Dominoes pub team used underhand tactics, league alleges as they ban former champions

• Dominoes team accused of cheating thrown out of pub league

• Decision could put pub at risk of closure, claims Wig and Pen landlady

The Wig and Pen pub in Paisley were exiled from the Paisley and District Dominoes League after rivals said the team had hidden - or ‘palmed’ - dominoes during a game.

The team have denied the allegations, made during a game last season, saying the claims were never proven.

And when a new team was formed by Wig and Pen punters not involved in the team during the time of the allegations, they were turned back by the league.

Jim O’Donnell, one of the ousted Wig and Pen players, said: “I’ve been playing the game for almost 30 years and this is the most shocking decision I’ve ever heard.

“It all started during a game last season when an opposition player accused one of our players of ‘palming’ a domino. Basically, that means hiding one of the dominoes, which is against the rules.

“We have always denied that happened and it was one player’s word against the other’s, but the league committee took the decision to boot us out.

“There wasn’t a lot we could do about it so the players who were banned - including guys who weren’t even at the game when the alleged cheating took place - stepped aside to allow a new team to be formed because we’d been told it was the players who were banned, not the pub.

“However, when a couple of members of staff went along to a meeting to register for a new season, they were told the league was full and there would be no place for the Wig and Pen.

The decision to throw out the team could lead to the closure of the pub, according to owner Marie Convery.

“The Wig and Pen is a dominoes pub. My regulars come here to practice and, on Tuesday nights, we have our games here,” Ms Convery said.

“It’s the lifeblood of the pub. Without dominoes, the number of customers through the doors is going to fall and that will have serious implications for us, especially in this financial climate, when pubs all over the town are having to close their doors.

“I was promised that, even if the squad of players from last season weren’t allowed to play next season, the pub itself wouldn’t be banned from the league.

“Now, after taking the time to start a new team of players, we’re suddenly being told there’s no space for the Wig and Pen.

“Last year, we won every cup going and the year before we won the league. We have a great bunch of players who were being punished unfairly and now the pub is being punished too. I’d like to know the reason why, it’s a disgrace.”

Meanwhile, 50-year-old Thomas Tutty, another Wig and Pen player, added: “It was sickening to be told that we couldn’t play dominoes in the first place, but now to be told the pub has been removed from the league is shocking.

“There’s nowhere in the rule book that states a pub should be banned if a player is caught cheating, never mind a pub being kicked out because of one claim of one player cheating.”