“Spygate” isn’t just an American football term anymore.
Ripped from the headlines of the Bill Belichick-era Patriots, English football is now facing a scandal that could have even greater significance than its North American counterpart.
EFL Championship side Middlesbrough has alleged that a member of the Southampton staff spied on a training session last week, a mere 48 hours before the two sides met in the first leg of the Championship playoff semifinal.
Now, photos emerged on Wednesday showing a man, identified as William Salt, appearing to record a session from behind a tree.
Multiple outlets published the photo on Wednesday of the man observing practice at Rockliffe Park training ground – where Middlesbrough’s team facility is – and Boro is calling for the greatest sporting sanction possible to be handed down on Southampton.
Southampton is being accused of violating Rule 3.4 and Rule 127 of the EFL rulebook. The former deals with clubs dealing with one another “in good faith” and the latter explicitly says that teams cannot observe or attempt to observe another’s training within 72 hours of a match.
The English Football League’s independent disciplinary commission is investigating the situation.
The body is able to hand down any punishment it sees fit, ranging from completely dismissing the charges to a fine to a sporting sanction – which could include kicking Southampton out of the play-off and losing its chance of promotion to the Premier League, Sky Sports reported.
The outlet also reported that the key points the commission is looking at is whether there is enough evidence to back up the claim against Southampton, and whether what they did is enough to warrant a significant sporting sanction.
Southampton had secured its place in the playoff final on May 23 thanks to a 2-1 win in extra time over Middlesbrough.
There is a sense of urgency by the commission to hand down a ruling on the situation because of circumstances and the clubs needing to know who will be playing in the final.
The spy was first noticed by officials of Middlesbrough and eventually went to confront the individual, according to Sky Sports.
It was then that the person packed up and quickly fled to a nearby golf club, changed his clothes and appearance in a restroom and then left out a separate door near the dining area to head toward the course.
The alleged spy made his way to the first tee box and then left through private property toward the nearby town.
The Athletic reported that Middlesbrough is in the process of gathering evidence and obtained a statement from a former Southampton staffer about the club’s practice of “spying” on opposing clubs before matches.
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