Highland League calls a halt to season and awards title to leaders Brora Rangers

Member clubs welcome ‘unanimous’ decision as the rest of Scottish football watches on

Brora Rangers fans will be celebrating again after they were awarded the title on the back of their 13-point lead at the top of the Highland League. Picture: Rob Casey/SNS

Brora Rangers have been declared Highland League champions after member clubs “unanimously” agreed to call a premature halt to the 2019/20 season.

Scottish football at all levels was suspended until at least the end of April earlier this month as a result of the coronavirus crisis and there has been much speculation about how the authorities in this country will proceed if the shutdown remains in place for several weeks.

Uefa has said it hopes domestic leagues across Europe can conclude their campaigns later in the year and has already agreed to move the 
Euro 2020 finals to the summer of 2021 to accommodate the backlog.

However, the Highland League has set an intriguing precedent by awarding its title to Brora. The Sutherland club, who won their last 15 league games in a row, were runaway leaders at the top of the table, sitting 13 points clear of second-placed Inverurie Loco Works with six games remaining.

A league management committee meeting was held in Lossiemouth yesterday, when member clubs decided to end the campaign with immediate effect and award the title to Brora. Highland League president Raymond Cardno later revealed the decision was unanimous.

“That is one of the nice things – the whole Highland League came together as one body. It was absolutely unanimous,” he said. “Brora had a comfortable lead at the top of the table, which made things easier. They have been the best team.”

Under normal circumstances, Brora’s title success should mean that the Dudgeon Park side now progress to a two-legged match against the winners of the Lowland League as part of the Pyramid Play-off process. The winners of that match should then face off against the team that finish bottom of League Two – currently Brechin City – to determine who starts next season in the SPFL.

However, among the many options that have been put forward in trying to decide how Scottish football negotiates the coronavirus outbreak, league reconstruction has been mooted, and so it remains to be seen whether the Pyramid Play-off goes ahead as planned.

Cardno added: “Hopefully there will be play-offs for Brora to move into Scottish league and we are going to press for that. Both Highland League and Lowland League clubs started the season with winning the league and progressing up the pyramid in mind. We are hoping there will still be that opportunity.”

Scottish football supporters will now watch with interest to see whether the SPFL and Lowland League decide to follow suit and award titles based on current standings if the season cannot be concluded. Celtic (Premiership), Dundee United (Championship), Raith Rovers (League One), Cove Rangers (League Two) and Kelty Hearts (Lowland League) top their respective divisions as things stand.

In announcing the decision to finish the league season, the Highland League also revealed that the latter stages of the Utilita Highland Cup (which is at the semi-final stage) will be held over and played in the early part of next season.

A statement on the league’s website said: “The Highland League now goes into a form of hibernation until such time as football resumes after the Covid-19 pandemic passes. At that time, the possibilities for creating meaningful competitions in season 2020/21 will be considered and that, in turn, will depend on when resumption takes place.

“In such a difficult time for all, the meeting was clear in its view that issues much more important than football currently predominate, with health and livelihoods being far more significant.”

Brora Rangers manager Steven Mackay said that, while he would rather his team had been able to complete the entire league season, he was in no doubt that his players deserved the title. “Our objective at the start of the season was to finish the league as champions and the boys have done that, therefore I am incredibly proud of them and their achievements,” he explained.

“We would, of course have wanted to win the league by completing all of our fixtures but that has not been possible. The Highland League board and clubs deserve huge credit for making a correct and fair decision.

“I don’t think anyone could deny that my players have been the most consistent this season and deserve to be crowned as champions, although we had some tough competition from other clubs.”