SPFL plan to punish stars who flout rules
CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
THE SPFL will today move to crack down on players breaching Covid-19 regulations as Nicola Sturgeon warned she will issue Scottish football with a ‘red card’.
As matches involving Celtic and Aberdeen were called off, the First Minister accused players of being ‘incapable of living up to their responsibilities’ after Celtic’s Boli Bolingoli flagrantly broke quarantine rules.
League chiefs are already looking into disciplinary action against Aberdeen after two players tested positive following a night in a city centre pub. Similar action is likely against Celtic. With the Hampden authorities under growing pressure to get to grips with players showing a reckless disregard for the rules, the SPFL plan to rush through new disciplinary powers.
Currently, the league can only take action against clubs. But proposals due to be put before the SPFL board today will seek clearance to haul players before a three-man independent panel and face the possibility of bans and fines. Bolingoli made a secret trip to high-risk Spain, then played the final minutes of Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock when he should have been in quarantine. At
her daily media briefing yesterday, Sturgeon warned fans they should ‘not expect to see Aberdeen or Celtic play over the course of the coming week’. Scottish football’s Coronavirus Joint Response Group later confirmed tonight’s encounters between St Mirren and Celtic in Paisley and Aberdeen against Hamilton at Pittodrie had both been called off, along with Saturday’s Celtic v Aberdeen match at Parkhead. And in a pointed final warning to Scottish football’s ‘privileged’ stars, Sturgeon said: ‘Some football players seem incapable of living up to their responsibilities. This is just not acceptable. Every day, I stand here asking members of the public to make huge sacrifices in how they live their lives and the vast majority are doing that. ‘We can’t have privileged football players just decide they’re not going to bother. So this can’t go on. Let me put this as clearly as I can in language that the football world will understand: consider today to be the yellow card. The next time it will be the red card, because you will leave us with absolutely no choice. ‘I don’t want the season to be in jeopardy. I don’t want people who are not responsible for this to pay the price but we have to be very clear: this situation is not acceptable.’ The Bolingoli scandal came to light on Monday after Jason Leitch, the National Clinical Director of the Scottish Government, had addressed all 12 Premiership managers and captains via video conference to remind them of their responsibilities during the pandemic. Leitch yesterday warned another rule breach could jeopardise the return of other elite sports in Scotland. He said: ‘Irrespective of if you’re a footballer, a factory worker, a schoolteacher — if you break the guidance, you put at risk your own health and the health of your loved ones. ‘That’s the most important thing for footballers to understand. But they have an added responsibility because they put at risk the return of elite sport. Not just their own sport, but golf, horse racing, rugby, swimming, everything else. ‘We’ve designed a bubble system.
Because they are privileged they are getting to do extra things that the rest of the population aren’t. And they have put that at risk.’
Scottish football’s Joint Response Group is now working on a range of measures aimed at ‘reaffirming the collective responsibility of the national game’. Last night, SFA chairman Rod Petrie said: ‘The JRG members were astounded to learn of the recklessness demonstrated by Boli Bolingoli.
‘That this comes on the back of eight Aberdeen players showing similar disregard for public health is disrespectful not just to every fellow player but also to every fan in this country. It is also hugely damaging to the image, reputation and sustainability of the game.’