Controversial Tory MP Douglas Ross will be an assistant referee at Celtic’s SPFL clash with St Johnstone tomorrow.
The MP for Moray has been in the headlines after revealing that if he was Prime Minister for a day his first task would be: ‘Tougher enforcement against Gypsies and Travellers’.
With Food Banks across the country, three major terrorism incidents in a year, a crisis in hundreds of multi-storey homes and Brexit concerns Ross’s priority of dealing with Travellers has attracted criticism.
Naomi McAuliffe, Scottish programme director of rights group Amnesty International said: “Douglas Ross said his aim as an MP was to ensure ‘as good a deal as possible for the people of Moray’ – we really should not have to remind him that Scottish Gypsy Travellers living his constituency also deserve representation and respect.”
Ross will be an assistant to Willie Collum who will be taking charge of his first Celtic match of the season.
On Tuesday night the Lanarkshire based referee was the man in the middle for Sevilla’s Champions League qualifier against Istanbul Basaksehir.
With his political career picking up it’s difficult to see how Ross can continue as an assistant referee at the highest level.
Being able to take midweek matches is an essential requirement for upcoming officials with Development League fixtures all taking place in midweek.
Seeing a ‘weekend only’ official getting fast tracked into the top fixtures ahead of others prepared to travel in midweek would be an unpopular move within the refereeing ranks.