Petition hopes to prompt the SFA to take an "objective look" at HFL season 92-93

As support grows for a petition, hoping to reinstate Elgin City as Highland League Champions from season 1992-93, its organiser says it’s far more than settling a footballing squabble which has lingered on from 25 years ago.

Alex Schweitzer-Thompson who is behind the campaign said: "It matters to the players and fans significantly, especially given the embarrassment of having the league title stripped from them, but this campaign is to reward the players for their efforts over that season, they were a great team"

MFR News has heard from a former HFL official who said that the case wasn’t open to debate and that Elgin City had fielded two ineligible players in a 6-0 win at Mosset Park, Forres.

However Alex believes there is a precedent set by other instances of fixture re-jigging in the Highland League – as was the case in the title winning match which sealed the title on a Friday night.

"I have done a fair bit of research into the case and there have been several instances of Highland League teams re-arranging fixtures in order to allow players to play"

"Some of these were flagged up, and some flew under the radar, but there's no example of such a stringent and severe punishment being meted out by Highland League officials following someone moving a game"

Digging deeper beneath the Elgin City side of 92-93, was another factor key in determining the Black & White’s fate when it came to any disciplinary measures? Alex believes that a big part was Elgin City’s player-manager John Teasdale.

"If it was personal - that makes a mockery of the whole decision" - Alex Schweitzer-Thompson on the part played by John Teasdale.

"From his reputation, and he's very well-remembered from the time, Teasdale’s quite a divisive character. He shot from the hip and said what he felt, when he took over at Elgin he said he'd win the league, and that's what he did"

"The players won the league fair-and-square, it's been acknowledged by players and representatives both of Elgin City - and other clubs - who cannot fathom why the penalty was as strict as it was"

"It appears as though there was something more than rules and punishments involved here and personalities came into play here - that just shouldn't be the case in a disciplinary hearing"

"He (Teasdale) had built a very successful team and obviously that was to the detriment of many other clubs. I don't believe the Highland League was ready for someone of his personality and perhaps charisma - although other people may word that differently(!)"

"He rubbed people up the wrong-way with what he said and did and gained a lot of enemies. It's still a contention today that the vote to strip Elgin of the title was held among representatives who had made it a personal decision (against Teasdale)"

But from the profile of the Highland Football League, Alex believes that certain individuals shouldn’t have let the figurehead – ie. Teasdale - be the motivation for punishing the entire Elgin squad, as Alex said: "If it was personal - that makes a mockery of the whole decision"

So far the petition has almost 500 signatures, but Alex believes there are many followers of football outside of the North and North East who only now are discovering about this story. Pre-internet Alex feels it was an incident which mainly touched the Highlands and had little lasting impact elsewhere.

Alex said: "We're generating a lot of debate and discussion (outside of north football) - forums online like 'Pie n Bovril' - from people who have never heard of the story of season 1992-93. As the Scottish FA ratified the decision it would perhaps be the hope to go to Hampden with the petition to get them to consider the debate"

"They could perhaps take a more objective look at the case as a whole"

"Obviously a lot of people in north football will have their own allegiances, but I'd like them to consider that 25 years on, the Elgin City players deserve their medals back, after a punishment which was very excessive"

So what if – and it’s a big if – the title is RE-awarded to Elgin City, what would Alex ideally like to see? A flag day on the first day of the season? An open top bus? The players paraded on the Borough Briggs pitch?

Alex said: "I don't think it needs to be a big affair, the players of that era would merely like their medals back, and they'd take great satisfaction for that. They themselves felt they'd done no wrong and won the league fairly-and-squarely"

"A retrospective three points docked - or even a penalty of £300 as used to be the case for similar offences - who knows, but it would merely be a token gesture from the Highland League. The medals going back to the players would be the most significant factor in all of this"