Integrity is no substitute for common sense

Did you know that in Switzerland it is illegal to flush the toilet after 10 PM? Or that in Thailand, it is illegal to leave your house without wearing underwear? In Los Angeles, a man can legally beat his wife with a leather belt or strap, but the belt can't be wider than 2 inches, unless he has his wife's consent to beat her with a wider strap.

And in Scotland, failing to check the paperwork prior to a Scottish Cup game can have you expelled from the competition. Crazy.

When Dunfermline defender Calum Woods took to the field shortly after half-time during the Scottish Cup Fourth-round tie last Saturday with his side leading Second Division side Stenhousemuir 4-0, he probably didn't think there would be much chance of an upset. Simply hold the line, make sure they don't score and everything will be alright.

After all, the opposition on the night should not have caused too many headaches. Stennie are currently 7th in the table, their season taking a bit of a turn for the worse following their promotion via the play-offs last season: third in the table in the middle of September, but propping up the table barely a month later. Unlikely to make back-to-back promotions, their season pretty much follows the pattern for most Scottish lower league sides, namely survival.

Their 5-0 win over Highland League Champions Cove Rangers set up the potentially lucrative fixture against First division side Dunfermline, with the possibility of an even more financially rewarding game against Celtic beyond that.

It was not to be though, as second half goals from Steven McDougall and two more goals through Andy Kirk and Joe Cardle killed the tie. A Kevin Bradley consolation goal did nothing but restore some pride, with the final score 7-1 to Dunfermline. The Pars could now look forward to a meeting with Celtic - assuming they can get past Morton on January 19th, that is.

But while the fans adjourned to the pubs to celebrate and the Stenhousemuir players trudged back home, doubts where being cast over the game.

It turns out that Calum Woods, a product of the Liverpool youth academy was not eligible to play, having been banned from Cup games following last season's semi-final against Falkirk.

Dunfermline should have been aware of this. According to the SFA, the club received "26 issues" of the official suspension list sent to every team prior to kick-off, a list which should have warned the club that Woods was not eligible to play.

As it turns out, the club where guilty of further transgressions, namely that they failed to submit a team sheet that included the mandatory two under-21 players; they failed to specify the ages of the players on the team-sheet; and tried to change the number of substitutes before the start of the game, which, according to the rules, is not allowed either.

As the SFA put it in the explanation of their decision, Dunfermline where ejected for:

* Playing a suspended player, Calum Woods.
* Submitting an inaccurate team line.
* Altering a named substitute (Paul Willis in place of Graeme Holmes).
* Not registering two outfield under-21 players.

There are the facts. Those are the rules.

While there is no getting away from the fact that the backroom staff at Dunfermline made a series of stupid errors, to expel a club from a competition for an administrative error following a game which they won 7-1 is just plain lunacy. SFA Chief Exec Gordon Smith maintains the decision was correct, made to maintain the "integrity of the Active Nation Scottish Cup".

The integrity may be at stake, but whatever happened to common sense?

There is a precedent for this of course. In 2008, Brechin where expelled from the competition for the same reason, but only after it was discovered that Brechin had fielded not one, but two ineligible players in their Cup game against Hamilton. In that game, the scores where considerably closer and the game much tighter for those two players to have made a material difference to the course and outcome of the game - the first game had been drawn 0-0, but Second Division Brechin battled to an extra-time 2-1 win over the First Division leaders in the replay at Glebe Park.

In Brechins case, the SFA ordered a replay and fined Brechin £10,000 for the errors, and only threw them out after the club owned up to not only having the ineligible Willy Dyer on the field (who had just signed from St Johnstone), but to also having fielded a second ineligible player, Michael Paton, who, at the time, was on loan from Aberdeen.

In Dunfermline's case, Calum Woods' appearance made no difference to the game as far as Stenhousemuir where concerned, and even the three goals scored following his coming on made no difference as the tie was not being played over two legs. In the end, Paul Willis was an unused substitute.

As a result of this decision Dunfermline stand to lose up to £250,000 (depending which newspaper you read) in potential revenue should they face Celtic in the next round. That money will no doubt be welcomed at Stenhousemuir, but this is not about money, or even integrity; it's about common sense.

The fair decision - following the SFA's own precedent - would be to have Dunfermline fined, and then forced to play the game over. There's little doubt the name of the team that will face Celtic (sorry Morton fans) will change, but at least you're not punishing the players or the supporters for the oversight of the clubs inability to read their mail.

Let common sense prevail.