SPFL club docked points after breaching regulations as they put out £120k plea to remedy issue

Bonnyrigg Rose have after being docked points by the SPFL.

The League Two club have been deemed to have breached league regulations due to their pitch, and have suffered a six-point deduction. The Scottish FA downgraded their club license from the mandatory Bronze level to Entry level status due to the ‘gradient’ of the pitch at New Dundas Park.

A disciplinary meeting has found that they have failed to bring it up to the required level in time and points have been taken away as a result. After a promising start to the season, it means the Midlothian club, currently fifth in League Two on 17 points, will drop to eighth place and just two points ahead of bottom two clubs Clyde and Forfar Athletic.

A JustGiving page has been posted by the club on social media asking supporters for help, with £120k worth of investment sought. An SPFL statement reads: “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.”

A JustGiving description reads: “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.”