Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Jamie Durent: Part-time clubs not getting a fair Scottish Cup shake with Boxing Day games

Joe McCabe scores the third Buckie goal against Rothes on Saturday to put the clash to bed.
Picture by Jason Hedges
Joe McCabe scores the third Buckie goal against Rothes on Saturday to put the clash to bed. Picture by Jason Hedges

When onerous demands have already been put on part-time clubs during the pandemic, Boxing Day games seem a step too far.

Clubs who do not have the budgets or manpower of their full-time counterparts, who have already incurred significant expense just to resume playing again, will have to go to the well once again at a time of year when they should not have to.

At least four clubs from the north will be required to make trips to the central belt the day after Christmas, at a time when resources are already stretched dealing with Covid-19.

Buckie Thistle, Banks o’ Dee, Formartine or Turriff United, Brora Rangers and Wick Academy should they defeat Musselburgh Athletic will all have to embark on early-morning departures to get to their destinations.

Wick would have the most arduous task; it will be a 10-hour round trip to Cowdenbeath from Caithness, with manager Gary Manson estimating they will need to leave at 7am on Boxing Day to make it in time.

Overnight stays are going to be rare just now because of the circumstances we are living in but the time of year makes that impossible.

Buckie draw upon players from Inverness, Moray and Aberdeenshire, who will all have to come together to travel down to Coatbridge to face Albion Rovers.

The League Two side were also reportedly less than keen on pushing the tie back even a day, which understandably has not gone down too well at Victoria Park.

Scottish Cup: Buckie Thistle not hopeful of Albion Rovers tie being moved

This is not just beating the drum for north clubs.

Hill of Beath, Broxburn Athletic, Cumbernauld Colts and Civil Service Strollers will all have to come up the road, to take on Keith, Nairn County, Huntly and Elgin City respectively.

Even in ordinary circumstances this would make little sense.

Throw in a global pandemic and it stretches into ridiculous territory.

You already have poor weather to factor in at this time of year, which can add strain to journeys around the country, and have an impact on what conditions players have to play in.

Then because of the Covid-19 regulations put in place for Scottish football, showers are not permitted after the game.

Can you imagine having to play in snow, rain or mud, for the sake of getting your team into the next round of the national cup competition, then have to sit for hours on a bus back home caked and covered in the remnants of whatever surface you played on?

This should not be the image the Scottish Cup is portraying.

It is a great potential for revenue and enjoyment for these clubs, both of which will be impacted by having to make journeys at a time when they should be with families.

Players at part-time level play for the enjoyment, not for the wages. It is not their job.

You could understand somewhat if it was full-time clubs being asked to do this.

But, for part-time clubs around the country, they are not being given a fair shake.