Hibs' new home shirt bears message "Thank you NHS" as club hopes to raise six-figure donation for charities
Thursday 23 April 2020 13:18, UK
Hibernian chief executive Leeann Dempster says Scottish clubs must “heal the divisions” caused by the SPFL’s controversial resolution to end the season in the lower leagues.
Scottish football's governing body confirmed last week, via a vote from member clubs, the Championship, League One and League Two seasons have concluded and 2019/20 promotions and relegations would be decided on a points-per-game basis.
They left open the possibility of a return for the Scottish Premiership to try and finish off the campaign at some point, while confirming that would not be allowed until June 10 at the very earliest.
A number of clubs, including Hearts and Rangers have been highly critical of the SPFL board for its conduct of the ballot on its proposals.
Earlier this week, Dempster decided not to be part of the SPFL task force designed to look into the future of Scottish football when all divisions return to action in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
She will instead focus on being part of a series of SPFL committees, announced on Monday, who will deal with the potential return of Premiership football later in the summer.
Dempster told Sky Sports News: "There's clearly been disagreements because there is a lot of emotion in football.
"In some way, we need to try and heal the divisions and move on from that.
"We need to come to a decision of whether we can complete this league or not and then collectively we need to look at what next season looks like.
"We need to learn from our colleagues in Germany and other leagues that are trying to complete.
"If we don't work together, then there will be clubs all over the country that unfortunately won't exist and we don't want that to happen."
Explaining her decision to withdraw from the SPFL's Reconstruction Group, Dempster added: "I felt that there was great representation with that task force and the thing that I can help with is working towards solutions that allow us to resume football.
"I decided my efforts and my time were best spent there."
Hibernian revealed their new home shirt for next season on Thursday, which includes the words "Thank You NHS" on the front.
The club will also be working in partnership with NHS Lothian and the Hibernian Community Foundation and the first home game of the new season will be "Thank You NHS Day", with hundreds of NHS staff invited as guests.
Hibernian supporters will be asked to pay £5 for the special shirts with all profits being donated to our local NHS charity, Edinburgh & Lothians Health Foundation.
The club hopes to make a six-figure donation to the NHS charity by the end of the season and is donating a minimum of 100 tickets to NHS staff for all of our home matches.
In a statement Hibernian chairman Ronald Gordon said: "In sport we celebrate our heroes and our stars. The NHS have shown they are our true heroes and our stars.
"They have valiantly cared for and nurtured us through the most difficult and challenging health crisis of our lives.
"Their efforts on behalf of all of us, which still continue today, have been magnificent and Hibernian wants to say thank you and celebrate them in the most meaningful way that we can."
