Neil Doncaster has described the decision to replay Livingston’s Irn Bru Cup tie with Crusaders as a victory for sporting integrity!
The League One side played the full 90 minutes with the suspended Alan Lithgow as they beat the Irish side 2-1 in the fourth round of the competition.
Under UEFA or FIFA rules an automatic 0-3 result would be applied but it seems that in Scotland rule breaches are dealt with on a case by case, or entirely random basis.
After a hearing at Hampden yesterday the SPFL announced: “As a result, the club (Livingston) were censured, ordered to replay the game against Crusaders Football Club and fined £4,000. The replay has been arranged for Tuesday, 1 November with a 7.45 kick-off.”
SPFL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster said: “In the interests of sporting integrity and fairness to both sides, the game will be replayed.”
In May Dundee United suffered a much tougher punishment when they were found to have listed two ineligible players in a match that they won against Inverness Caley Thistle.
At the time the SPFL announced: “”Dundee United pled guilty to breaches of SPFL Player Regulations 12, 14(i) and 14(ii), which breached SPFL Rules. The breaches of Player Regulations occurred because the club failed to apply to the SPFL to league register the players as required by SPFL Player Regulations 7 and 3A.
“As a result, Dundee United were severely censured, deducted three points from their points total this season and fined £30,000 (part suspended).
“The disciplinary hearing concluded that replaying the game before the end of the season was not practical.”
In 2012 Rangers (IL) were fined £250,000 with no points deducted for fielding ineligible players over an 11 year period. It’s not known if the fine was ever paid.
