The official EFL rule on spying after serious Southampton, Middlesbrough allegations | OneFootball

The Saints could be in hot water after a member of their staff was caught filming a Middlesbrough training session ahead of their play-off semi-final.

Southampton could be in trouble after a member of their backroom staff was caught outside the Middlesbrough training ground filming. Here's the EFL rule which precludes such behaviour.

Small wonder, that tensions are mounting ahead of the Championship playoff semi-final first leg between Middlesbrough and Southampton on Saturday lunchtime.

There is, after all, a lot at stake. At the end of a gruelling 46-match season, the two clubs are both within reach of a return to the promised land. For Southampton, winning the play-offs would mark a quick return following relegation from the Premier League at the end of 2024-25, while for Middlesbrough it would represent a return to the top-flight for the first time in nine years.

With so much at stake, that the teams involved might look to gain every marginal advantage open to them should be no surprise. But if recent reports are correct, it might be that Southampton have overstepped the mark in terms of their behaviour over trying to eke out those marginal gains.

Southampton could be in breach of EFL rules which prohibit recording opponent training sessions

A report from Sky Sports has confirmed that Middlesbrough have made a formal complaint to the EFL after someone believed to be a staff member from Southampton was reportedly caught trying to record one of the sessions being held at their Rockliffe Park training ground.

This sort of behaviour is explicitly barred under EFL rules. EFL rule 127 - "Prohibited Conduct - Observing Training Sessions" - specifically precludes clubs from seeking to gain access to opposing clubs' training session, stating that: 'Without prejudice to the requirements of Regulation 3.4 (that each Club shall behave towards each other Club with the utmost good faith), no Club shall directly or indirectly observe (or attempt to observe) another Club's training session in the period of 72 hours prior to any match scheduled to be played between those respective Clubs.'

This rule was introduced in 2019 after a Leeds United club representative was caught filming a Derby County training session ahead of a Championship match between the two clubs. Although there was no rule in place at the time specifically prohibiting such behaviour, Leeds were fined £200,000 under Regulation 3.4. Leeds United later apologised for the incident.

The EFL's strict policies over recording opponent training sessions could land Southampton in hot water

As the financial gulf between the Premier League and the Championship has continued to widen, the Championship play-offs have taken on an enormous amount of significance for the clubs lucky enough to be involved in them.

The financial benefits for winning them are potentially transformative for a club. The BBC reported that winning the Championship play-off final is worth a minimum of £200 million, an amount which dwarfs the revenues that a typical Championship club would make over the course of a season.

On top of that, this is an era of marginal gains on the pitch. The Championship was a tight division for much of the season, with just four points separating second-placed Ipswich Town from fifth-placed Middlesbrough. In an era when there often seems to be little between teams on the pitch, knowing, for example, what set-piece plays your opponents will be trying could be a crucial advantage over a two-legged tie.

The incident between Leeds United and Derby County in 2019 - which became known as 'Spygate' - was great box office for onlookers, but extremely embarrassing for the EFL itself, as could be seen in them sanctioning Leeds with a big fine and then introducing a specific rule to tackle that had happened.

And there is a warning for both Southampton and Middlesbrough in the coda to this story; neither Leeds nor Derby won promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2018-19 season, with Aston Villa securing a return to the Premier League after beating Derby 2-1 in the play-off final at Wembley.

With this match already likely to be a tense encounter on account of what everybody already knows to be at stake, Southampton could find themselves in hot water, should it be found that they have been flouting this particular rule.