COVID-19 In Scottish Football

[craigkillie]

I'm not suggesting we're not at fault here, but the rules around covid have been constantly changing for clubs throughout the season too.

[Owsley]

Presumably players shouldn't all pile on celebrating a goal if sitting too close on a bus is an issue. Anyone remember Accies players after the late winner at Livi? Can't even do a brisk hand shake anymore. Maybe a hair ruffle?

[Steve McQueen]

It does seem that a club could have to postpone 3/4 games due to 1 outbreak & lose potentially 12 points if they break the rules?

[Moomintroll]

36 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Have I missed the glaring point here, why can't the games just be played at a later date?  Like when their postponed due to the weather.

Because diddy teams.

[G51]

Just now, Owsley said:

Presumably players shouldn't all pile on celebrating a goal if sitting too close on a bus is an issue. Anyone remember Accies players after the late winner at Livi? Can't even do a brisk hand shake anymore. Maybe a hair ruffle?

In an ideal world they wouldn't, but the rules will be designed to minimise risk while still retaining the important parts of football. Players don't necessarily have to celebrate goals but it is a part of football that everyone enjoys. Whereas no one cares about where players sit on the bus, so that's a quick and easy thing you can do to lower the risk of transmission.

You might say player celebrations aren't important, and you're probably right.

[Dons_1988]

The problem (or perceived problem) for me though is you could commit the same breaches but have the available squad to fulfil a fixture, and you wouldn't end up forfeiting the game. So there's an effective punishment here for having a smaller squad, unless I'm misreading it?

[John MacLean]

I'm surprised that people think that St Mirren and Kilmarnock have been treated harshly here. They haven't. 

Not being able to fulfil a fixture tends to be treated by the footballing authorities as about as big a sin as you can commit football wise. 

Hamilton were deducted 15 points back in 2000 when they were unable to fulfil a fixture when their players made themselves unavailable (they went on strike). That points deduction effectively relegated them that season which I suspect was the reason behind the figure chosen for the points deduction. 

St Mirren and Kilmarnock would have been treated harshly had they received this punishment if the infections had been picked up through little more than bad luck - a relative picking it up at school/work and passing it on - but it wasn't bad luck. They breached Covid protocols. Those breaches effectively meant that the players made themselves unavailable and as a consequence St Mirren and Kilmarnock were unable to fulfil a fixture. 

The precedent is set now. 

If it can be evidenced that protocols were breached and a club can't fulfil a fixture then they will forfeit that game to the tune of 3-0. 

Every club now knows what the punishment is. In a short season it could be settle championship, promotion and relegation issues. I bet there are a few clubs thinking "there for the grace go I" because I doubt St Mirren and Kilmarnock are the only ones to breached these protocols. Bet every club is extra vigilant in ensuring that Covid regulations are followed to the letter now. 

[stressball]

I’d be perfectly fine with Celtic forfeiting points in future should they fail to comply with league and government guidelines, leading to complete calling off of a fixture.

St Mirren, for one, are repeat offenders and that’s probably factored heavily into this decision.

[Detournement]

28 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

That’s what they should be doing,  however they only seem to look into things if clubs have an outbreak.

It would seem that having an outbreak is the true issue,  and it’s after that occurs clubs need to prove themselves to be perfect in their protocols.

As long as the clubs are fulfilling the fixtures using players with a recent negative test then there is no reason for the SPFL to look into anything in depth.

[John MacLean]

5 minutes ago, stressball said:

I’d be perfectly fine with Celtic forfeiting points in future should they fail to comply with league and government

I'm perfectly fine with celtic forfeiting points for whatever reason. Being one half of an odious cartel being a good starting point. 

[Moomintroll]

18 minutes ago, Owsley said:

Presumably players shouldn't all pile on celebrating a goal if sitting too close on a bus is an issue. Anyone remember Accies players after the late winner at Livi? Can't even do a brisk hand shake anymore. Maybe a hair ruffle?

Any team from here on in must forfeit a postponed game if one of the players failing a test has celebrated a goal in the matter, after all it is factually clear that this is what caused the outbreak. By happy coincidence 2 certain teams will be more at risk of this & Accies have found yet another way to stave off relegation.

[Szamo's_Ammo]

The only winners in this are Motherwell and Hamilton who have been awarded points due to pure chance, being the teams St Mirren and Kilmarnock would have faced had they not breached the rules.

Anything to keep the Lanarkshire Two in the top flight, as we all know.

[Steven W]

14 minutes ago, John MacLean said:

Every club now knows what the punishment is. In a short season it could be settle championship, promotion and relegation issues. I bet there are a few clubs thinking "there for the grace go I" because I doubt St Mirren and Kilmarnock are the only ones to breached these protocols. Bet every club is extra vigilant in ensuring that Covid regulations are followed to the letter now. 

I have no evidence to back this up, but I'd bet every team in the league has breached these protocols in some shape or form at some point.

[C4mmy31]

26 minutes ago, John MacLean said:

I'm surprised that people think that St Mirren and Kilmarnock have been treated harshly here. They haven't. 

Not being able to fulfil a fixture tends to be treated by the footballing authorities as about as big a sin as you can commit football wise. 

Hamilton were deducted 15 points back in 2000 when they were unable to fulfil a fixture when their players made themselves unavailable (they went on strike). That points deduction effectively relegated them that season which I suspect was the reason behind the figure chosen for the points deduction. 

St Mirren and Kilmarnock would have been treated harshly had they received this punishment if the infections had been picked up through little more than bad luck - a relative picking it up at school/work and passing it on - but it wasn't bad luck. They breached Covid protocols. Those breaches effectively meant that the players made themselves unavailable and as a consequence St Mirren and Kilmarnock were unable to fulfil a fixture. 

The precedent is set now. 

If it can be evidenced that protocols were breached and a club can't fulfil a fixture then they will forfeit that game to the tune of 3-0. 

Every club now knows what the punishment is. In a short season it could be settle championship, promotion and relegation issues. I bet there are a few clubs thinking "there for the grace go I" because I doubt St Mirren and Kilmarnock are the only ones to breached these protocols. Bet every club is extra vigilant in ensuring that Covid regulations are followed to the letter now. 

So why did the SPFL allow Celtic & Aberdeen to replay their posponed fixtures???

[CambieBud]

I have no evidence to back this up, but I'd bet every team in the league has breached these protocols in some shape or form at some point.

 

This is it in a nutshell. So, while I accept the punishment, the decision seems to suggest that as long as a fixture is not postponed, then rules on social distancing can be broken. So the bigger the squad the less likelihood of action. Quelle surprise!

[Szamo's_Ammo]

If come the end of the season Hamilton stay up due to the award of these 3 points from the SPFL and St Mirren, for example, go down it would seem incredibly harsh on the Buddies.

But it would be really, really funny.

[Steve_Wilkos]

Me in shock when the big 2 Lanarkshire clubs benefit AGAIN:

[kingjoey]

I must start by saying that I don’t think that any team should be given three points, or lose three points, for a match that isn’t played. All the postponed matches should be played, if physically possible. However, there are people on here spouting pish about Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen.

Aberdeen have not had any matches postponed due to not being able or willing to play.

Celtic have not had any matches postponed due to not being able or willing to play.

Rangers have not had any matches postponed.

Kilmarnock and St Mirren fans will no doubt jump on any team in the future that are found to be in breach of the SPFL Covid regulations, and quite rightly, but providing there are no matches postponed because of it, no team is going to lose a game in those circumstances. 

Like others I can’t quite get my head round why players are allowed to pile on each other at goal celebrations, but they’re not allowed to have a shower, and have to socially distance at meals and on buses.

The SPFL has made a rod for their own back here, because if either Celtic or Rangers have a match or matches postponed due to Covid rule breaches, they will have no option, regardless of what anyone on here says, but to give them a 3.0 defeat. Now that would be interesting.

 

[Theatom]

The thing is though Rangers and Celtic have such big pools of players they are unlikely to have to postpone.

[kingjoey]

1 hour ago, superkillieaway said:

What this is basically going to lead to is that any accusations towards other clubs will be completely denied, no matter what. Lie Lie Lie (potentially what celtic done when they had no clue Bolingoli was in Spain).

Admitting to any wrongdoing was the clubs biggest fault here.

 

 

 

 

At the same time Kilmarnock were admitting to the SPFL that they had breached the regulations, Alex Dyer was saying in public that they had done nothing wrong.