Dunfermline have had three points deducted and a result reversed after fielding an ineligible player in a Development League match.
The club themselves alerted the football authorities when they realised that Connor Duthie should have been suspended for the February 21 win over Motherwell. Instead of a 3-2 win for Dunfermline the record book now shows a 3-0 defeat.
Explaining the action the SPFL website states: “During an SPFL Development League match between Dunfermline Athletic and Motherwell held at the Excelsior Stadium on Tuesday, 21 February, 2017, Dunfermline Athletic fielded a player – Conner Duthie – who was under suspension from the Scottish FA and therefore not eligible to play.
“Dunfermline Athletic, who won the match 3-2, notified the SPFL and the Scottish FA immediately upon recognising this and admitted to a breach of SPFL Regulations.
“Following a hearing before an SPFL Sub-committee held this week, Dunfermline Athletic were determined to have breached SPFL Regulations, censured and warned as to future conduct in this area and given a (suspended) fine.
“The original match result is annulled and the outcome of the match will be recorded as a 0-3 victory to Motherwell, with the three points for a victory awarded to Motherwell and the points previously awarded to Dunfermline being revoked.”
It seems that the SPFL are taking a much harder view of fielding ineligible players than the SPL and SFA.
From 2001 until 2011 Rangers (IL) were paying the majority of their players through an EBT scheme which hadn’t been registered with the football authorities. Despite multiple breaches the club was fined £250,000 with no points deduction or results reversed.
According to the rules all details of player payments must be registered with the SFA and SPL.
From August 2000 Ronald de Boer played in matches for Rangers with payments being made through the Discounted Option Scheme, in November 2000 Tore Andre Flo signed up under a similar scheme that wasn’t declared to the authorities.
Payments to de Boer and Flo resulted in the wee tax case which the club contested for almost a decade before agreeing to a £2.8m bill plus interest and fines.
That bill to HMRC has never been paid.