When news broke on Tuesday that League Two side Bonnyrigg Rose had been hit with a six-point deduction by the SPFL for the slope on their pitch, reactions ranged from the humorous (it seems a bit steep, etc), to the incredulous.
Instinctively, for fans around the country and for pundits, it was a struggle to reconcile the severity of the penalty with the lack of action that is taken against some of the ‘real’ issues that plague our game, such as sectarianism, the throwing of missiles and pyrotechnic displays.
Even when taking on board the fact that these issues stem from the behaviour of fans, rather than the failures of the clubs themselves, as in the case of Bonnyrigg Rose, some rightly pointed out that other parts of the league’s rulebook (most notably, the failure of Celtic and Rangers to accommodate away supporters in the Old Firm fixture recently) seem to be conveniently ignored.
There was widespread sympathy then for The Rosey Posey, with many supporters viewing the punishment meted out to them not only as over the score, but as a classic case of the SPFL punching down on the little guy while a blind eye is turned to the sins of the bigger, more powerful clubs in the country.
Is that fair, though? Here, we explain how the club came to breach the SPFL rules, how long the club were given to rectify the situation, and how they can avoid further punishment by levelling out their playing field.
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When Bonnyrigg Rose won promotion to League Two, they required only an Entry Level licence to be allowed to compete in the division. That rule was changed last year, meaning that a Bronze Level licence is now the minimum requirement for a club to comply with SPFL rule ‘D4’.
Bonnyrigg were granted a derogation – an exception from this rule - at the beginning of the season as they club intimated that their intention was to install an artificial surface at their New Dundas Park home, but having confirmed this will not be possible, they were downgraded to an Entry Level licence by the Scottish FA in September due to the condition of their pitch.
Therefore, they have been found to be in breach of SPFL rules.
A club statement read: “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.
“Unfortunately, due to factors outside of our control both with central DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) 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.”
The timing of the sanction may seem odd on the face of it with the season well underway, but it was the timing of the downgrade of their licence status that prompted the disciplinary hearing that took place on Tuesday.
As to why such a seemingly minor infraction from a small community club has been punished by the SPFL while arguably much larger sins have gone unpunished further up the football ladder, the league body quite simply doesn’t possess the necessary powers to sanction clubs for the behaviour of their supporters.
Their rulebook does however give them the levers to deal with clubs who are in transgression of their minimum licence requirements, and that is why they have taken action here.
So, what now? The immediate impact is that the club fall from fifth to eighth place in the League Two table, and now sit just two points ahead of bottom clubs Forfar Athletic and Clyde. But in the longer term, how can Bonnyrigg Rose bring their ground up to code, and how long do they have if they are to avoid further punishment?
An SPFL statement confirmed that as well as being reprimanded and being handed the six-point deduction, “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.”
The club estimate that they need to raise £120,000 in order to carry out the required works and have launched a JustGiving page to help them reach their target. At the time of writing, £4290 has been donated by 148 supporters.
