Amidst all the recriminations flying about in relation to Aberdeen and their failure to respect proper safety protocols, it would be easy to forget that another club was guilty of violating them not that long ago.
Hell, the press seems to have forgotten … but then, the press never really gave that story the kind of scrutiny, or the club the kind of criticism, it deserved.
On Monday this week, the SFA announced that they would be taking no action against said club. That club, of course, was Sevco.
Their decision to play a friendly before their player’s test results were in was appalling and dangerous almost beyond belief. Yet the media chose to focus on other clubs who had done the right thing by cancelling or delaying games because of delays in the testing.
Sevco took the decision to play that game before knowing it was safe to do so, and that’s the bottom line. It remains the single most reckless act committed by a club in Scotland since this crisis began.
Not one newspaper has pointed this out. Not one media talking head has said those words. Not one SFA official has condemned it in the language being used on Aberdeen.
The Pittodrie club must take the blame for what happened inside their own walls, but let’s be honest, if the media had done its job and given Sevco the kind of kicking their irresponsible behaviour demanded, and had the governing bodies come down hard then it’s surely not a stretch to think that Aberdeen’s players would not have been quite so cavalier.
The SFA’s decision did not surprise me one bit.
That organisation has no appetite for taking on Ibrox even when it is crystal clear that they should, for the greater good of the game. That club spent much of the summer slandering officials at the SPFL, in as clear a demonstration of bringing the game into disrepute as you will ever see.
I thought they must surely be sanctioned for that, yet nothing happened.
The decision not to at least fine them for breaching safety protocols on the virus is astounding though, because it promotes a general contempt for the rules which is all too apparent in what the Aberdeen players did here.
The SFA has to sanction the club for that, as a measurable warning to others, but it would again reveal them to be guilty of shocking double standards.
This is one of those things that causes endless frustration to myself and others, the way the SFA creates problems for itself and for the rest of the game with its pandering to Ibrox.
When you quite blatantly let one club away with such infractions you create the conditions under which other clubs will ignore the same. It is untenable.
Those who “govern” Scottish football have a lot to answer for sometimes.
If they fail to take robust action against Aberdeen it will invite further breaches.
But if they do take that action then surely it will be legitimate to ask why that club was punished when the one from Ibrox was not?
Such is the way we run things here, apparently for Ibrox’s benefit.
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