FM urges football to ensure 'house is in order' amid Rangers probe over party

Scotland's first minister has urged football to "make sure your house is in order" as Rangers launch an internal investigation after a weekend party was broken up by police.

Covid-19 lockdown restrictions mean no indoor mixing of households is allowed in Scotland under normal circumstances.

Rangers said they were "aware of an alleged incident" and would make "no further comment" as they investigate.

Nicola Sturgeon said breaches were "really unfair" to "the vast majority".

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A Police Scotland spokesman said on Sunday: "We received a report of a gathering at a property in Hayburn Lane, Glasgow, around 1.10am on Sunday, 14 February.

"Officers attended and those in attendance left. Ten people were issued with fixed penalty notices for breaching coronavirus regulations."

It is not clear if any Rangers players were at the party or whether any were among those issued with fines.

The first minister said she did not have all the information concerning the Rangers investigation but said: "I don't care what club it is that's breaching the rules, if you're breaching the rules you're in the wrong. It is really frustrating.

"It's really unfair to the vast majority of people in the country who don't have the privileges that elite sportspeople have right now. The vast majority are not [breaking rules] but when a small number do then people think, 'why am I bothering?'

"Can I say to football and sport, generally, please make sure your house is in order because it shouldn't take me standing here to say to highly paid footballers that you've got to obey the rules."

Rangers' investigation comes two months after Jordan Jones and George Edmundson were handed two-week club suspensions for breaching Covid protocols by attending an illegal house party.

Northern Ireland winger Jones and English defender Edmundson were subsequently handed seven-match bans by the Scottish FA and both moved on loan to English clubs in January, Jones to Sunderland and Edmundson to Derby County.