A staggering nine clubs fielded ineligible players on the opening day of the West of Scotland League season, Ayrshire Live can reveal.
Seven were hit with three-point deductions and fines of £100 while the remaining two - including Kilwinning Rangers - were admonished due to mitigating circumstances.
West of Scotland League (WoSFL) General Secretary John Dalton lifted the lid on the scale of the problem in response to a query from Ayrshire Football News.
He wouldn't name clubs due to rules surrounding the appeals process but admitted it appeared to be an issue confined solely to the West region.
Dalton said that of the aforementioned nine cases, some were due to player suspensions - particularly those carried over from last season including new signings - through to clubs fielding too many trialists.
But he added: "I cant speculate on the reasons why this has happened. Each case will have different circumstances but it does appear to be a particular problem for the WoSFL clubs.
"The East of Scotland, South of Scotland and the Scottish Lowland Football Leagues do not have the same problem and they use the same SFA disciplinary system and processes as WoSFL clubs.
"At the start of last season there was a zoom meeting with the SFA Disciplinary Dept to which all clubs attended and the various processes, such as where to check if a player is suspended, was explained.
"Clubs were invited to attend a similar meeting the week before this season started and again these processes were explained.
"At these meetings the Scottish FA made the offer to clubs that if they were unsure whether any player, particularly any new signings, was suspended then they could e-mail the SFA Disciplinary Dept who would advise accordingly.
"The WoSFL is still a new league. This is only the start of our second full season but ultimately it is the responsibility of clubs to ensure that they check and understand the processes and adhere to the WoSFL constitution.
"The League do not wish to sanction clubs but the rules have to be adhered to.
"Hopefully, the problem has now abated as there have been no new cases in the intervening period but at our October General Meeting of all clubs, we are hoping to have the SFA Disciplinary Dept in attendance to discuss issues surrounding discipline."
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