‘External surge’ caused lights to go out on Fife derby game

Raith Rovers have stated that the power cut which put paid to last Friday night’s Fife derby against Dunfermline was due to an “external surge” tripping systems within Stark’s Park.

The televised clash was abandoned on “health and safety grounds” after Rovers were unable to restore lighting to the concourses of the Penman and McDermid Stands.

The club was also unable to restore the wifi which operates their gate entry system, leaving hundreds of supporters locked outside and creating a potentially hazardous situation.

Raith director Bill Clark was initially under the impression that the fault may lie at Rovers’ door, describing the situation as “an embarrassment” and suggesting an SPFL sanction could follow.

However, an independent electrical investigation has found that a power surge in the area surrounding Stark’s Park was to blame and, in fact, the club’s new £180,000 floodlights performed admirably under the strain.

A Raith statement read: “Raith Rovers Football Club has carried out a preliminary investigation into the circumstances leading up to the abandonment of the game against Dunfermline Athletic on Friday August 20.

“An independent electrical investigation has confirmed that the power failure which led to the abandonment of the game was caused by an external power surge from the mains which tripped our system at Stark’s Park and in the surrounding areas.

“We were able to get the floodlights back in operation almost immediately, but restoring power to all the stands was not possible in the timescale required and this is what resulted in the halting of the game on safety grounds.

“We can confirm that there is no evidence whatsoever of the outage being attributable to any systems in the football stadium and that had the floodlights not been renewed they would not have restarted so quickly.”

Rovers released the comments following a meeting yesterday involving chief executive Karen Macartney, Police Scotland, the stewarding company and electrical experts.

However, Courier Sport understands that Rovers are yet to formally speak with the SPFL regarding the rearranged fixture and potential sanctions.

While Rovers are hopeful the findings will absolve them of blame, sources could not rule out the prospect of some sort of repercussions after the game started, only to be halted 14 minutes later.

Those discussions are expected to happen later this week.

Meanwhile, it is hoped that a date for the rearranged fixture will be confirmed within the next 48 hours.

The Fife derby was abandoned after 14 minutes.