Lex Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 (edited) We’re less than two weeks into the season and we’ve already had two known breaches of COVID-19 regulations by Scottish Premiership footballers. The actual breaches will be much higher of course, we just won’t know about the rest. Aberdeen players fancied a cheeky pint after their game, breaking the four household rule and leading to at least one game being postponed. Celtic player Boli Bolingoli made a secret trip to Spain and never quarantined on his return as per the legal requirements. Subsequently training with his team mates and playing against Kilmarnock. Do all of the players who he came into contact since his return now need to quarantine for two weeks? How many postponements will this clandestine holiday lead to? Scottish Government now saying - unsurprisingly - that the season may be ‘paused’. Where do we go from here? Just accept that the players can’t be trusted to keep to the rules and pause the season? Pause until when...? If they can’t be trusted now when can they be trusted? There’s no vaccine on the horizon and no end to this virus in the near future. It’s hard to see how this season gets finished. Edited December 21, 2021 by Lex 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_H Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 (edited) I'd say: small point deductions and lengthy player suspensions going forward for covid regulation breaches. Edited August 11, 2020 by G_H 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G51 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Isn’t it three cases? Did Griffiths not get up to something too? Wonder if the upcoming Celtic and Killie games get postponed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ftk Posted August 11, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted August 11, 2020 Stop the league now. Deduct 6 points from Celtic for their 2 incidents and 3 points from Aberdeen for their 1 incident.Hibs champions, relegate bottom 2 Celtic and Aberdeen. Promote top 2 from championship Alloa and Arbroath.Sorted. 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Silence from the Hearts quarter about finishing last season. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthBank Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 If a club's players break the rules then the opposition should be awarded the 3 points for games scheduled in the following 14 days. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G51 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Rumours going around Twitter that they're going to postpone all of the Premiership games this midweek and the weekend? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 I suspect we will need to remove the third round of fixtures to build contingency into the season to allow for all the pauses and postponements 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibsFan Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Any pausing of the league at this moment in time would be a ridiculous, knee-jerk reaction IMO. Giving the players more free time to go and take the piss out of regulations, rather than keeping them focused and reminding them of their responsibilities.Although maybe the government can adopt the SQA policy and award points on a ‘what tax bracket are your club’s supporters in?’ basis. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fillin Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 These are scottish government guidelines being flouted - not footballing ones. The scottish government should be enforcing these for everyone - including footballers. I don't see why any punishments should include the footballing authorities or clubs. If the SPFL really need to be seen by the government to do something then give suspensions to the individual players. Caught breaching the Scottish government guidelines? 14 days self isolation & a 3 game suspension beyond those 14 days. Will soon see players fall in line and if not they are just harming their own team. Remember this "2nd incident" took place before or at least as the Aberdeen story was coming out. Not as if Bolongoli saw the Aberdeen stuff and through "im away to Spain for a jolly". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackie The Staggie Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 You would think that the SPFL/SFA will come with a proposal to postpone all games involving Celtic and Killie for the next 2 weeks, any officials used in that game are also sidelined for the 2 weeks. This all in the hope that the government will allow the rest of the league to continue. I don't know if that is even feasible since it's a very tight calendar this season, may have to chop off the split this season to make room (again, don't know if that's possible) Going forward, there has to be some kind of punishment structure put in place by the governing bodies to show that these breaches are being taken seriously, the league's only in action under special dispensation of the SG, it could be taken away if they don't believe that the SPFL/SFA/Clubs are not taking their responsibilities seriously. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G51 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Just now, ropy said: I suspect we will need to remove the third round of fixtures to build contingency into the season to allow for all the pauses and postponements Two ways I see it going: Remove the split completely and play 33 games Split after 22 games, which gives you 32 games and Sky still get their 4 OF games. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 1 minute ago, Mackie The Staggie said: You would think that the SPFL/SFA will come with a proposal to postpone all games involving Celtic and Killie for the next 2 weeks, any officials used in that game are also sidelined for the 2 weeks. This all in the hope that the government will allow the rest of the league to continue. I don't know if that is even feasible since it's a very tight calendar this season, may have to chop off the split this season to make room (again, don't know if that's possible) Going forward, there has to be some kind of punishment structure put in place by the governing bodies to show that these breaches are being taken seriously, the league's only in action under special dispensation of the SG, it could be taken away if they don't believe that the SPFL/SFA/Clubs are not taking their responsibilities seriously. Do Celtic have a European tie in the next 10 - 14 days? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Positive, sometimes. Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 (edited) 27 minutes ago, G51 said: Rumours going around Twitter that they're going to postpone all of the Premiership games this midweek and the weekend? If true they honestly should just give it up. 3 weeks in and we'll be at the point of more games called off then actually played. If this is the precident for calling off whole week worth of games then whats going to happen when there's the inevitable non rule breaking outbreaks at clubs... Always likely to happen in the winter. We'll be 20+ games down! Edited August 11, 2020 by Mr Positive, sometimes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackie The Staggie Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 1 minute ago, ropy said: Do Celtic have a European tie in the next 10 - 14 days? Yep, 18 or 19th August, completely forgot about that. That probably makes my proposal a non starter (although you could change it to 1 week) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G51 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Just now, Mr Positive, sometimes. said: If true they honestly should just give it up. 3 weeks in and we'll be at the point of more games called off then actually played. If this is the precident for calling off whole week worth of games then whats going to happen when there's the inevitable non rule breaking outbreaks at clubs... Always likely to happen in the winter. We'll be 20+ games down! It's just a rumour for now, but I would really struggle to understand the logic behind this one. Postponing Celtics games? Yeah, I could understand that. Killie? Bit of a stretch but again, understandable. The other teams? I don't see the justification in terms of health risks. If it's about sending a message, surely that is better sent through discipline of individual players/clubs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Were the Hibs players not uploading photos out together last weekend as well? Can't just hammer the Aberdeen players because they were the ones that got "caught" so to speak. The Bolingoli thing is absolutely ridiculous and I'd be surprised if not one other person at Celtic knew about it. As has been mentioned before, these cases will be the tip of the iceberg as far as footballers breaking "The Rules" and even more so when it comes to the rest of folk in society. Maybe not so much with the foreign trips stuff, but when the lower leagues kick off again you'd have to think there'll be players breaking the rules left right and centre. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Killie shouldn’t be affected given his limited interaction, but Celtic may have to isolate the subs or the group he changed with 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Posted August 11, 2020 Author Share Posted August 11, 2020 Decision this afternoon. I would be surprised if it doesn’t get paused tbh. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthLanarkshireWhite Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 8 minutes ago, G51 said: It's just a rumour for now, but I would really struggle to understand the logic behind this one. Postponing Celtics games? Yeah, I could understand that. Killie? Bit of a stretch but again, understandable. The other teams? I don't see the justification in terms of health risks. If it's about sending a message, surely that is better sent through discipline of individual players/clubs. Unfortunately we live in a world where you regularly see everyone punished for the 'offences' of a few. Rather than deal with the culprits you get blanket bans and so on. The point made above is correct, this is a rule for ALL of us irrespective of your job, so if any player breaks the rule then the law should deal with them. If the club want to add a punishment as employer that is up to them. No other club, player or fan should suffer for the weakness and selfishness of any individual. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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