelievably it caused a wee stooshie as jumped up Rangers muppets experienced a bout of mock outrage. The rest of Scottish football just laughed!
Apparently she is a Kilmarnock fan but after this she is more than welcome to Celtic Park any time.
WATCH OUT FOR SUNSHINE AND SHOWERS WITH A BIG STORM OVER IBROX
Jan 22 2006 By Billy Paterson, Sunday Mail
WEATHER GIRL’S GREYSKULL JIBE SPARKS GERS’ FANS FURY ‘Kirsty is a Kilmarnock fan and was joking about Rangers after they pinched Boyd’ The BBC in London
A BBC weather girl was forced to apologise yesterday after calling Rangers’ stadium Castle Greyskull on air.
Kirsty McCabe sparked a barrage of complaints from outraged Gers fans after using the jibe in a breakfast time forecast on national TV. The derogatory Greyskull nickname for Ibrox is popular among Celtic fans and other rival supporters.
It dates from 1980s TV cartoon and comic He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Castle Greyskull is the dark home of the evil Skeletor.
Kirsty incensed Rangers fans, prior to their team’s SPL clash with Livingston, by telling them to “wrap up warm if they are heading for Castle Greyskull”.
Last night, a BBC spokesman issued an apology on Kirsty’s behalf and said she was a Kilmarnock fan still sore at the loss of star striker Kris Boyd to Rangers.
Her gaffe came during a BBC1 round-up of weather conditions at Britain’s top sporting grounds yesterday.
After telling viewers throughout the UK about conditions near grounds in England, she turned her attention to the weather north of the Border – and mocked the Glasgow stadium.
Gers fan Tam Cairns, 40, of Prest-wick, Ayrshire, said: “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Never mind Castle Greyskull – this woman is a numbskull.
“Rangers fans are not exactly thin-skinned but that was totally out of order.
“I bet Celtic fans would feel the same if some blonde on the box made a slur on Parkhead.”
Another Rangers fan, Dave Stewart, 24, from Glasgow said: “I thought I had misheard what she had said but I replayed the broadcast and couldn’t quite believe it.
“It is a slur on Rangers to be calling Ibrox Castle Greyskull.
“I don’t know if it was some sort of prank for a laugh, but it is not the type of thing you expect from the BBC. “I bet Celtic fans have been having a good laugh at it.”
Rangers Supporters Assembly president Jim Templeton was also outraged by Kirsty’s gaffe.
He said: “That was a shocking statement. Still, I shouldn’t be too surprised because it seems that everybody is having a go at us right now.”
A spokesman for the BBC in London said: “We have received a handful of complaints about this.
“Kirsty is a Kilmarnock fan and she was making a light-hearted joke about Rangers after they pinched top scorer Kris Boyd from Kilmarnock a couple of weeks ago.
“She hopes most football fans accept the joke in the spirit it was intended but apologises if there was any offence caused.”
Kirsty, who graduated with a first-class honours degree in geophysics from Edinburgh University, joined the BBC in September 2003. Prior to that she worked for three months as an intern at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland.
Celtic disowned an official history of their 2001 treble-winning season partly due to a reference to Castle Greyskull which they knew would be offensive to their Old Firm rivals.
They banned it from their shops and criticised the name-calling.
SUNDAY EMAIL b.paterson@sundaymail.co.uk