Coronavirus in Scotland: Two fined after police break up '11-a-side' football game in Edinburgh park

Fines have been issued after officers were called to break up a football game in an Edinburgh park.
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The game, understood to have been an 11-a-side match, took place in Inverleith Park at about 12.30pm on Sunday.

An Edinburgh resident, who was walking in the park at the time and asked to remain anonymous, said he was confronted by the players who asked him “to move off” their pitch.

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“I stayed for a few minutes but was quickly outnumbered,” he said, explaining he had tried to advise the players against what they were doing.

Football game taking place in Inverleith Park on Sunday afternoon - two players were issued with fines picture: suppliedFootball game taking place in Inverleith Park on Sunday afternoon - two players were issued with fines picture: supplied
Football game taking place in Inverleith Park on Sunday afternoon - two players were issued with fines picture: supplied

"There was no effort from any of them to stay apart.

"They said they ‘didn’t care because everyone else is breaking the rules’, which simply isn’t true.

"A lot of us are being extremely careful and haven’t seen any of our family or our groups of friends for almost a year.”

The police were call and when officers arrived most of players “ran away.”

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A police spokesman said: “At about 1.05pm on Sunday 21 February officers were called to reports of a football game taking place in Inverleith Park.

"Two were issued with fixed penalty notices.”

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