Cup Appeal Lodged

Dunfermline Athletic have officially appealed their expulsion from the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

Dunfermline Athletic have officially appealed their expulsion from the Active Nation Scottish Cup. Within the next seven days a three person independent panel will hear their case.

Following a meeting of the Emergency Committee at Hampden Park, Dunfermline Athletic Football Club were expelled from the Active Nation Scottish Cup in respect of a number of breaches of the Cup Competition rules.

The breaches of the Cup Competition rules were as follows:

? Playing a suspended player, Calum Woods
? Submitting an inaccurate team line
? Altering a named substitute
? Not registering two outfield under-21 players

In addition to the above breaches, Dunfermline Athletic also admitted liability in failing to acknowledge the suspension of the aforementioned player, despite receiving 26 issues of the suspension list, in addition to the normal method of notification.

Subject to this appeal, Stenhousemuir FC will take the place of Dunfermline Athletic for the fifth round of the competition, where they will play either Greenock Morton or Celtic on the weekend of February 6.

Gordon Smith, Chief Executive of the Scottish FA, commented: "While it is unfortunate that Dunfermline Athletic will no longer be participating in the Active Nation Scottish Cup, the Emergency Committee were left with no alternative after it emerged the club had breached several of the Cup Competition rules.

"The integrity of the Active Nation Scottish Cup was paramount in the decision making process."

Owing to the appeals process, there will be no further comment at this stage from the Scottish FA.