Following preliminary positive Covid-19 tests for three players from Hamilton Academical FC on Monday 14 September, discussions have taken place over the past three days between the Public Health Consultant at the Lanarkshire Health Protection team, the Scottish Government, the JRG and Hamilton Academical. The JRG is pleased to note that only those three players (in addition to Lee Hodson) are being asked to self-isolate at present. In accordance with the current Scottish football protocol, the period of isolation for the three players is ten days from Monday 14 September.
Further testing of the remainder of the players and back room staff at Hamilton Academical will take place tomorrow, 17 September, ahead of the club’s next game this Saturday.
Allan Maitland, Chairman of Hamilton Academical, said: “We are grateful that this matter has been resolved quickly and efficiently and wish to thank all parties involved. We fully understand the problems encountered by other clubs since the outbreak of this pandemic and also how difficult it is to resolve them fairly and consistently. After a difficult few days, our focus will be to get back to training and carry the momentum gained from last week into the match this Saturday.”
Rod Petrie, President of the Scottish FA and chair of the JRG, said: “We are grateful for the work of the Lanarkshire Health Protection Team and our colleagues at Scottish Government, who have helped us to work through this difficult and complex situation, with the minimum of disruption in the circumstances. This is another timely reminder of the need to maintain social distancing measures before, during and after a match, and to continue to adhere to Scottish Government public health advice as well as the well-established football protocols.”
Neil Doncaster, CEO of the Scottish Professional Football League, commented: “Given the current incidence of the virus in the community, we are likely to see more and more positive tests for Covid-19 amongst Premiership teams. This situation once again emphasises the importance of our current testing regime in reducing the likelihood of the virus spreading unchecked through Premiership first team squads, and in increasing the chances of us being able to complete season 2020/21."
