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Peterhead: Rodger Morrison keen for lower leagues to keep playing despite fresh restrictions

Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson
Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson

Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison would be in favour of the lower leagues in Scotland carrying on, even if the top flight pushes ahead with an early winter break.

The Blue Toon chief feels that, while the latest round of restrictions will have a detrimental impact on clubs further down the pyramid, it is something they can weather.

The First Minister announced on Tuesday that as of Boxing Day, clubs will be see attendances capped at 500 for at least three weeks in a bid to curb the rise of Omicron cases.

The majority of Premiership clubs have been in favour of bringing forward the winter break and rearranging their scheduled fixtures this week, to allow them to be played in front of capacity crowds again.

Morrison, whose side do not have a home game until the derby against Cove Rangers on January 2, hopes his club and others are given the chance to keep playing during the coming weeks.

He said: “At least there is crowds, because I wouldn’t ever want to go back to playing with no crowds again. A crowd of 500 is not ideal, but we can live with that.

“Football survived and has got through everything so far, all the doom and gloom. There’s no doubt we’ll probably get through the next phase.

“I can quite understand it (using the winter break) at the Premiership level, but not at our level. I would rather try to get on with it.

Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison at Balmoor
Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison at Balmoor

“It’s not a big a hit as it could have been. Nowadays at our level, with all the games you have, it’s a real upset if they start closing down.

“Don’t get me wrong, there are several clubs at our level who are proposing that but I think the majority, like myself, just want to get on with it.”

The home games with Cove are normally a bigger earner for Peterhead given the locality of both clubs. There are still finer details clubs need to find out before they start reinforcing measures at their own grounds.

Morrison added: “With hospitality, I think we can get people in as normal even with social-distancing. But it’s too early to know yet.

“It’s going to have an impact on people coming through the gate, without a doubt, because it’s our local derby.

“We will be losing with social-distancing but I’d rather go on with x amount of crowds than no games at all, or cancelling games until this has past.

“We had dismantled all our social distancing measures from the stand, so that’s going to have to go up again before January 2.”