Breaking: SWPL suspended for three weeks
Sunday’s planned return of the SWPL will now be put on hold until February after all football below the SPFL Championship was suspended for three weeks.
The Scottish FA made the decision due to increasing Covid-19 cases across the country.
The SPFL Scottish Premiership will be allowed to continue, as will the Championship providing they commence with weekly PCR testing.
Should weekly testing be imposed on the SWPL it is likely the costs involved would prove too prohibitive, and may lead to the season being curtailed. However, there has been no indication of that just yet.
Scottish FA president Rod Petrie said: “While the national sport has been afforded the privilege of elite sporting exemption, the risk of mass transportation of untested, largely part-time players is something that cannot be sustained as the cases continue to rise and available hospital beds become increasingly scarce.
“After discussions with the SPFL, the Premiership and Championship will continue on the proviso that both adhere to the existing testing regime. The vast majority of teams in those divisions are full-time professional clubs and so the risk of transmission remains manageably low. The cost implications to lower-division clubs was one factor but so too the realisation that many – with some notable exceptions – consist of part-time players who are either prevented from working due to the virus or have to work.”