SPFL brings forward Premiership winter break due to 500-fan limit

Scottish Premiership clubs will start their three-week winter break after the Boxing Day round of fixtures in light of new restrictions for sporting events in Scotland.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Tuesday all outdoor events in the country will be limited to 500 spectators from December 26 for “up to three weeks”.

The original winter break was scheduled to start on January 3, with clubs then returning to Scottish Cup action from January 21-23.

More to follow…

The Premiership games that are postponed

The fixtures that were due to be played on December 29 and January 2-3 have been pushed back, including the Old Firm, Edinburgh and Dundee derbies:

December 29

Aberdeen vs Rangers
Celtic vs Hibernian
Dundee United vs St Mirren
Hearts vs St Johnstone
Livingston vs Dundee
Ross County vs Motherwell

January 2

Celtic vs Rangers
Dundee vs Dundee United
Livingston vs St Johnstone
Ross County vs Aberdeen
St Mirren vs Motherwell

January 3

Hibernian vs Hearts

‘Early winter break is for the fans’

Motherwell were one of the clubs in favour of an early winter break and CEO Alan Burrows explained why on Sky Sports News:

“From my point of view, it isn’t necessarily just about finance over that short period of time.

“I think football is a sport for spectators. It’s a spectator sport, obviously, and I think most people’s experiences last year through the lockdown wasn’t a positive one.

“I think football suffered across the globe for that.

“If you look at Scotland as a percentage of vaccinated citizens, we are at a decent spot and that is continuing to roll, so my view is that while we have a natural break in the calendar with the winter break, we should move that forward to at least give us some chance of those games being played in front of fans at some point down the line.

“If it can’t, and those rearranged games still have restrictions then we just need to get on with it and play the games behind closed doors, and we accept that.

“I think what we have to do as a football community is look to our fellow clubs who have also been struggling through this year.

“Aberdeen said they could potentially lose half a million pounds if this [games with limited crowds of 500] goes ahead.

“And I know there are other clubs who are due to play Rangers and Celtic at their home stadiums during that period and that could cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“So I think clubs batting for each other in this situation and looking after each other collectively, I think that is the best way for football to be.”

What are the new restrictions in Scotland?

Sturgeon said all outdoor events in the country will be hit by the new restrictions which will limit attendances to 500 spectators from Boxing Day for three weeks.

Sturgeon revealed the new measures in parliament on Tuesday, which will also call for one-metre physical distancing to be in place between those who attend any outdoor event during that time.

That means the Premiership fixture schedule on Boxing Day and December 29 will be affected, while the Old Firm clash at Celtic Park plus Dundee and Edinburgh derbies on January 2/3 will be played in near-empty stadiums, as it stands.

‘No guarantee over restrictions’

Cabinet Secretary for Health & Social Care Humza Yousaf was asked about the new restrictions that will take effect in Scotland from Boxing Day and promised to review the crowd limitations over the course of the next three weeks.

“What I’ve learned in the course of the past 20 months is that it’s very difficult to give guarantees in the midst of a pandemic, especially when you’re at the foothills of a wave of a new variant,” Yousaf said.

“The First Minister said ‘up to three weeks’ and we’ll review that regularly during the course of those three weeks.

“But I can give you an absolute promise that the government takes no pleasure in bringing forward protective measures and we won’t keep them in place for a minute more than they have to be.”