Source: FOOTYMAD
New Cup Rules To Avoid Embarrasment
It is there in black and white now, ineligible player on the pitch, out you go. The SFA have moved to change the rules, at their annual general meeting, regarding treatment of clubs in their main competition, the Scottish Cup. From now on, any team which plays an ineligible player will automatically be kicked out of the cup. The move was prompted by the confusion over Dunfermline's expulsion from last season's tournament for breaching a number of rules, only for the club to appeal and be reinstated. In January this year, an independent panel overturned the SFA's decision to throw the Fife team out. Brechin City were kicked out form the 2008 Scottish Cup for fielding two ineligible players.SFA president George Peat said: "We've brought in a rule that, if someone plays an illegal player or someone who shouldn't be playing, then they are automatically dismissed from the competition. That will take the doubt away in future. In all the time that I've been at the SFA, we've only twice told clubs they are out. We were surprised actually how easily we got this through, we thought we would get a lot of resistance from the clubs. There was the doubt over the Dunfermline case. At the end of the day, Dunfermline had broken four of the rules and we felt, at that time, it was not unreasonable to remove them the tournament. It went to appeal and the appeal board felt we were a bit harsh. So we have brought in this rule so that there is no dubiety in the future. There are no grey areas at all." Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)This is Scottish-Fitba.Net
