The Scottish FA have been halted from taking the SPFL's sponsorship row with Rangers to arbitration via a court interdict brought by the company owned by club chairman Douglas Park.

The SPFL had asked the SFA to facilitate arbitration, warning the dispute could prevent prize money payments from the £8m five-year deal with motor trade company cinch.

Rangers insist their refusal to promote cinch is covered by a rule concerning the breach of a prior contractual obligation with Park's of Hamilton.

The Court of Session ruling means that Park's of Hamilton, who are also a motor company, can take part in the arbitration process as an interested party, which had previously not been the case.

A spokesman for the group, for whom Rangers board member Graeme Park is also a director, said: "We can confirm that Park's of Hamilton Holdings Ltd has today been successfully granted an interim interdict at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, to prevent the SFA from proceeding with its arbitration process in relation to the sponsorship of the SPFL.

"For the purposes of Park's interim interdict application, the court considered that the failure to include Park's went against the SFA's own rules. This ruling now prevents the SFA from proceeding with an arbitration process without Park's of Hamilton being involved."

The SPFL had written to clubs, describing the stand-off as a "real and substantial commercial risk".

The letter said the SPFL board, on which Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson sits, had been trying to settle "this very serious impasse" to no avail.

It also states that Rangers have not provided the SPFL board with "sight of any pre-existing third-party contract" that would represent a conflict of commercial interest.

"Today's court ruling once again underlines ongoing concerns regarding the corporate governance and leadership of the SPFL," said a Rangers statement.

"These concerns are shared by many of the SPFL's member clubs. We have complied with the SPFL's own rules but today's court hearing was one that could easily have been avoided if those responsible had adopted a more consensual and less confrontational approach.

"The executive of the SPFL required to carry out effective due diligence before entering into its contract with the new league sponsor. Instead, an inadequate and antagonistic approach appears to have been adopted; one that it is hard to imagine is in the best interests of the SPFL's member clubs."

Scotland's leagues had been without a title sponsor last season after the previous deal with bookmaker Ladbrokes ended.

The SPFL declined to comment when approached by BBC Scotland.
'Someone is going to be embarrassed'

BBC Sport Scotland's chief football writer Tom English

The Rangers chairman Doulas Park, on behalf of the Park's Motor Group, took out an interdict in the Court of Session to object to his exclusion from the arbitration process between the SFA and Cinch, Rangers and the whole farrago. He's won that. So he will now be included as an interested party in this arbitration when it happens. I suspect it will now be delayed because the SFA have lost in the Court of Session in front of a judge. And it's a bit of a bloody nose for the SFA.

Rangers believe they gave the SPFL due notice that they couldn't honour the Cinch deal because they had an existing commercial arrangement with the Park's Motor Group which gave them exclusivity inside Ibrox, so they could not have Cinch branding otherwise they would be in contravention of that commercial deal with Park's. They said they told that to the SPFL, to Neil Doncaster, but that the deal went ahead anyway.

It's about that contract Rangers have with the Park's Hamilton group. What's in it? Rangers are utterly convinced after checking it with lawyer after lawyer that they are in the right. The SPFL are convinced that they are in the right. So somebody is wrong and somebody is going to be embarrassed by this.

I think the bigger picture is its Rangers and the governance of the SPFL, and the Cinch thing is the vehicle that might - in Rangers view - possibly remove SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster. Neil Doncaster is very sure of his ground, so something is going to give.