The Scottish Government have given the red card to the SPFL’s plea for £4m funding to introduce a bizarre facial recognition scheme at the turnstiles.
Rather than deal with the anti-catholic singing heard by BT Sport viewers during the Sevco v Rangers match on December 28 the SPFL announced their wish to introduce a facial recognition scheme to deal with bigots.
Responding to a pleas for funding the Scottish Government stated: “We remain committed to working with football authorities, clubs and Police Scotland to support them in tackling unacceptable behaviour but, ultimately, the responsibility lies with the authorities and clubs.”
“It is clear that we would not financially support the introduction of facial recognition technology in football stadia.
“We do, however, welcome continued engagement with the football authorities to discuss the practical action they are taking to address the continuing issue of unacceptable conduct at Scottish matches.”
Responding to the statement to the BBC an SPFL spokesman said: “With our colleagues at the Scottish FA, we had a positive meeting with the Scottish Government this week to discuss potential measures to help combat unacceptable conduct at Scottish football grounds, ensuring they remain safe places for people to enjoy our sport.
“The SPFL’s submission of tentative funding costs – specifically for technology to assist with identification of individuals engaged in unacceptable conduct – followed previous discussions with the Scottish Government where we built on quotes based on the top two divisions only.
“We remain committed to tackling unacceptable conduct where it occurs in SPFL grounds – indeed, an independent commission recently found Motherwell FC guilty of breaches of SPFL rules in this area.”
The SPFL Board is made up of Neil Doncaster, Ralph Topping, Duncan Fraser (Aberdeen), Eric Riley (Celtic) Stephen Thompson (Dundee United), Eric Drysdale (Raith Rovers) Mike Mulraney (Alloa Athletic) and Ken Ferguson (Brechin City).
