I was reading an article in The Evening Times today about the secretary at Hamilton Accies. He discusses the season 99/00 when Hamilton were relegated to Division 3 because they no showed a game at Stenny thus getting deducted 15 points.

He refused to go into details about the Stenny game citing it 'a joke'. Im just intrigued as to what the actual circumstances were behind Hamilton missing that game.

Did the players not go on strike over their pay?

I'm sure the Hamilton fans could provide more detail but basically the players hadn't been paid for several weeks, issued an ultimatum that they were to be paid by the Saturday or else and then, when they weren't, went on strike and didn't turn up for the game.

The SFL eventually docked them an unprecedented 15 points for the offence although the number of points was more based on placing them bottom of the division but still with survival more or less in their own hands than specifically on a number of points. It did however lead indirectly to their relegation within two days when we beat Arbroath away on the Saturday and Ross County won at Hamilton which made the head to head we were due to play the following week irrelevant.

The above is more or less correct, the players had not been paid, paid late and had received broken promises over several months and weeks and were even training on their own as opposed to reporting to the club i believe.

The players did not turn up for this fixture and the punishment was 15 point deduction. Cant remember the details but i think 1 or 2 clubs who benefited from our deduction were involved in deciding it ( maybe QoTS?), not sure though.

We could still have avoided relegation in the last few games and it was totally clear that was where the 15 points came from, it enabled the SFL to say 'firm punishment' for what was a terrible breaking of league rules whilst at the same time they could say they did not directly relegate us.

We got our revenge by winning the third division and Peter Donald came up to Montrose by helicopter to present the trophy on the last day. The team had 'not by 15 points but by enough' on their T shirts and the fans told Pater there was no hard feelings repeatedly shouting this from the stand

Dark days indeed

could have stayed up if some cnut from the sfa who didnae even bother turning up for the decision to dock us 15 points.

It does get tiresome repeating this all the time but Queen of the South FC had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the decision to dock Hamilton 15 points. We were not represented on the League Management Committee that made the decision, made no lobbyiing for any sort of decision either publicly or privately and indeed uttered not one word about it before the decision was made. Never the less, many Hamilton fans to this day still somehow think it was our fault.

However, Terry Bulloch, the then Stenhousemuir chairman, whose team were the other club involved in the fixture and were also not completely safe from relegation prior to the decision DID sit on the committee which decided the punishment. I think at the time it was claimed he had not participated in the actual decision though.

Clicky

Clicky 2

I remember being at Montrose the day we won Division 3, singing loudly to the SFL, where they could stick their 15 point deduction, I think thsi shoudl again be made clear as we receive teh league flag on Monday.

Accies were effectively relegated by the league because the players went on strike as thay had not been paid for months.

We have always seen ourselves as a First Division club , and although we are about to embark on a rare SPL campaign , the most emotional I have ever felt at the end of a game , was when we won promotion at Forfar from Div 2 to Div 1.

Two very important players that season Carrigan and Corcorran , have just returned, and I hope they light up the SPL, as if it were not for them Accies might still be in Division 2.

we would definately not have been promoted if it had not been for the b....all hail the b !!

is he still with dumbarton?