Scottish Football Has To Hammer Home Guidelines To Clubs And Players!

Date: 11th August 2020

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today issued Scottish football with a yellow card and warned if players continued to flagrantly disobey the rules relating to the Covid-19 guidelines. 

This follows on from a turbulent week which has seen eight players from Aberdeen Football Club being put into self isolation after they went out together in a pub in Aberdeen city centre, an establishment which was a hot-spot for a recent outbreak of the virus that shutdown the region. 

Two Dons players then tested positive for the virus and the club have now had three games postponed.

A weak statement from the guilty players followed as did a dressing down from the First Minister.

But as that story seemed to die down, news broke yesterday that Celtic full-back Boli Bolingoli had decided to travel to Spain. He didn’t tell his club and he also failed to go into a two week quarantine when he returned as is a requirement from the Scottish Government. He actually came on as a substitute a few days after his return from Spain as Celtic played a top flight match against Kilmarnock. 

Boli didn’t just let himself down; he also let down his club, teammates, the support and the whole of Scottish football. 

His manager, Neil Lennon, was understandably livid and the Scottish government warned that it was ready to pause the Scottish game after these very public signs of disregard to the rules that were there to get football back in the first place. 

Thankfully Nicola Sturgeon announced that football wasn’t going to be paused but it was now on it’s last warning and it was also announced that Celtic would now have to postpone their next two games. 

Scottish football needs to heed this final warning! 

People might feel that politicians are making an example out of football but in all honesty, they were warned from the very start that if guidelines weren’t being met then the game would be stopped. 

There’s a privilege when it comes to being a footballer and the players need to understand that with that privilege comes a huge responsibility and they need to follow the rules. 

If they fail to follow those specific rules that have been set out to them, then there has to a a stern punishment. The football clubs have to hand out these punishments to deter others from breaking the trust that has been placed upon them.

The SFA and SPFL also have to understand that they haven’t reacted well enough to the situation. 

I think all concentration has been on getting The Scottish Premiership back at all costs and as quickly as possible. They have agreed to all the government guidelines without thinking about enforcing these stricter rules. 

Should Aberdeen and Celtic and any possible future club be punished if their players fail to adhere to the rules and bring the game into disrepute? 

Quite possibly but that decision should’ve been made before the season kicked off. Can they punish these sides retrospectively? Can they put into place new punishments that will start from now on? That’s very hard given the fact the horse has already bolted! 

The people who really suffer won’t be those Premiership players if they halt our game. It’s the fans who will undoubtedly miss the chance to get back into the terraces, the smaller clubs that will have to wait longer for their season to start and the women’s game that will also have to wait to start their campaign. All people who have done nothing wrong and who have had to kick their heels and wait as they watch The Premiership players failing to adhere to the rules and putting the whole game into jeopardy. 

I am now hoping the whole of the Scottish Premiership can steer clear of any more controversy and we can all enjoy football on the pitch and not worry about the goings-on off of it! 

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