THE upcoming Scottish Cup final will be played behind closed doors after lockdown restrictions in Glasgow were extended by another week.
Hibernian will face St Johnstone at Hampden on Sunday 22 May but with the surrounding region remaining in Tier 3, inter-city travel is banned – as are any supporters in stadia.
Following negotiations between the SFA, UEFA and Holyrood, it was announced this week that each of the finalists would be allocated 300 tickets for the showpiece event in the 52,000-capacity arena.
But due to the delay in restrictions easing, it now transpires that no fans will be in attendance at the cup final – with Hibs releasing a statement last night confirming that the SFA had told them that no supporters will be allowed into Hampden.
It read: “Hibernian FC this evening received clarification from the Scottish FA that – owing to the Scottish Government’s decision that Glasgow should remain in Level 3 lockdown for at least the next ten days as a precaution against higher levels of covid 19 infections – the Cup Final on May 22nd must now be played behind closed doors, with no fans present.”
Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leitch earlier admitted he could not see how any supporters would be able to attend the Scottish Cup final after news broke of the lockdown extension.
“The situation now I’m afraid is that there is no travel in or out of Glasgow,” Leitch told BBC Radio Scotland. “That’s just been announced so we haven’t had the time yet to talk to the SFA but we will of course do that.
“But the rules are no travelling around for non-essential reasons so that would put a risk, I would have thought, to fans coming in and out. And at Level Three, stadia – you can’t have anyone in them.
“If the SFA come up with an innovative idea … I know it’s very, very short notice and I realise how difficult this is. It’s difficult for everybody but it means that fans from outside Glasgow wouldn’t be able to go. The levels don’t allow anyone getting into the stadium.”
When pressed on whether the delay to the laxing of restrictions meant the prospect of supporters attending the final was at serious risk, Leitch replied: “I think it is.
“We need to sit down with them and I wouldn’t want to make that decision outwith talking to ministers and the SFA, but it would seem difficult to do that at Hampden with the present restrictions.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel