Rangers fail in appeal over Covid-19 rule-breakers

Rangers have failed in their appeal against bans imposed on five players who broke Covid-19 regulations, with a disciplinary panel upholding the original six-game suspensions.

First-team trio Bongani Zungu, Nathan Patterson and Calvin Bassey, plus academy youngsters Brian Kinnear and Dapo Mebude, who is on loan at Queen of the South, were all charged with flouting lockdown regulations in February.

An independent disciplinary panel handed down six-game bans for each player, with four games to be served immediately and two matches suspended.

Rangers filed an appeal that was heard by a new panel. The governing body announced on Thursday that the appeals had been dismissed and the original sanctions re-imposed.

A brief statement on the Rangers website read: “Rangers notes the outcome of today’s appeal.

“We remain disappointed in the result. Furthermore, we believe this outcome highlights the inconsistency of decision making in the Scottish FA’s disciplinary process.

“We are cognisant that the approach taken by other football associations across Europe has no resemblance to that of the Scottish FA. We urge the Scottish FA to be open minded to learn from other football authorities.”

Rangers accepted seven-game bans handed to attacker Jordan Jones and defender George Edmundson by the SFA for Covid-19 related breaches last year but manager Steven Gerrard insisted that the details of the two cases were different.

Speaking as Rangers confirmed they would appeal the punishment, the Ibrox manager said: “I think everyone assumes because of what happened to Jordan Jones and George Edmundson that everything is the same, which isn’t the case.

“We think it’s a little bit out of sync in terms of what went on.

“We don’t think everything is being taken into consideration, when you’re talking about the boys in terms of of their age and how damaging it can be for them in their careers moving forward now.

“You’re talking about one of the brightest prospects ever, in terms of right-back. This kid’s going to play for Scotland and all of a sudden the SFA want to ban him for that long. I don’t get it but we’ll see what happens moving forward.”

Rangers, who have won their first Scottish Premiership title in ten years, have three league fixtures remaining, and play in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals against St Johnstone this weekend.