Covid own goal
She tears a strip off stars who went out on town after losing match and caught disease
NICOLA Sturgeon made the kind of challenge on Aberdeen FC yesterday that any veteran centre-half would have been proud of.
The First Minister took the Dons to task after a group of players were spotted in a Granite City boozer last weekend.
Aberdeen were meant to be playing St Johnstone today – but it was postponed after two positive Covid-19 tests among the squad forced a further six players into a fortnight’s self-isolation.
The SNP leader said players should set an example by sticking to the rules.
No one wants to see the season brought to a halt before it has the chance to get going.
FURIOUS Nicola Sturgeon laid into Aberdeen FC’s players yesterday after two of them contracted Covid-19 on a night out and six others were forced to self-isolate for two weeks. Today’s match with St Johnstone was called off after the positive tests threw Dons manager Derek McInnes’s plans into chaos. Sturgeon hit out at the eight players who visited a bar in the city last Saturday night amid an outbreak of coronavirus that has led to the reintroduction of lockdown measures in the city. She warned that their actions could put the restart of the game, which ended last season early as Covid-19 swept the country, in jeopardy. She said: “Football has been given the go-ahead on the strict condition clubs and players abide by the guidance that has been agreed. “If they don’t do that, they put at risk the return of the professional game.
“Footballers, as we all know, are role models and they should behave accordingly.
“To say that this incident is deeply regrettable is an understatement but it also underlines an extremely important point.
“Any time one of us fails to abide by the rules, we put others at risk and we give this virus the chance to come roaring back again. That’s something we can’t afford to do.”
After a 1-0 defeat by Rangers, the players now self-isolating went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant, breaking general guidelines on the limits for four households to meet – and then on to another bar, breaking more guidelines. A photo of the first gathering emerged last night.
They were also seen at the Soul Bar, which was criticised after young people were photographed ignoring social distancing guidelines last week and is one of 28 venues linked to a cluster of cases.
The match with St Johnstone was pulled following a meeting between Scottish Government officials and football’s joint response group, which Sturgeon said was “the right decision”.
She added: “We are expecting members of the public to behave in a highly precautionary manner.
“And when a football club ends up
with players infected with Covid – and let’s remember this is not through bad luck but clear breaches of the rules – we cannot take even a small risk that they will spread the infection to other parts of the country.”
At the daily coronavirus briefing, she made it plain just how angry she was.
She said: “It is now clear that all eight of these players visited a bar in Aberdeen on Saturday night.
“In doing so, they blatantly broke the rules that had been agreed between the SFA, the SPFL and the Scottish Government which, to put it mildly, is completely unacceptable.”
Scottish football clubs continue to toil under the strain of the pandemic, with the return of Premiership fixtures allowed but with no fans.
Dons boss McInnes apologised to football fans at a press conference yesterday.
He said: “The players are full of regret. They have made a real bad error of judgment.
“We are so remorseful that this has had an impact on Scottish football.
“A few weeks ago, we were absolutely delighted we had the opportunity to get back playing football. The fact we have jeopardised that by the players’ actions is extremely disappointing.”
He was also angry that his players had gone out on the town after losing a match and said the players would be disciplined for their rules breach.
He added: “I understand totally the anger and the sentiment being aimed towards us and for that we are deeply sorry.”
Aberdeen’s visit to Celtic next Saturday is still scheduled to go ahead but the fate of their midweek clash with Hamilton Accies remains unclear.
The number of positive coronavirus figures in Scotland has risen again, with a further 43 cases announced yesterday.
It is understood that 27 of these cases are in the NHS Grampian area, which covers Aberdeen.
There have now been no new deaths related to the Covid virus for the past 22 days, with the total at 2491.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is now 18,891.
At her briefing in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said 262 people were being treated in hospital, with four in intensive care.