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Scottish League Two club set up donation page after 6 point deduction for slope on pitch

Scottish League Two club Bonnyrigg Rose have set up a donation page after receiving a 6 point deduction for a slope on their pitch.

They have launched a JustGiving page following a six-point deduction by the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) due to the slope on their pitch at New Dundas Park.

This penalty was imposed after their club license was downgraded from Bronze to Entry level by the Scottish FA in September 2024 because of the pitch’s gradient, which did not meet the required standards for SPFL membership.

The club aims to raise approximately £120,000 through this fundraising effort to level the pitch and improve drainage, thereby ensuring compliance with league requirements.

SPFL STATEMENT:

Decision of SPFL Disciplinary Tribunal…

Bonnyrigg Rose FC has today received a six-point deduction following an SPFL Disciplinary Tribunal into SPFL Rule breaches, which were admitted by the club.

In September 2024, the Scottish FA downgraded Bonnyrigg Rose FC’s overall Club Licence award from Bronze level to Entry level, due to the gradient of the pitch at the club’s New Dundas Park.

It is an SPFL Rule that all clubs must have a Bronze level Scottish FA Club Licence and Bonnyrigg Rose FC were therefore charged with a breach of SPFL Rules.

At a hearing today (Tuesday 12 November, 2024) an SPFL Disciplinary Tribunal imposed the following sanctions for the Club’s failure to maintain a Bronze level Licence:

(i) The club was reprimanded and warned as to their future conduct;

(ii) The club was deducted six points with immediate effect; and

(iii) The club was directed that no later than 31 January, 2025 it provides details to the SPFL Board of the funding arrangements and programme of works to allow the club to undertake pitch levelling works in Summer 2025.

The William Hill League 2 table will be updated accordingly.

CLUB STATEMENT:

On behalf of Bonnyrigg Rose Football Club we are raising £120,000 to help level the pitch at NDP. Thank you!

Currently our pitch gradient does not meet the bronze level requirement for the SPFL. Following professional advice and in partnership with the Community Club, our ambition was to replace the grass surface at NDP with a synthetic surface. Changing the pitch surface became our focus, rather than levelling the pitch, as levelling was identified as being a wasted investment and unnecessary additional time and effort given the opportunity to obtain funding to change the surface as part of our club and community development ambitions.

The rationale behind the change of surface was to enable and support local grass roots football, in partnership with The Bonnyrigg Rose Community Club, as well as delivering a positive impact to the local economy & wider community. As an example, and for clarity, the Bonnyrigg Rose Community Club has an extensive waiting list of children keen to play football but who are unable to do so due to lack of space and resources. An artificial surface at New Dundas Park would go some way to enable those children to play, provide a new pipeline of potential talent for the future as well as enabling the ground to become a 7 day a week operational business, creating jobs within the local community and creating revenue for the club and local economy.

Unfortunately, due to factors outside of our control both with central DCMS funding delays and following ground surveying works we have been unable to progress as we would have liked with the resurfacing works. As a result the licensing board have downgraded our licence from Bronze to Entry level. As such our focus has changed and we will now be working hard towards levelling the pitch in advance of the 2024/25 season. To achieve this, we need your help. We need to raise the funds to complete the levelling & drainage requirements. We are expecting a quote and plan of works from contractors imminently, however we expect the costs of this to be in excess of 6 figures.

Thanks for taking the time to visit this JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, the funds will be sent directly to the club. It’s the most efficient way to donate and saves time and costs.

There was plenty of reaction on Twitter as the Scottish League Two club set up a donation page after receiving a 6 point deduction for a slope on their pitch…

@Mickkcc: Surely the SFA could just let yous use Hampden till the maintenance is carried out ?

@bill8259: Rangers no stadium for the first three months, Dundee waterlogged pitch for half a season, Livingstons plastic pitch being unplayable for rain and you get a points deduction for a small slope?Ridiculous.

@tobleroni45: Why not make the teams swap ends at say 45 mins to make it fair!

@NS_1872: 6 point deduction for their pitch being on a bit of a hill? Seems a bit steep?

@The_Thirty_: Overall very poor from the SPFL. If the pitch isn’t acceptable, why give them the Bronze license in the first place? Also if these clubs were helped instead of throwing around deductions, maybe Scottish football can improve & promotion to the SPFL can be possible for more clubs

@ASimpleDough: Instead of working with the club as a custodian of the league, you screw them over. Classic @spfl

@KayemPhoto:
Ibrox was closed for half a dozen games this season – no sanction
Dens was unplayable for two months last season – no sanction
But a slope on the park is suddenly worth a 6 point deduction?
Double standard.

@Scottmarr02:
Rangers unsuitable pitch for the first 3 months of the season
Dundees waterlogged pitch
Kilmarnock plastic pitch
Yet Bonnyrigg get charged for a wee hill in the pitch never had a problem with it being waterlogged or unavailable.

@bigdanny185: The gradient is mental but they did award them bronze to start with. Instead of helping teams when they come up, the SPFL just keep making it more difficult.

@Paul_Coull87: So after the season started they downgraded them, meaning if they even had the money to fix it they would then need to source more money to find somewhere to play whilst work was carried out. This seems a bit of a disgrace by the league.

@StevenJPW: Surely the question is why did the SPFL award them bronze level if they didn’t meet the criteria?

@unofficialdanny: If they make losses of 17 million per season they’d be fine?

@Kelly77722: Because of the gradient of the pitch? They’re a league 2 team that got promoted 3 seasons ago. Fixing this would cost an enormous amount of money that would make the club potentially go bankrupt without help. At what point does the SPFL stop punishing clubs for petty reasons?

@brisworld: The pitch should have been fixed before they were allowed into the spfl. Who ever said it was fine obviously had never played on it.

@RB_1875: An absolute disgrace. A club that size can’t just magic money out their arse for fixing a slope on a pitch! Maybe get the finger out and actually lend a helping hand to your smaller clubs to avoid situations like this happening? Also, what’s so bad about a slope?!

@budgiemcb: What absolute bullshit!

@RyanMusselburgh: Just when you thought you’d seen everything the SPFL find that extra level. To pick this week of all weeks to come to this conclusion is without doubt the single most cold hearted act I think I’ve ever seen. Shame on you. @BonnyriggRose

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