Dumbarton manager Jim Duffy has admitted that the Scottish Football Association’s decision to suspend all professional and grassroots footballs will have a huge impact on a number of clubs and has urged the governing body to let clubs know where they stand.

The Sons boss categorically agreed with the decision that comes after the the country enters the ‘delay’ phase of the worldwide pandemic.

Duffy added that the health of the public should always come ahead of sport, and that the never seen before state of affairs amid coronavirus fears comes as a new challenge to him in his management career.

“You can’t take risks when it comes to people’s health because of football,” Duffy said.

“Football is a sport and we all love it, but far too many times it’s been put in a higher pedestal than it should be.

“When it comes to the health of the public, then anything that can protect people has to be prioritised.

“If the governments and governing bodies and experts think that this is something that has to be done then you have to respect that.

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“We are in the same boat as everyone else and had heard the announcement from the First Minister that they would be looking at it [events of over 500 people to be cancelled] from Monday so I presumed the games would go ahead at the weekend.

“Initially we thought we would have closed door games but it was definitely going to come into play somewhere along the line and obviously that has been accelerated.

“Most of our income is done on a week-to-week basis so it could have a huge impact on the club in that perspective.

“We don’t have an individual or wealthy benefactor who could maybe help out in a short to medium term, and that’s the same for most clubs.

“It’s for the board to look at and they’ll be scratching their heads, the same as everyone else is.

“Even if you miss two or three games due to bad weather, that impacts clubs, so to have no games for an indefinite period is going to stretch the resources. This could have a huge impact on a lot of clubs.

“The next thing that the governing body needs to do is take their time, but come to a decision so that people know where we stand.

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“There’s talk about the impact on services, so that they could play closed door games and spread them over days and have three or four on one day and three or four the next and so on.

“I don’t know if all these things are even possible but eventually they will need to come up with a definitive answer.

“As a manager and a coach, I need to find out how we can possibly keep players ticking over, and also healthy and safe, because if one player feels unwell you will need to keep them away from the club.”

Dumbarton’s training base at junior club Benburb’s New Tinto Park in Govan is currently closed as Scottish football continues its indefinite suspension for the foreseeable future following the SFA and SPFL’s decision on Friday afternoon.

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