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Club statement

Club statement

Brendan Parkinson30 Mar 2021 - 17:00
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https://www.bonnyriggrosefc.co

Finalising season 2020/21.

For the second season in succession the champion of the Lowland League has been decided in the boardroom rather than on the pitch, as announced on the official SLFL website today. Clubs were sent a document on Thursday 25th March as widely reported in the press with a recommendation for finalising the season based on PPG, with an option to comment (rather than vote) within 72 hours, ahead of a further board meeting the following day.

The board’s recommendation was on the basis that it is important to the integrity of the pyramid that the Pyramid Play-Off competition takes place which meant declaring the season null and void was not an option, as to do so would mean putting no champion club forward for those play-offs. Our interpretation of the rule that our league board has the power to ‘temporarily suspend, amend or add to the rules as circumstances may dictate from time to time, as it deems appropriate in its reasonable discretion, to facilitate the smooth running of the competition, or in order to ensure the League is capable of meeting any commitments put upon it under the terms of any contracts or agreements with other bodies or sponsors.’ supersedes any rule in place on reaching 50% of games to determine a league champion based on PPG and as such we agreed with the board’s recommendation and reflected those in the comments submitted. The board has a duty to put forward a league champion and with other metrics unavailable the only sound basis to use was based on current PPG. To reiterate, declaring the season null and void would mean no club from the Lowland League would go forward to the Pyramid Play-Offs. PPG from this season/combined PPG from last two seasons/null and void to roll back results to last season all result in the same team being declared as champion, so we would do nothing off the field that would deny Kelty Hearts the opportunity to go forward to the play-offs this season. Our only hope is that they get the chance to do so and just like last season, we wish them all the best for them.

The club also mentioned in comments to the board that by using GD as a second differentiator to PPG, it would see us move from equal second to third, which we feel was an unfair one to use given the various fixtures played between teams in this truncated season and something like head to head or any of the other metrics mentioned above would have seen us placed in second. It was our belief that second place could become important should a vote go through for reconstruction and an expanded League 2 next season. Despite what we have already seen in the press today, it is by far a “done deal” on who would be chosen as the second team should a vote on reconstruction pass by the SPFL. We have held two separate conversations over the past few days where we have been told that the Lowland League board would make a decision on that at a later date should one be needed. The reconstruction talks which dominated last summer give an indication of how complex they can be, and the show of unity recently by Lg1 & 2 clubs on agreement of a conclusion of their seasons is the exception rather than rule of the polarised world of Scottish football.

No team would want to end the season in this way but we have been silently resigned to it since January, when the decision was made to curtail football without PCR testing and the allocation of government support by the SFA in December which we wrote about two months ago. This allowed the leagues above to continue as they could afford it and conversely meant that clubs at our level couldn’t. Three months on it is staggering that there has still been no rationale from the SFA board on the allocation of funds to respective leagues, the use of a commercial partnership within funding elements for Tiers 5 & 6 and the split between Government funding and Lottery funding for those leagues in order to achieve a truer picture of Government support received. The likelihood is that we’ll never know.

This announcement earlier today brings what must be classed as the most difficult season experienced by the club in living memory to a conclusion. We would like to place our thanks to the following groups without who, we wouldn’t have had any season at all:

  • Our committee and bunch of dedicated volunteers who put all the protocols and paperwork in place to allow us to play in the first instance and to show games via live streaming from NDP for the first time, allowing supporters the opportunity to watch us play, albeit from their own homes.
  • The players and management team who have travelled to training and games in cars, changing in those cars or on sidelines in all conditions and returning home often in the same strip as changing rooms weren’t always available. There have been some memorable performances this season too, most notably against East Kilbride in the league and Bo’ness Utd and Dundee in the Scottish Cup.
  • Finally to our supporters and sponsors, who ensured we survived this season through season ticket sales, renewing sponsorship and our numerous fundraising efforts throughout the season such as our raffles, our supporters' wall, support the club and donate a ticket.

One positive that today’s decision does bring is clarity and an end to the limbo that we have endured for the majority of this year. It allows us to plan for next season and with the positive news in terms of vaccination and suppression of this deadly virus it gives us the hope that next season we can determine a champion on the pitch, not the boardroom.

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