Celtic and Morton's Scottish Cup game should be cancelled with Scotland in the throes of the beast from the east

Like most Celtic fans, I'm looking forward to the Scottish Cup game against Morton but it should not be going ahead.

Celtic's players will benefit from the chance to keep sharp without overtaxing those who will face The Rangers next weekend, while clearing one fixture as the club pursues another domestic clean sweep.

But the complaints of Morton's Chief Executive, Warren Hawke should not be dismissed as mere cynicism.

And anyone mocking him for using the expression "life and limb" would do well to remember the time-honoured advice against tempting fate.

I am still saddened by the childhood memory of watching a car speeding down the road, as would become apparent, to miss as little as possible of a Rangers match that had already started.

None of those fans would see the match and two would never watch a football game again. The driver lost control and collided with a lamppost.

It was the first time that my young self had been confronted with the relative importance of football and human life.

Bill Shankly was wrong. Football is far less than a matter of life and death - or it should be.

But the Scottish Football Association, in its infinite idiocy, apparently believes that encouraging fans to take to the roads during a severe weather warning, with predictions of freezing rain and black ice is what passes for responsible governance and administration.

Worse is the decision to allow Kilmarnock's visit to Pittodrie to go ahead.

Fans' interests are yet again being discarded when balanced against financial interests, organisational inconvenience and broadcasters' concerns.

That day years ago taught me something practical, as well as philosophical.

That football can inspire people to make poor decisions at a terrible cost.

That can be due to peer pressure, flawed risk assessment, fear of disappointing others or a host of other reasons. (I remember one Celtic fan proudly telling me that he had once driven from Glasgow to Aberdeen while suffering from pleurisy, such was his dedication to the cause.)

We know that many people will take to the roads tomorrow, even though they should stay warm at home, and the dilemma is understandable.

But we also know that those who choose to drive will not only put themselves and their passengers at risk but other road users.

As a Celtic fan who expects a comfortable win tomorrow (if the game is not called off at the last minute, which would not be a shock) it is easy to say that I would take elimination from the cup if it meant that no one would be ruing the day that thousands of people took to their cars and buses because of the irresponsibility of the SFA.

But the only victory worth having, this weekend, will be not having to reflect that football is not a matter of life and death - or limb - it's less important than that.

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