East Fife: League 1 club fined by SPFL for failing to fulfil Clyde fixture
- Published
East Fife manager Darren Young was critical of the decision to charge his side
East Fife have been fined £11,000 - £10,000 of which is suspended - after admitting they breached SPFL rules by refusing to play Clyde on Tuesday.
Darren Young's side declined to fulfil the Scottish League 1 fixture after a Clyde player received a positive Covid-19 result shortly before kick-off.
Scottish football's joint response group had given the game the go-ahead and said none of the players risked being deemed close contacts.
The match is rescheduled for 6 May.
Prior to Thursday's hearing, manager Young had described the SPFL's decision to charge his club as "an absolute joke".
He said that several of his players had expressed reservations about taking part, adding that some of his team have partners who are pregnant, while others are self-employed and did not want to risk the loss of earnings that come with a period of isolation.
An SPFL spokesman commented that although the circumstances of the match were "difficult," the joint response group's advice had been "clear and unequivocal".
He added: "While the SPFL has sympathy with players who may not have had all relevant information, no league or other football body can accept a situation in which a club fails to fulfil a match in circumstances where all of the medical advice is that the match can safely proceed.
"There has been no recorded case, worldwide, of any on-pitch transmission of Covid-19.
"We appreciate the difficult position of the East Fife board, faced with a decision having been made by their players."