UPDATE: St Johnstone v Aberdeen Match Postponed
The St Johnstone v Aberdeen match has now been postponed.
It follows two players being tested positive for coronavirus and a further six being asked to self-isolate yesterday.
The match was due to take place tomorrow at 12.30pm.
The First Minister confirmed at her lunchtime briefing that the game will not go ahead.
Speaking at the briefing, she said: “It is now clear that all eight of these players visited a bar in Aberdeen on Saturday night.
“In doing so they blatantly broke the rules that had been agreed by the SFA, the SPFL and the Scottish Government, which – to put it mildly – is completely unacceptable.
“This morning the Scottish Government convened a meeting with the SFA and the SPFL and, following those discussions, the football authorities have confirmed the game between Aberdeen and St Johnstone scheduled for tomorrow in Perth will not now go ahead.
“I think that is the right decision. We are expecting members of the public to behave in a highly precautionary manner right now.
“When a football club ends up with players infected – and let’s remember this is not through bad luck but clear breaches of the rules – we cannot take even smalls risks that could then spread the infection to other parts of the country.”
The SFA released the following statement on the situation: “Following a meeting this morning between the Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, Joe FitzPatrick, the Scottish FA Chief Executive, Ian Maxwell, and the Chief Executive of the SPFL, Neil Doncaster, to further examine the circumstances around the self-isolation of eight Aberdeen FC players, a request was received from Scottish Government – and agreement reached – to postpone Saturday’s Scottish Premiership match against St Johnstone.
There is an evolving public health outbreak in Aberdeen and the minister conveyed the need
for additional work to provide further assurance around Aberdeen FC’s adherence to the agreed protocols.
Given the overriding responsibility to public health, the subsequent advice and discussion with the minister this morning means that the Joint Response Group must adhere to the request to postpone the match.”
Dave Cormack, Chairman of Aberdeen Football Club said: “Given the significant COVID-19 outbreak in Aberdeen, we fully understand why the Scottish Government has made this decision in the interests of public health.
“With the pressure over this season’s fixtures, and the fact that we caused this problem, we were fully prepared to play the game tomorrow. We are very grateful that the decision has been to postpone, rather than forfeit the game.
“I took the opportunity yesterday to apologise to both football and health authorities, and with our fellow premiership clubs today.
“The clinical decision last night from the JRG that it was safe to play underlines the confidence the football authorities have in the robustness of our procedures and protocols. Regrettably, what has happened in the last few days has undermined all the hard work that has gone into keeping our players and staff safe. We are now dealing with this internally with the seriousness it deserves.
“In the meantime, I’d like to reassure the relevant bodies, our fans and everyone associated with the Club that our already rigorous measures are being forensically scrutinised and that no stone will be left unturned in ensuring that no-one is under any doubt about what must be adhered to.”
