Scottish sport to divvy up £2.55 million Covid-19 relief fund

The funding is part of a Scottish Government relief package totalling £2.55m that will also see rugby, ice hockey, basketball and horse racing benefit.

The hand-out is intended to reimburse up to 75 per cent of the losses accrued due to the 500 attendance limit introduced as a result of the Omicron outbreak.

The traditional Boxing Day football fixtures were affected, Hearts v Ross County, Dundee United v Hibs and Motherwell v Livingston.

Hearts match against Ross County at Tynecastle on Boxing Day was played behind closed doors after the introduction of crowd restrictions - one of many sporting fixtures affected. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

But while Premiership clubs extended their winter break and rescheduled subsequent affected matches, clubs in the lower leagues have played on, and will do so again this weekend before the restrictions are lifted on Monday.

The amounts for each football club will be finalised by the SFA/SPFL next week.

Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors both had home fixtures affected, while the New Years Day horse racing event at Musselburgh was also impacted.

Support will also be given to clubs hit hard by the limit of 200 supporters on indoor sports, such as Scotland's professional ice hockey and basketball teams.

The funding comes from the £5m set aside for professional sport, as part of £375 million in wider business support.

Sports minister Maree Todd said: “These sports clubs are at the heart of their communities, but many of them have suffered real hardships as the necessary COVID-19 lockdown restrictions meant attendances were heavily restricted.

"This funding will help to ensure clubs are able to bridge the gap in revenue, as spectators return safely to sports events in larger numbers when these restrictions are eased next week.

“This Government has pledged to provide funding to support organisations affected by the necessary measures to keep us all safe and these allocations show we are doing this.

"We will continue to work in partnership to support all our sports clubs to help them through this difficult time and to ensure this funding can be accessed by all clubs as efficiently as possible."

The funding package is split as follows: Ice hockey - £350,000, Basketball – £20,000, Horse Racing – £265,000, Rugby - £125,000, Football – £1.79million.

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