Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has hit out at players from Premiership side Aberdeen after a boozy trip to a pub led to at least two COVID-19 infections, sparking the cancellation of Saturday's match with St. Johnstone.
A furious Sturgeon condemned the players for a "clear breach" of the protocols in place designed to impede the spread of the coronavirus after the pair of positive tests following the alcohol-fuelled expedition, with a further six players placed into two-week quarantine after being in close contract with confirmed cases.
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Cases of COVID-19 in Aberdeen have risen by 22 to 101 (as of Friday morning) which has led to a local lockdown being implemented, prompting Sturgeon to hit out at the players responsible for the "completely unacceptable" protocol breach.
"It is now clear that all eight of these players visited a bar in Aberdeen on Saturday night. In doing so they blatantly broke the rules that had been agreed between the SFA, the SPFL, and the Scottish Government, which, to put it mildly, is completely unacceptable," she said.
"We are asking members of the public to behave in a highly precautionary manner and when a football club ends up with players infected with COVID – and let’s remember this is not through bad luck but through clear breaches of the rules – we cannot take even a small risk that they then spread the infection to other parts of the country."
Sturgeon's backlash comes a day after Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack called for a considered reaction to the players' misdeeds.
"I don’t know about you but I’m far from perfect and prone to making errors of judgment. It’s all about how we respond to something we wish had not happened," he said in a video message addressed to fans of the team early Friday.
"We are therefore asking for your patience to give the affected players the time they need to make sure they are healthy and to provide the club with the opportunity to reflect on what we just went through."
However, an official communique from St. Johnstone, Aberdeen's intended opponents this weekend, says that they are disappointed with the outcome but agree that the health and safety of all those who would be in attendance is paramount.
"The club is disappointed at the news of this postponement but the health and wellbeing of everybody is of paramount importance in this situation," they said.
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