Queen's Park look set to be denied the chance to defend the Scottish Amateur Cup that they won at the end of May, when their Hampden XI side defeated Hurlford Thistle 3-1 in the final at Hampden.
Despite their motto of Ludere causa Ludendi - to play for the sake of playing - and having a 142 year history as an amateur side, as well as being founder members of the 100 year old Association that runs the competition, amateur clubs across Scotland have voted in a new registration system that means that the Hampden side can no longer enter the annual knock out tournament.
Attendees at the Scottish Amateur Football Association Annual General Meeting recently voted in favour of an automated registration system, which only allows teams that play in Saturday amateur leagues into the competition.
As a result the Hampden side are excluded because they belong to the Scottish Football League.
After dropping out of the competition in the 1960's Queen's Park re-entered the cup 8 seasons ago and were granted the courtesy of an exemption from playing in an amateur league as a mark of respect to their history and status in the amateur game.
The firming up of rules regarding teams that are allowed to play has left the Glasgow club on the outside looking in.
The Spiders hosted a match at Hampden recently to mark the Amateur Bodies centenary with Head Coach, Gardner Speirs, playing his first team against a National Amateur Select side. Despite this relationship an over two thirds majority voted to bring in a ruling that effectively stops Queen's entering next season.
SAFA President Angus McKay explained, "We are obliged to fall into line with an SFA requirement to have all amateur players registered on a national registration system. Our volunteers will collect this information and populate the database from affiliated clubs as the record of amateur players in Scotland. It was agreed at the AGM it will only be players on that list from Saturday teams that can compete in the Scottish Amateur Cup. As Queen's Park players are registered to the Scottish Football League and do not play in an amateur Saturday league they therefore will not appear on the database. As it stands just now they can not be allowed to enter."
McKay added, "This rule was only one of 40 changes made at the AGM and has to be viewed as part of the overall restructuring of the amateur game. We have a great relationship with Queen's Park and recognise what they have done to promote amateur football, however we had to fall in line with the database of players. The effect of this is, that as Queen's Park do not have a side in an affiliated Saturday league at the moment, they can not enter the cup competition as it stands. We will continue a discussion with them before the competition starts to see if there is a way they can field a side through joining a league for example."
The Spiders remain hopeful that a compromise can be found with Hampden President Jim Hastie saying, "I will be in discussions with SAFA about this as it hurts both our club and their competition. We were delighted to win the cup and are determined to defend it next season. We remain an amateur club playing in a professional league and are therefore probably best described as an anomaly. We have played a combination of under-19 players and fringe first team players in a side called The Hampden XI in this competition and I am determined to find a solution with SAFA that will allow this to happen."
Hastie added, "We have been extended the courtesy of being able to enter the competition in the past despite not playing in an amateur league and hope that we will be able to enter it again."
Queen's Park Supporters Association Secretary Keith McAlister is a disappointed fan as his side are being denied the chance to defend the cup. McAlister said, "For the first few seasons when we re-entered the competition we were being put out in the early rounds so the timing here is best described as unfortunate. Our coaches that run these teams are unpaid, the players are unpaid and we never play anyone in this competition that has ever been paid money for playing so we are very much an amateur team."
McAllister added, "Queen's Park should be seen as a club that amateur players aspire too because of the league we play in. We make an extra effort to scout for players from the amateur and juvenile ranks and last year gave Ryan Holmes a chance and he ended playing against Celtic at Parkhead in the Homecoming Scottish Cup."
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