One of last season’s talking points in the Scottish game was fan misbehaviour, with objects being thrown, pitch invasions taking place, and pyrotechnics used at matches.
Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo had a bottle thrown at him in an Old Firm derby at Ibrox, while former Aberdeen defender Jack MacKenzie was struck by a chair after Aberdeen played Dundee United at Tannadice.
Beattie stressed he hopes to see “a reduction in these incidents” and cited examples of how the criminal justice system was intervening and said the league is committed to trying to address the issue.
However, he hinted that imposing points deductions on clubs for the misbehaviour of their supporters was unlikely.
“A points deduction is a possibility under any SPFL complaint that is taken against a club,” he said.
“We don’t like to run towards points deductions for obvious reasons.
“We want football to be played out on the pitch and for competition integrity, we want it determined on the pitch.
“Our position on that for many years has been we believe in individual responsibility. That does not mean that clubs cannot be sanctioned for issues with their supporters but they’ve got to do everything reasonable practicable to address it.
“We know how challenging it is for clubs. These are societal issues. We’re not alone in having to address these issues. The clubs aren’t alone. They are doing their utmost to address these issues but we’re still having to deal with them.
“We don’t think it’s right to then leave the clubs themselves and say: ‘If you don’t deal with this, if you cannot address this issue, you’re going to get a points deduction.’ We don’t think that’s proportionate.”
