Bobby Madden has refused to deny that he is a former Rangers season ticket holder.
The East Kilbride based referee will take charge of the Celtic v Aberdeen Scottish Cup Final at Hampden tomorrow and met the media to highlight his personal side.
Since he started being put in charge of top flight fixtures there has been a string of online claims that Madden was a Rangers season ticket holder and also a member of an East Kilbride based Rangers Supporters Club.
Unlike in England the SFA don’t ask referees to nominate clubs that they have supported or have an association with.
Taking that step would instantly take away suspicions about referees favouring one club or disliking a rival team.
During his interview Madden was happy to deny other social media rumours but made no mention of his days as a supporter before refereeing dominated his football activities.
“It’s frustrating because unfortunately with social media one person says something and it becomes true,” he told The Scotsman. “I don’t use it. Some of my friends will occasionally take a screen shot and forward it to me, if it’s funny. [One was] ‘He must not have had a hood on his pram’. I liked that, but some of the comments there are frustrating but what can you do?
“Someone says something and it’s accepted as the truth and someone retweets it and it serves as an endorsement. It’s frightening. I keep away from it. Some of my friends keep me abreast but some of the comments there are not even worth discussing, casting aspersions about your family and… better not to talk about it because some of these things are so factually incorrect. I tell my friends not to get involved, not to go in and try and correct it because they will only turn on you.
“Amazingly, they’ve said I have a son – I don’t have a son; that my dad was at a game – well, my dad has actually passed away. If someone corrects that, other abuse comes their way and that’s frightening. I’m a referee, I’m there to do a job and officiate and unfortunately social media supports this type of mentality, not just for referees but players too.
“It’s there and there are a lot of positives but unfortunately there are negatives, too.”
Having declined the opportunity to set the record straight about his football supporter days it’s likely that further claims will appear about Madden.
