Calls have been made to end the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 ban on amateur football matches.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard urged Nicola Sturgeon to allow the grassroots game to return to action.
Due to existing restrictions, 35,000 registered amateur players in Scotland’s Central Belt have been stopped from playing, though professional and semi-professional football is allowed.
However, teams in the amateur leagues follow the same Covid-19 safety procedures as sides playing in the semi-professional leagues.
Leonard said: “Consideration should be given to finding a workable solution that allows the amateur football leagues to safely carry out games.”
In a letter to the First Minister, he claimed the rules had created a “two-tiered football system in Scotland.”
The ban will “impact the physical and mental health of thousands of people who would normally be participating in the sport,” he added.
He called on the First Minister to hold urgent talks aimed at lifting the ban with Stuart Urquhart, president of the Scottish Amateur Football Association (SAFA), who raised the issue with the Scottish Labour leader.
The SAFA contacted Leonard after Scottish Labour launched a campaign for a “Scottish Football Aid” fund to help parts of the sport threatened by Covid-19.
Amateur clubs outside the Central Belt and in areas not affected by Tier 3 restrictions are able to continue.
Leonard said: “Football remains Scotland’s most popular sport, it helps many people, players and fans, to focus their minds and efforts on something that provides a lot of happiness, that is why having a blanket ban does not work.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We recognise the benefits sport brings to physical and mental health as well as the key role clubs play in local communities.
“We understand restrictions on adult activity will be disappointing, however they are necessary to suppress transmission of the virus in high prevalence areas.”
