Catalan clubs like Barcelona will not be allowed to play in La Liga if Catalonia goes ahead with its independence process, league President Javier Tebas said. A referendum planned for Oct. 1 "could see the region in northeastern Spain unilaterally break away from the rest of the country." Tebas said that a deal to keep Barcelona, Espanyol and Girona in La Liga "would not be as simple as most people may think," and the clubs would be stuck playing in a Catalan league which he believes "wouldn't be much better than the Dutch league or something like that" (AP, 9/8).
League Championship side Hull City breached Premier League ticketing rules last season "by not offering concessionary prices to children and senior citizens in certain parts of the KCOM Stadium." The Premier League charged the club, and an independent commission was set up to consider the case. The commission's verdict, announced on Friday, was that Hull was "in breach of rule R.8 and must comply with it" if the club is promoted to the Premier League in the next five years (PA, 9/8).
All first-team players and management staff at Scottish Premiership side Motherwell "joined the Well Society," the supporters' group that runs the club. The fans' body took over the majority shareholding at Fir Park last October. Players and coaches have all signed up to "help fund the Well Society with monthly contributions" (BBC, 9/8).
The FA is launching an investigation after a section of Chelsea supporters chanted an anti-Semitic song about record signing Álvaro Morata. Though Chelsea and Morata "swiftly condemned the chants," the FA will contact the club on Monday in a bid to identify the individuals. The offensive chant, in reference to Chelsea's rivalry with Tottenham Hotspur, was "frequently heard during the game" (London TELEGRAPH, 9/10).
