Jump to content
  • Sign up for free and receive a month's subscription

    You are viewing this page as a guest. That means you are either a member who has not logged in, or you have not yet registered with us. Signing up for an account only takes a minute and it means you will no longer see this annoying box! It will also allow you to get involved with our friendly(ish!) community and take part in the discussions on our forums. And because we're feeling generous, if you sign up for a free account we will give you a month's free trial access to our subscriber only content with no obligation to commit. Register an account and then send a private message to @dave u and he'll hook you up with a subscription.

Scotland suspends football below top 2 leagues


dockers_strike
 Share

Recommended Posts

Breaking news.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55616399

 

Scottish football below Championship level has been suspended for three weeks due to the rising number of coronavirus cases.

The impacted leagues include SPFL Leagues 1 and 2 and SWPL 1 and 2.

The Highland and Lowland Leagues, the East, West and South of Scotland Leagues, Scottish Junior FA Leagues and the North Caledonian League are also suspended.

Weekly PCR testing will be required players and staff in the Championship.

Regular testing has been in place for Scottish Premiership clubs since the season started in August.

Scottish Cup matches will also be suspended, with any ties scheduled to be played prior to 1 February to be rescheduled.

The temporary pause will be reviewed on a rolling basis by the Scottish FA Board in partnership with Scottish Government.

A statement from the governing body said: "The board gave extensive consideration to making a decision in the interests of public health, taking cognisance of the government's wish to reduce travel and possible contact with others whilst safeguarding commercial broadcasting contracts that sustain the professional game.

"Following a meeting between the Scottish FA and the Minister for Public Health Sport and Wellbeing, both parties have agreed to impose a temporary suspension of all football beneath the Scottish Professional Football League Championship, encompassing all predominantly part-time tiers of the Scottish professional pyramid, from midnight tonight."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Celtic v Hibernian goes ahead as planned on Monday evening despite the hosts being told that 13 first-team players must self-isolate.

The Scottish champions say Christopher Jullien was the player to test positive for Covid-19 on return from the club's Dubai training camp.

A local NHS health protection team has since deemed 13 other players to be close contacts.

Manager Neil Lennon and assistant John Kennedy must also isolate.

Celtic stress that injured defender Jullien was the only positive case, saying they are "hugely disappointed" by the decision.

"The contacts were identified during the period from Wednesday last week, primarily around flight and team coach travel, during which time Celtic applied the same rigorous protocols used for pre-season training camps, Uefa match travel and for all domestic match arrangements in Scotland," reads a statement

from the Scottish Premiership champions.

"These protocols have served us well in the past, as the club has not had one positive case in our own 'bubble' until now. As we have already stated, Celtic's decision to travel to Dubai for a training camp was for performance reasons. Whilst we were in Dubai, the announcements made on 4 January significantly changed the COVID landscape.

"The reality is that a case could well have occurred had the team remained in Scotland, as other cases have done in Scottish football and across UK sport in the past week."

On Saturday, Celtic assistant manager John Kennedy admitted the club had been guilty of "minor slip-ups" in Covid-19 protocols during their six days in Dubai.

Photos emerged of members of the Celtic party not distancing or wearing face coverings, and Kennedy says they give a "bleak" but "false" impression.

Jullien is the fifth Celtic player to test positive for Covid-19, with David Turnbull, Odsonne Edouard, Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed previously contracting the virus while on international duty.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55525905

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...