TELEVISION and football chiefs have launched a crackdown on hundreds of Scottish pubs and clubs who draw in huge crowds by showing major games without paying a penny to the broadcasters.
A joint investigation involving Sky TV, Setanta, the English premiership and the SPL, whose games are only shown on Setanta, has already exposed 180 venues north of the Border that are showing matches while dodging fees of up to £15,000 a year. Inves
tigators estimate that around 40% of pubs and clubs that show live games are breaking the law, costing Sky, Setanta and the football authorities at least £3m a year in lost revenue. Law breakers were last night warned to stop or face the prospect of legal action.
The latest deal with the English premiership cost Sky and Setanta £1.7bn, and the money is seen as vital for the grassroots game across the UK. But bars have easily got round the copyright laws by using domestic set-top boxes, foreign satellite channels and even getting games over the internet.
Takings on a big football Saturday for a typical pub on the outskirts of Glasgow are likely to hit around £6,000 if the match is being shown live. On a normal Saturday, without football, that could drop to just £2,500. Most venues can expect takings to be boosted by at least 75% by televised football.
Last week, representatives of the SPL and premiership met with the Scottish Licensed Trade Association to discuss the extent of the problem and how to crack down on it.
Since the start of the season in August, Sky representatives have visited 450 pubs from Aberdeen to Lanarkshire, and Inverness to Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is estimated that by next May around 2,000 bars will have been checked out by the 'spotters'.
According to one Sky source, a "significant number" of those premises were found to be flouting the rules.
Those offenders will be revisited and warned to become legal. Otherwise they will face the threat of legal action and an order for substantial costs.
South of the Border, the crackdown has already roped in one high-profile landlord earlier this month. John Morrey, the uncle of England footballer Wayne Rooney, was fined £4,000 for showing Sky Sports matches illegally at his Liverpool pub.
Greig Mailer, a spokesman for the SPL, said the clampdown was vital to guarantee the future of the domestic game in Scotland. He added: "We have to protect participation in our national game, whether that be playing, coaching or watching.
"And on a Saturday afternoon we have established a 'closed window', where live games are not broadcast in order to do this. We are working very closely with the English premiership to work out how best to tackle this problem.
"We have worked on this issue of illegal reception in pubs and clubs for some time, and we have people out and about every week, monitoring pubs and collecting information.
"Already we have had a number of civil actions and have had interdicts issued against several premises." Earlier this month, an interim interdict was issued against the licensee of one Scottish pub to prevent her from showing games illegally.
Justine Thomson, who runs The Mallard in Perth, had been showing football broadcast by Doha-based channel al-Jazeera before being caught. Lord Glennie, sitting at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, agreed to an SPL request for the order.
A spokesman for the the SPL said: "The owners of The Mallard, as well as any other pubs that are illegally showing football matches, are in violation of the law and damaging the League itself.
"It is our intention to seek costs and an account of profits following this decision. We will take action wherever necessary to combat copyright theft."
Dennis O'Keefe, from McPhabbs bar in Glasgow's west end, pays around £13,500 every year to broadcast top English and Scottish games.
He said: "It is a lot to pay, especially as it is just for an eight-month contract, but our customers want to watch the best matches in our pub. We show the Scottish, English and Spanish football, as well as the international games and all other types of sport, and it does prove very popular."
