The Press Association is to extend a football statistics service to include the Scottish Football League.

Freelance writers are being told today they will no longer be required - as of the second of next month - to provide statistics from SFL games they attend, with former players instead being asked to provide much more detailed statistical information than hitherto for the likes of Sky Sport and the BBC.

For some years, former players have been providing continuous statistics commentary - on open phone lines to copytakers - from matches in the English Premiership, the English Football League and the Scottish Premier League.

It is understood the SFL is revamping its website to include the extended statistical information that will be coming from former players such as Gary Locke (ex Hearts and Kilmarnock), Nathan Lowndes (ex Livingston), Duncan Shearer (ex Aberdeen), Warren Hawke (ex Greenock Morton) and Alan Mahood (ex Greenock Morton and Kilmarnock).